Successful foresight activities must answer: What are the alternative futures the organization faces? How likely are the different futures to unfold? And, given the options, what actions can the organization take to achieve its goals? Foresight analysis, when correctly done, has many proven benefits for businesses and organisations across all industries.

Soile Ollila is the Foresight Manager at Business Finland, which focuses on offering a service path for customers in Finland and abroad in innovation funding, internationalisation, and investments.

Jussi Leskinen, Director of Customer Experience Management and Operations at Lindström, and Mika Raulas, Business Designer at Roger Studio, took the stage to discuss using strategic foresight to design future customer experiences.

We've already covered here what Strategic Foresight is and why it matters. But below, we take it a step further. Why it is actually critical for organizations, especially today, and what outcomes you can expect from systematic foresight activity.

Scenario planning can be used for engagement, which means building bridges and forming collaborations. The focus is on influencing and communicating. “During a big merger between companies, they disagreed on everything but then did a scenario exercise to start working together and exploring the future,” Drenth cites an example.

Foresight is becoming a more disciplined activity in organizations as changes are happening on a faster pace and with a broader and deeper impact than ever before. “To ensure continued growth and success, organizations need to adapt to the future or at best, be a part of shaping it,” Vaarnas says.

A better understanding of possible future territorial balances or imbalances can support policy-making processes to better adapt to future developments and needs. Territorial Foresight supports gaining better insights on territorial consequences of policy choices with broad ownership among different stakeholders.

The future is full of fascinating opportunities - but how to make sense of them? Join in to learn and discuss! The early bird discount ends on April 30. The seminar is all about hands-on, so the attendees can expect concrete case presentations, practical tips and best practices, and down-to-earth discussions.

The complexities of today call for a different way of thinking. To quote Einstein, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Foresight and change capability coupled with co-design give people a sense of security. When a group repeatedly gathers to discuss future threats and opportunities, changes no longer seem to come about abruptly and people are aware of possible implications.

One of the key benefits of strategic foresight is its ability to support organisations and leaders to shift from a risk to an opportunity mindset. By challenging business as usual, new possible futures can emerge, and with that can come new opportunities.

Do you know enough about the future to get you where you want to go? Foresight guides every organization to some extent. With a dose of systematic foresight, teams of all kinds can dramatically improve their chances of consistently making the right choices in a rapidly changing world.