Six years after financial crises, transport analysts advise “caution”

In today’s business environment, companies remain “cautiously optimistic,” observes Ted Fernandez, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Hackett Group

“Most companies in the S&P 500 beat their guidance for Q1,” he says. “But mixed guidance has been the issue as companies continue to struggle to meet growth objectives. Many have been quick to turn to productivity initiatives to hit earnings targets. This should improve as the U.S. economy continues to show better signals, but for now there remains cautious optimism across the globe.”

According to Fernandez,  “finding sustainable demand continues to be more challenging than expected as we now approach the 6th anniversary of the financial crisis.  “Volatility in demand has become the norm, and companies understand they need the ability to quickly recalibrate. Recalibration has meant less total cost reduction and more cost stabilization allowing most of you with the ability to reallocate resources to higher opportunity areas. But that is no longer adequate,” declares Fernandez.

The Hackett Group – a global strategic business advisory and operations improvement consulting firm – maintains that companies must leverage innovation in their respective business areas to help accelerate growth. “We continue to see World Class companies aggressively leverage innovation to breakthrough traditional business models and strategies to exploit the true total leverage of an enterprise,” says Fernandez.

His remarks were shared at The Hackett Group’s 2014 North American Best Practices Conference, “Accelerating Growth Through Innovation” in Chicago last month.

The Hackett Group also offered an update and live demonstration of Group’s “Performance Exchange,” a new automated measurement dashboard designed to extract data from ERP systems and benchmark results.

“This year, business strategies are focused on improving innovative capacity to accelerate revenue growth and improve profitability,” adds Fernandez.