5 “What If?” Questions Show the Power Simulation Software

Brings to Business

How does gaming apply to business?

When I was invited into my son’s universe to play a game recently, I was amazed at how a seemingly trivial pastime had so many applications towards business.

Many of us have children who play video games, and I’m no exception. My son kicks my butt in these games with embarrassing regularity. My personal embarrassment fueled by a multi-billion dollar computer gaming industry vying for my kid’s attention.

How many of us, though, have sat down and actually immersed ourselves in our kid’s “playground?” When I was invited into this realm, I was awed by the fact that this little game contained so many applications that could apply to the real world of business.

This world is all about play, but isn’t “play” really a method of repetitive learning? That’s what makes simulations so valuable to business continuity. Computer simulations create a gaming environment, built to help businesses through repetitive learning.

So, here are 5 “What If?” Questions for Businesses Leaders. The questions will give you a glimpse into the world of simulations and how they can help your business.

1. What if businesses had simulation software to test their plans and assumptions in ways never before possible or affordable?My son was networked in a game with his friends. They could communicate using VOIP, and track each other’s movement, coordinating and moving as a team. When they lost, they could start over and try again until they could develop a winning strategy.Imagine the value if a business could use simulation software (gaming) to try a plan over and over until they learned all they needed to be successful. These “toys” are available now – a way for businesses to test plans and outcomes – in the form of computer-aided simulations.

2. What if businesses had the ability to visualize results of future decisions?What I thought was most impressive, is the realism of the virtual-reality my son and his friends were playing in. They could visualize where they were, where they were going and the results of their decisions. Some of the games he plays drive strategic decision making, such as building and running a metropolis in SimCity.

The ability to “see” a possible future state is an incredible ability, but is now possible with simulation software.

3. What if a business could fail and start over . . . and over?For hours we sat there as my son and his friends repeatedly attempted to succeed on their mission. They used the game as a sort of cognitive platform, continually failing safely. The results of failure in the game were catastrophic. In the real world they experienced excellent learning without failure.

This is how your business can fail-safe using simulation software.

4. What if businesses could more accurately forecast results?My son understood what he needed to succeed. When he failed to pick up a medical kit at a waypoint, he knew that his chances of success fell off rapidly. Simulations help go beyond the ‘forecast’ and help leaders to develop ‘foresight’.

Big Data is widely described as turning vast quantities of data into information about what happened, where it happened and why it happened. While getting insight and seeing patterns about past events is important, it is only characterizing the past. This is an incomplete picture.

Foresight is when we understand the relationships between the conditions of the past and how they interact with the conditions of the present and create future events. Simulations help us to model these relationships, integrate the data of the past, and forecast how these conditions will cause future events.

5. What if businesses could use simulations to mitigate risk?The simulated world my son plays in is far more capable than what most businesses have to analyze critical business functions.

If businesses apply game technology and create reality-based spaces, they’ll have tremendous power to identify their ‘what if’ questions and enhance their chances of success through repetition. They can use these advanced algorithms to turn big data into knowledge and better mitigate risks in the real world.

…This is the advantage that simulation software can bring to your business.

©2014 Takouba Security

James Rollins is Managing Partner of Takouba, a firm that provides consultation and planning for companies in the areas of business continuity, incident management and business operations recovery. He manages the day-to-day operations of Takouba and its foreign subsidiaries, and is the site author of the Takouba Blog.