Case Study: Looking into the Future (Technology Forecasting)
Problem
Technologies are advancing faster than ever before, and companies are in a race to master and stay ahead of these advancements or risk losing market share in their industries. An innovation team at a leading consumer packaged goods company wanted to confirm that their methods for technology forecasting were up-to-date and comprehensive for capturing latest trends and technologies that may impact their growth in new markets, but their barometer for best practices was restricted to what their peers were doing within the CPG space.
Critical Issues
Process Knowledge Cross-Industry Insights Futurescaping
The Solution
The team approached their Maven Advisor, who suggested conducting an anonymous Electronic Survey to identify what methods other major companies and consultants use to forecast technology trends that may be relevant to their businesses. The Advisor helped to craft and deploy a Survey on behalf of the team and within two weeks, twenty qualified professionals had responded with insight on best practices for deciding where to invest resources and capital on technology based on their experience in their respective industries. The innovation team was able to use these insights to validate the majority of their current processes for technology forecasting, but was also inspired by a suggestion from someone with a background in Aviation and ultimately used this suggestion to implement a new component to their forecasting methods.
