How better forecasts can separate your company from the field

Gettyimages.com / NicoElNino

Unanet's annual GAUGE report looks at how improvements to the forecasts of your operations helps make better decisions and improves your company's position.

When companies talk about differentiation, they mostly talk about a technology offering or methodology that helps them stand out from their competitors.

But the results of Unanet’s 2023 GAUGE report identify another area of differentiation that many companies overlook: forecasting.

Accurate forecasting can separate your company from competitors because it can give you a better understanding of your operations and help you make better business decisions, according to a pair of executives I spoke with at Unanet.

Chris Crowder, Unanet's executive vice president of government contracting; and Kim Koster, vice president of product marketing; walked me through the 2023 version of their company's GAUGE report.

That acronym stands for Government contract compliance, Accounting, Utilization, Growth and Efficiencies. GAUGE is an annual survey of government contractors.

The 2023 survey puts more focus on forecasting along with other parameters such as confidence in the market, growth expectations and project management challenges.

Koster and Crowder said the findings give companies a benchmark to measure themselves against.

These types of forecasting are highlighted in the GAUGE report:

  • Pipeline
  • Project cost
  • Labor resources
  • Indirect rates
  • Cashflow
  • Backlog
  • IT spend and costs
  • Capital assets expenditures

Unanet picked forecasting as a theme for this year’s report because over the prior seven years the company has conducted the survey, forecasting is generally among the three most-cited challenges.

To dive deeper into forecasting, Unanet asked respondents to compare importance of a forecast with its accuracy.

“We learned that the pipeline forecasts are very important but they lack accuracy, “ Koster said. “On the flip side, cashflow also was very important but the forecasts were very accurate.”

One challenge with forecasting is that different parts of a business do different kinds of forecasting for different reasons. The work often takes place across stovepipes with little internal communication.

“You’ve got business development over there doing their thing and you’ve got the finance people over here,” she said. “It’s difficult at best.”

Organizations tend to use either a bottom-up or top-down process for conducting their forecasts, Crowder said.

Only 36 percent of respondents said they are using a mix of those two approaches, which is what Crowder and Koster recommended.

The report also highlights areas where companies can improve, such as policies that govern how forecasts are conducted and how often.

An appendix to the report explains the benefits of mature forecasting practices such as better financial planning, risk mitigation, and better resource allocation,

Navigating all those factors is a challenge in the government space because agencies rarely make an award when they say they will.

"It is difficult to measure and is all part of the forecasting puzzle,” Crowder said.

But consistent and accurate forecasting is critical for keeping projects on track and managing resources, Koster said.

The report includes what Unanet calls a “resource management maturity model”, similar to the capability maturity model integration best practices.

Crowder said companies can use the chart in the report to grade themselves across areas such as people and training, policies and procedures, tools and systems, and culture and vision. Companies can also look across several levels of maturity – ad hoc, project-by-project, organization wide, data-driven, and continued improvement.

Those are the different characteristics of good resource management.

“You can see where you stand,” Koster said. “We encourage everyone to do this one because you can do it in private and be as honest as you possibly can be.”

Some other highlights of the report include:

  • 70% of firms reported some level of growth in annual revenue
  • Win rates are on the rise
  • 47% are cautiously optimistic about the current business environment
  • 25% are very optimistic about the current business environment

Respondents also cited concerns in their company about about winning new contracts (77%), finding qualified talent (55%), and budget and funding for contracts (47%).

You can download the entire report here.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.