Customers are valuable assets to the business. Businesses can’t make decisions without putting customers at the center. They must understand customers’ wants and needs and how they interact with their products and services. Ultimately, a good experience is what makes businesses win.

Today, our world is full of products and services with the customer at the epicentre. For every new product, it is almost certain there exists a competitor. Therefore, businesses must do everything possible to acquire and retain customers to sustain. After the internet became the basic utility, a new class of cloud products evolved, making it easier to understand customers using instant analytics. In this post, let’s get into product analytics, understand what it is and how different it is from a marketing and business analytics perspective.

The word “forecasting” is often associated with the weather. However, it goes beyond just weather. Knowing what will happen in the future help us prevent disasters or prepare to reduce the impacts. An interesting thing about forecasting is that the more you know about the past better is your prediction about the future. The history of forecasting goes way back in time. The Egyptians used forecasting techniques to predict harvests based on the water level of the Nile River during the flooding season. Since then, forecasting techniques have slowly evolved and become an integral part of the business. They are used almost in every area of business. Finance uses forecasting in making investing and budget decisions. Operations use it for managing inventory, staffing, and business expansion. Sales and Marketing use it to analyze the market and opportunities. Similarly, product managers must master forecasting techniques to understand product dynamics, coordinate with various departments, and understand market trends.

With effective forecasting methods, product managers will be in a great position to understand customers, plan production, and deliver the right products to the market. In this article, I discuss popular forecasting methods available for product managers.

I was not a huge fan of Tennis until I got to know this legend of legends in Tennis, Roger Federer, back in 2006. For me, Tennis was just another sport that was nothing exciting to watch. After I started watching Roger Federer, my perception of sport suddenly changed, and it has become one of my favourite sports now. Today, seeing him leaving the court where he reigned for almost two decades is not something everyone can digest easily. Tears have meaning and speak his legacy for the next generation.

Well, what is so special about Roger’s retirement? You might think he is just another sportsman saying Good Bye. But that’s not true with Roger Federer. Tennis is a very strenuous and highly technical game in that you must understand the dynamics of the ball and surface and execute shots timing perfectly. Roger Federer was one among those who mastered this sport and landed the balls at his will, not just once but repeatedly. If you place a pop on your head and ask Roger to hit the pop from the other side of the net, he has the talent to smash that pop in just one shot. That’s his specialty. We miss him on the court today.