How can you use trend analysis to identify potential risks and develop contingency plans for your business?

Trends reflect changes that happen over time. To identify trends, you must have a way of collecting and observing data in order to notice changes. It is important to have tools that collect, store and process data. Data should include relevant information to the subject or market under consideration. As much as possible, compare data of your competition and not any form of innovations or changes that bring disruption. Monitoring your results consistently may also give you clues to additional information you may seek or modifications that you may make to your process. "The more the merrier!" It is better to have more information than required. Having less information will mean that there may be missing links that become difficult to connect.

It is when you monitor changes over time that you have trends. Information is processed data, so it is in the analysis stage that data begins to become information. Every observation that has been recorded can then be compared at different times, in different locations, with different scenarios and so on and so forth. It is all of these actions that generate the results that we can interpret and use to predict outcomes. The precision of predictions increases with utilization of more precise data. The more you experiment with scenarios and record outcomes, the more sure you become about probable outcomes. It is important to put as many factors into consideration as possible. It is better to have more required information than to have less.

With so much processed data and relevant information, predictions are more precise. When trends expose different outcomes, action can be taken to either encourage or mitigate. If for instance, a particular copy format is more effective with conversion of leads, such copy should be encouraged. If on the other hand, a particular process increases the chances of negative outcomes, then that must be mitigated. Risks are chances of outcomes that have a negative impact. Risks must be mitigated to encourage the growth and sustainability of favorable outcomes. Policies, processes, tools, people, etc should be developed with safety in mind. People should be encouraged to have the interest of others at heart and processes should prioritize safety.

Finally, a contingency plan is a process that should be activated as soon as an anticipated negative scenario plays out. They are contingency plans because they are prepared ahead of time. Without an effective interpretation of trends, it may be difficult to come up with effective contingency plans. Trends are very important. Many companies have been put out of business or critically disadvantaged because they didn't observe trends or did not take necessary action. Storage formats have been rapidly changing and this has also rendered a lot of gadgets and equipment obsolete. Some people have invested heavily in equipment that their uses are quickly vanishing. Proper trend analysis and contingency generation puts things in perspective earlier