Forecasting has always been at the heart of good business for merchants. However, the last few months have shown us that businesses must be able to plan for the unexpected and predict the literally unpredictable.
No-one knows how the market will evolve; whether a second wave could trigger another lockdown, what the housing and construction sectors will look like by the end of the year or what impact Brexit (remember that?) will have.
Until now, the industry has enjoyed change at a relatively sedate pace. Increasing environmental pressures have driven the pace of change in recent years, plus the uncertainty around Brexit – but never has the rate of change been so dramatically impacted as with the coronavirus outbreak. This new context of fast-paced change and widespread uncertainty calls for a new approach to assessing supply and demand: a process Ten- 25 terms “freehand forecasting.”
What is freehand forecasting?
Freehand forecasting is a change in the approach to forecasting, using the tools at our disposal for a more responsive system. Rather than using historic data and extending a trend out, as is traditional, freehand forecasting is about having a good understanding of what the business is doing day-to-day and using historic trading results to influence where that might take you tomorrow.
We believe that the new generation of software hitting the market, such as our 100% cloud-based UT400 system, will be a huge help for merchants in navigating this fastpaced environment, where up-to-the-minute information is absolutely critical.
Fast analysis is about having an instant view on the moving parts of the business, without needing to wait for a month end, or later, to get critical analytical data. So, business decisions can be made based on information that falls into your eyeline as you work on the business day-to-day, rather than having to go hunting for things that may need your attention.
Simple Tools, Complex Performance
With analysis and reporting functions made simpler and more accessible, merchants will have much greater control over, and insight into, the day-to-day workings of the business.
The company overview dashboard is a great snapshot of the main moving parts of the business, so you can see what is in range and what needs action. But with this system, you can drill down very easily into what you need to see, and make snap decisions about things like pricing in a well-informed way.
With over 110 different key performance indicators built into the system, there is an extraordinary capability for customisation, meaning every user can monitor the metrics that are most relevant to them. That makes for a much more in-tune organisation where everyone has more recent, accurate information at their fingertips.
Fast and Flexible
A connected cloud system allows clear visibility across the whole business, so greater efficiencies can be achieved in every area, from customer relationship management to administration, stock management to logistics. All the information is immediately available to inform faster, more strategic decision-making.
It seems the world is on a rollercoaster and no-one knows which direction it’s going to pitch in next. But we believe that digital solutions offer many of the answers for merchants.
Merchants need instant access to information, but also an agile responsiveness. We’ve been building timber merchant software for nearly 40 years now, and every bit of that experience has gone into this system. But the brilliant thing is that it’s always learning, and evolving, to meet the needs of merchants and help them build the best, most responsive business possible.
Being cloud based, we can deploy changes to systems immediately as they arise, rather than needing the time-consuming site visits and complex fixes of old. We can react faster to customer needs and add new features that answer specific business issues as they arise. The analytics options are really quite advanced, and we’re adding new functionality all the time, at no extra cost. It just gets updated automatically, so it’s always evolving into the best version of itself. I find that incredibly exciting and it gives merchants a huge advantage.
