Here's how you can navigate changing market conditions in business reporting using strategic thinking.

In my experience, it’s less about identifying trends and more about being alerted to changes. Trends take time to form; however, changes can appear sudden. Part of the challenge is defining what “changes” matter to your business and developing triggers or alerts to prompt you when those changes occur. This allows you to do a more thorough analysis when needed versus continuously reading through reports to see if trends are confirmed.

Again, I believe this approach overlooks a key element and starts with the business being on its heels. It assumes that the business hasn’t had the foresight to forecast what trends are possible, which ones matter, and how the business might navigate them. It starts with the trend being discovered and the business being proactive in forecasting how it may play out, but even this is reactive in nature. To truly be proactive (and prepared), a business needs to state what trends might emerge, what the business would do if they came to fruition, and how to identify those that matter. The game is less about identifying trends and taking action and more about being alerted to trends so you can act on your plan.

The language of “business reporting” is dated and in the context of this article should be focused more on business insight or even intelligence. Reporting simply provides a picture of what’s been and doesn’t make any prediction about what may be. Informing business decisions does require data and reporting, but they are an input to a larger process that should be trained to provide recommendations or options tuned to a specific objective. Those objectives are strategic in nature, and they must be cultivated and adapted as the business evolves. At various points in time, some developments once viewed as threats from the data may actually become your competitive advantage.

The language of “business reporting” is dated and in the context of this article should be focused more on business insight or even intelligence. Reporting simply provides a picture of what’s been and doesn’t make any prediction about what may be. Informing business decisions does require data and reporting, but they are an input to a larger process that should be trained to provide recommendations or options tuned to a specific objective. Those objectives are strategic in nature, and they must be cultivated and adapted as the business evolves. At various points in time, some developments once viewed as threats from the data may actually become your competitive advantage.