Disruption is accelerating—and traditional strategies can’t keep up. In this webinar, Andrew Cantrell, Vice President of Applied Foresights at U.S. Bank and Greg Hachenburg, Head of Marketing at Speeda Edge, share how the bank turned information overload into a competitive edge. Learn how proactive foresight can help your organization anticipate change, identify emerging opportunities, and act with confidence — outperforming those stuck in reactive mode.
The slides used in this webcast are available for download below.
Here are five highlights from the discussion:
1. Information Overload Demands Dedicated Foresight
U.S. Bank created an Applied Foresight team to filter signal from noise and navigate accelerating change in consumer behavior, tech, and regulation. Cantrell says, “We are hit with so much content… the way that we’ve tried to adapt in enterprise innovation is to create a practice of work — Applied Foresights — specifically dedicated to separating out the signals that are meaningful from the hype cycles.”
2. Foresight Is Structured, Not Speculative
Using methodologies like scenario planning, signals mapping, and backcasting, U.S. Bank systematically explores possible, plausible, and preferred futures. “We’ve got a number of foresight tools and methods that we use to cast out into what that three-year timeline might look like… We’ll typically write multiple scenarios from different angles of that future,” Cantrell says.
3. The Right Tools Enable Scalable Insight
Speeda Edge’s platform helps the team monitor domains of change, track weak signals, and identify relevant shifts without getting overwhelmed. “It is imperative that you find the right set of tools to ‘keep your arms around the barrel,’ so to speak. How do I keep myself not just abreast of all the changes that are happening, but directionally understand where momentum is flowing? The tool set you use to follow things in a consolidated format allows you to be much more successful,” Cantrell says.
4. Foresight Leads to First-Mover Advantage
A 2020 foresight scenario predicting Personalized AI enabled U.S. Bank to respond quickly when generative AI exploded in 2022. According to Cantrell, “I think the big challenge is, as an organization, you don’t want to be caught off guard… we want to be prepared to hit the ground running when the technology starts, especially on the innovation side.”
5. IP Strategy Turns Insight into Impact
Foresight isn’t just about ideas—it leads to patents, product strategy, and commercialization. A headless commerce concept led to real IP wins. “We designed a system and patented it through the USPTO… that ultimately became more commonly referred to as the headless commerce world… five years after the fact we got a phone call from one of the world’s largest chip manufacturers,” says Cantrell.
Host Bios
Andrew Cantrell, VP of Applied Foresights, U.S. Bank
Andrew Cantrell is a Foresights Strategist on the Applied Foresights team with 15 years of experience, primarily in the financial services industry (with a quick detour into the healthcare tech startup world). He has been part of the U.S. Bank family for 9 years, holding roles in Tech Services and Elavon before joining Applied Foresights in late 2021. He has worked on several different future domains recently, including the future of ambient connectivity, the metaverse, the future of sustainability, virtual economies, and personal artificial intelligence.
Greg Hachenburg, Head of Marketing, Speeda Edge
Greg Hachenburg is Head of Marketing for Speeda Edge, an award-winning market intelligence platform within the Uzabase portfolio. With a keen focus on helping companies get ahead of emerging tech and industry disruption, he leads marketing efforts that connect leaders and organizations with the insights they need to stay ahead.
Featured photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash
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