Forecasting is by no stretch a concept invented by modern man. Let’s look at forecasting as a fortune teller which allows us to see how business will look in the coming year. What does this mean? I mean that this technique was invented to assist Egyptians to plan around drought in the Nile River for the future times. Got it? If not think about it in this way, the cause and effect relationship. In this blog, I will elaborate further and give ways in which you as an entrepreneur can forecast the amazing upcoming year.
What Does Cause and Effect Mean?
A cause is the reason something occurs. What took place was an effect. For example, Bandile leaves his windows open on a hot day in December and the rain gets in. In this situation, the cause is the unpredictable summer weather and the effect of that stormy weather is the furniture being ruined by rain. Therefore, in such a situation a daily forecast from the news television would have been helpful as he would have prepared for a change of weather and nothing would have been ruined while he was away.
What is business forecasting?
Well the term “business forecasting” describes the instruments and methods used to foresee changes in the business world, such as sales, expenses, and profits. Business forecasting seeks to strengthen strategy by making more accurate predictions. In order to identify patterns and guide demand planning, financial operations, future performance, and advertising strategy, past knowledge is retrieved and assessed using quantitative or qualitative models. It is important because as a business owner you can plan the next steps for your company using forecasting. It assists you in clearly knowing the steps you need to do in order to avoid, maintain or succeed in the near future. 
Qualitative Techniques in Business Forecasting
Market research involves questioning and evaluating a wide number of current customers about a certain item or service in order to estimate the degree to which demand will either decline or rise in the future.
Quantitative Techniques in Business Forecasting
The most popular and economical technique is this one. This forecast technique, also referred to as “Time Series Analysis,” excludes outliers and gives more recent data a higher priority while using existing information to predict major developments. When there is a huge amount of historical data with distinct and consistent trends, this strategy works well
There you go, make the last months of this year count and forecast to make sure you are on the right track. Unlike Bandile, you have a chance to reflect on the journey your business was on this year, and perhaps by doing your business forecasting it will only get better.
