Quantumrun Methodology
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What is strategic foresight?
Strategic foresight is a discipline that empowers individuals and businesses with improved preparedness for the different futures they may experience in the near and distant future.
More specifically, this discipline enables practitioners to identify the driving forces of change and disruption that will influence future events in a way that systematically reveals the possible, plausible, and probable futures that lie ahead but with the ultimate goal of selecting one preferred future to pursue strategically. The graph below illustrates the different futures the strategic foresight professional attempts to explore.
The Quantumrun Foresight approach
Our international team of analysts monitor and review media and research reports from a wide range of fields and industries. We regularly interview and survey our large network of subject matter experts to gather on-the-ground observations from their particular fields. Then, using a combination of proprietary software and our experienced analyst insights, we make informed forecasts about future trends and scenarios that are both comprehensive and multidisciplinary.
The result of our research assists organizations in the development of new or improved products, services, and business models, as well as assisting organizations to decide what investments to make or not make in the near to distant future.
To illustrate our approach, the following eight-step process is the default methodology that the Quantumrun Foresight team applies to any foresight project:
| Step | Description | Product | Step Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Framing | Scoping the project: Purpose, objectives, stakeholders, timelines, budget, deliverables; assessing current state vs preferred future state | Project plan | Quantumrun |
| Scanning | Collecting information: Assess data collection strategy, isolate data collection mediums and sources, then collect relevant historical, contextual, and predictive data that applies directly and indirectly to the foresight project. | Information | Quantumrun |
| Trend Synthesis | Apply qualitative and quantitative techniques to remove industry/sector, profession, or topic silos to isolate patterns, trends, and hidden relationships that lie at the present or future cross-section of the different collected datasets. | Clustered information | Quantumrun |
| Constraints | Understand the constraints all future scenarios must operate in, such as: budgets, timelines, legislation, environment, culture, stakeholders, human resources, organization, geopolitics, etc. | Scenario refinement | Quantumrun |
| Forecasting | What are the possible, plausible, probable, and preferable future scenarios, and what are their individual drivers and uncertainties, implications, and outcomes. Depending on the project's scale, this step may involve external support from focus groups and subject matter experts. | Baseline and alternative futures (scenarios) | Quantumrun |
| Visioning | Choosing a preferred future: Envisioning the best outcomes, goal-setting, performance measures. | Preferred future (goals) | Quantumrun + client |
| Planning | Organizing the resources needed to execute on the selected preferred future. | Strategic plan (strategies) | Quantumrun + client |
| Acting | Implementing the plan: Developing action agendas, institutionalizing strategic thinking and intelligence systems, assigning projects and deliverables, communicating the results, etc. | Action plan (initiatives) | Action plan (initiatives) |
The benefits of strategic foresight for organizations
Click below to download a copy of Quantumrun Foresight’s methodology.
- Improved strategic planning that effectively considers long-term market environments.
- Improved capital allocation to company initiatives that will generate long-term returns.
- The development of new company offerings that may grow market share and generate new revenue.