Staying Vigilant in the Era of Fake News
Faced with an increasingly uncertain business landscape that is now exacerbated by the rise of fake news, it is especially vital for SMEs to be equipped with the right tools to mitigate such unpredictability.
On air with MoneyFM 98.3 on the segment “Business Forward with Canon”, Mr. Jacky Tai, Principal Consultant at Unbroken Branding Pte Ltd, shares more about Business Intelligence and how enterprises can employ it to help navigate their way through volatile business cycles. Listen to the podcast here.
According to Jacky, ‘Business Intelligence’ is a technologically-driven process used to collect and analyse information. It provides businesses with detailed and actionable data to help them make more informed decisions. Many companies use this to analyse past and current data in order to produce predictive views of their particular market or industry. But why is Business Intelligence an important tool that businesses should employ in today’s landscape?
Era of Business Uncertainties and Fake News
In recent years, business cycles have become more volatile. They no longer occur in regular intervals, and their ups and downs have become increasingly unpredictable. This makes it hard for enterprises to navigate through changes and make informed decisions.
Besides this, any news can be uploaded without validation – ‘fake news’, in today’s terms. Jacky underscores that the web makes it easier to disseminate information, be it real or fake, which rapidly increases the amount of fake news out there. With various editing tools such as Photoshop, information can be made to look credible and readers easily fall prey to such messages. The vast amount of information available on websites or blogs also makes it difficult for readers to ascertain if their sources are reliable.
With the volatility of the business landscape and the exponential pace of change, the added volume of fake news complicates things further. As Jacky highlights, human minds are finite, making it hard to process the credibility of information. Thus, businesses cannot properly deal with the overwhelming mass of information which may not even be legitimate, and thus end up making decisions that are either ill-informed or not detailed enough.
Rising above the Volatile Business Landscape
Despite this unpredictable business environment that is compounded by the increase of fake news, Jacky asserts that enterprises can steer their way around this with the right tools and mindset. He lists two ways to tackle uncertainties:
1. Learn to be discerning
The best way for business owners to protect themselves from unpredictability is to be knowledgeable about their business, industry, and competitors. Be aware of the various technological and consumer trends within the industry that might impact your business. This will enable you to be more prepared for changes that arise.
2. Employ Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence serves to provide credible information and analysis so that enterprises have more informed views when making decisions. It is a helpful tool that businesses can use to better predict changes, identify market trends, address operational issues and aptly navigate through the uncertain landscape.
Businesses are confronted with the task of manoeuvring through a rapidly changing and unpredictable landscape, which is increasingly worsened with the rise of fake news. Tools such as Business Intelligence serve as a great aid to garner reliable data and analytics which will definitely contribute towards making this landscape a lot less disconcerting.
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