James Oates Columnist Ready for recovery T our capability and being true to the customers needs will drive he timescale for recovery from the global pandemic decisions to get the right data and to deliver the right analytics. continues to jump forward and back depending I am currently working through this challenge and, by listening on the day of the week and the latest data to our clients, it is creating an opportunity to get closer to being released. understanding what data is required to drive the broadest In our personal lives, it seems we will hopefully finally be able insight we must provide in the e-commerce arena. By being open, to decide which sporting event or music festival we would like to flexible and creative in our route forward, we will enable a attend, and which family members we would like to hug again. conversation on client blind spots quicker than might have been In general, these are going to be easy decisions to make, even possible before. for an awkward, non-hugging Yorkshireman such as myself What the future looks like is the other key business question (a handshake will do fine, thanks if we are ever allowed to do that analytic teams can really get behind. Getting the balance that again). of short- and longer-term forecasting right is always a challenge In our business lives, the timescale for recovery brings with particularly now, with consumer behaviour being impacted it challenging questions within the context of a broad range so much. of opinion on what recovery looks like: the promise of a new normal; the biggest boom for several generations; predictive insight into what the or even that there is no new normal at recovery could actually look like. all and we are heading for an economic downturn. Whatever is coming down the line, Whatever is coming down the line, to explain how behaviour could change, regardless of business sector, each and every one of us in the every one of us should be thinking we can provide the guardrails to analytic arena should be thinking about what we need to do next to remove the uncertainty. about what we need to do next to manage this period of change To use my company again as a manage this period of change reference point, the potential impact of shoppers not returning to decisions for our businesses. commuting hotspots will change the ranges and requirements of I am going through the process right now, and trying to remind stores in those areas. Currently, we dont know for definite how myself of the most basic principle that should apply to our people will return to the workplace, but we can build models that external thinking with clients and to how we get it right with our provide a range of behaviours to give guidance to future analytic teams to deliver success through change. outcomes and supply-chain requirements. It means being brave It is essential that we remain relevant by staying close to our enough to have an opinion and make some assumptions, but that customer needs and knowing what they require. is more insight than many clients have right now. We need to ensure that what we are working on in analytics In analytics, we can be central to supporting our businesses is useful. For example, in the fast-moving consumer goods and clients through this recovery, and bring to life how consumer industry, one of the burning issues right now is around behaviour is adapting. Remaining relevant means staying across e-commerce and, specifically, how to understand if the new and the trends that are impacting on our respective industries and emerging platforms, resulting from changes in customer then being bold in our predictions and analytics to remove behaviour, are here to stay. the uncertainty and blind spots unfolding around us. If we In terms of insight provision, it means we have to understand remind ourselves of that, the impact of our analytic work will the landscape we are looking to measure and analyse for grow in importance and ensure we remain relevant when calmer our clients. What do we do well today, and what do we need times prevail. to do to uncover client blind spots? Being open about 47 Impact ISSUE 34 2021_pp47 James Oates.indd 47 18/06/2021 14:00