Whitepaper: Horizon scanning – building resilience and creating value in your business

This whitepaper will help you understand how horizon scanning can build resilience and create value in your business…

Horizon scanning has many different benefits across the organisation including strategy and policy planning, risk mitigation, innovation and new product development, competitive advantage, resource management and more.

A good horizon scanning system will facilitate the detection of ‘weak signals’ that may grow into significant issues but which are currently unnoticed and often at the margins of known information.

Social media is now an important source of information about consumer views on various issues, including their opinions on food brands, health and nutrition and can even be used to pick up food poisoning outbreaks before notification through formal channels. It is key to identify the influencers, such as frequent bloggers, as they have such a powerful ability to affect other consumer opinions and beliefs. It is likewise important to recognise those who have the ability to influence the development of new technologies and innovations as they emerge.

NSF International’s own horizon scanning service incorporates best practice elements including a strong and structured scoping process at setup to ensure that all relevant elements are captured, that the service meets the business’s strategic objectives and that the intelligence it provides can be fully exploited throughout the business with the support and leadership of senior management…