Gartner Scenarios Resource Center

At Gartner we have decades of experience with continuous foresight, including scenario planning. On this page we summarize some of the resources we have built over the recent years. Some accessible only for Gartner clients, other links are accessible for everybody.

Gartner Global Scenarios 2021 will focus on one of the most important topics for enterprise world-wide in the years to come: how executives and their organizations should sense and respond to social fractures. We will be publishing our results every step of our journey to the end result.

Available for Gartner clients:

• Expert Insight Video: Gartner Global Scenarios 2021 — The Role of Business In Society
• Why the Voice of Society Is Getting Louder

Publically available:

• Gartner Global Scenarios — Finding A Topic — What Do You Think? (Frank Buytendijk and Brook Selassie)
• Gartner Global Scenarios – Social Contract (David Furlonger, Jeff Cribbs)
• Gartner Global Scenarios – What is a Social Fracture? (Christophe Uzureau, Frank Buytendijk)

To help you succeed, Gartner created a series of tools that will help answer the most critical question our clients are asking: “How will we succeed in a world disrupted by COVID-19?”

Available for Gartner clients:

• Gartner 2020 Global Scenarios
• Scenario-Based Initiatives Stress Test

Publically available:

• Use Gartner Reset Scenarios to Move From Survival to Renewal
• Use the Gartner COVID-19 Reset Scenarios to Accelerate Digital Business

Ask people about the future and they will share their hopes and fears. We crowdsourced stories about “Life in the Year 2035” from around the world and derived three future scenarios. These can help executive leaders rethink sustainability, build value beyond transactional convenience, and create a more human-scale life.

Available for Gartner clients:

• Digitopia 2035: 3 Scenarios for the #DigitalSociety, and What They Mean for Us Today
• Digitopia 2035 Scenario: A Smaller Circle — How to Create More Meaningful Connections
• Digitopia 2035 Scenario: A Question of Convenience — How to Create More Digital Value
• Digitopia 2035 Scenario: A Sustainable Society — How to Increase Your Digital Ambition
• Digitopia 2035: All Stories Collected

Every industry has its own dynamic. Find industry-specific scenarios here.

Available for Gartner clients:

• Banking Industry Scenarios in 2030 — Interactive Planning Tool
• Digital Government 2030: Planning for an Uncertain Future
• Manufacturing Industry Scenarios in 2023: Leading Through Innovation
• Insurance 2030 Scenarios Update: CIOs Need Greater Adaptability to Survive and Thrive in an Era of Ongoing Industry Transformation
• Higher Education 2030: Planning in the Face of Radical Uncertainty
• Use Utility Scenarios to Prepare for Change
• The New Retail Scenarios: Digital Acceleration and Consumer Behavior Change the Mission

Available for Gartner clients:

• Scenario Planning Playbook
• “Connection to the Future” Scenario-Planning Workshop
• Scenario Planning Capabilities Assessment
• Don’t Make Predictions and Choices, Instead Create Options by Using Scenario Planning for Pandemic Recovery

Other examples of scenarios:

• Blockchain Competitiveness in the Energy Sector (Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies)
• These 4 Scenarios Show How We Might Be Working in the Future (World Economic Forum)
• Sketch: The Digitalisation of Society (Shell)
• Four Future Scenarios for Businesses (Rabobank)
• Four Scenarios for Geopolitical Order in 2025-2030: What Will Great Power Competition Look Like? (Center for Strategic and International Studies)

Recommended other reading (alphabetical order):

• “The Future: A Very Short Introduction”, Jennifer Gidley
• “Scenarios: The Art of Strategic Conversation”, Kees van der Heijden
• “Thinking About The Future”, Andy Hines and Peter Bishop
• “The Mind of a Fox”, Chantell Illbury and Clem Sunter
• “The Art of the Long View”, Peter Schwartz
• “Scenario Planning: A Field Guide To The Future”, Woody Wade