Sales & Operations Planning

Sales & Operations Planning is a powerful business planning process that integrates sales and marketing planning on volume and value with operational planning. In more mature organizations, product development, controlling and finance are also included – leading to a fully holistic planning approach.

Sales & Operations Planning on balancing demand and supply plans on a tactical horizon of approximately 3 to 24 months depending on the industry. Led by a central team, it optimally supports supply chain reliability together with the optimization of supply chain costs and the return on assets. The increased transparency created additionally allows for more flexibility as well as faster response times.

However: according to Gartner, nearly 70% of companies are still stuck in operating on the lower end of the Gartner Sales & Operations Planning maturity model*. But to address the uncertainty, complexity and risk from today’s global, digital supply chains, it is crucial to jump on the next stages of maturity.

Our approach helps you to get the best out of your Sales & Operations Planning process and to take the next step in process maturity.

* Source: SCM NOW magazine Q1-2019

Does this sound familiar?

Gathering the information and preparation for the S&OP meetings requires many data sources and inputs are often missing.

The tracking of the recurring activities in the S&OP cadence is non-transparent, responsibilities and deadlines are unclear.

I miss an overall approach to tackle identified performance gaps and a process to manage & prioritize initiatives.

I have a working S&OP process, but I do not see the promised benefits.

I have no transparency on Sales & Operations Planning results, which complicates the alignment process during review meetings.

The improvement of S&OP KPIs cannot be tracked transparently.

The execution and management of the S&OP process is costly and labour-intensive.

Problems we encounter within S&OP often.

Does this sound familiar?

Gathering the information and preparation for the S&OP meetings
requires many data sources and inputs are often missing.
The tracking of the recurring activities in the S&OP cadence is non-transparent, responsibilities and deadlines are unclear.
I have a working S&OP process, but I do not see the promised benefits.
The improvement of S&OP KPIs cannot be tracked transparently.
I miss an overall approach to tackle identified performance gaps and a process to manage & prioritize initiatives.
I have no transparency on Sales & Operations Planning results, which complicates the alignment process during review meetings.
The execution and management of the S&OP process is costly and labour-intensive.

Benefits

Up to 15% sales increase

Up to 10% decrease of Supply Chain Costs

Up to 30% inventory reduction

Up to 50% on-time delivery improvement

Up to 15% improvement on fixed capital on the long-term

Up to 12% reduced stock-outs

How it works

We support the execution of your Sales & Operations Planning process in a digital way with our AIO platform, ensuring that you get the best out of your process with measurable results. At the same time, we reduce the overall effort for executing the process and enable real-time progress tracking. Findings from the regular review meetings can immediately be transformed into sustainable improvement initiatives – all in one platform.

Don’t have a Sales & Operations Planning process set-up yet?

Our management consulting team helps you to set-up a tailored approach by defining the recurring process cadence, the required organization, roles & responsibilities including the right incentives and objectives as well as standard meeting agendas. We also support you with individual coaching during the first Sales & Operating Planning cycles.