Achieving a Higher Return on Planning
Companies do a lot of planning: They plan sales, determine what products and services they will offer, decide what they will charge and what these will cost. They plan the headcount they’ll need to run the business and how to organize distribution and their supply chain. They also produce a budget, which is a financial plan.
However, companies don’t always get a worthwhile return on the time they invest in all this planning. To maximize the effectiveness of this necessary process, Ventana Research advocates “predictive planning,” a high-participation, collaborative, action-oriented approach to planning built on frequent, short planning sprints. There are a number of benefits to predictive planning. The high participation involved promotes accountability. Accuracy also is enhanced by broad involvement and because refinements are made at shorter intervals. Short cycles increase agility in responding to market or competitive changes. Collaboration enables an ongoing dialogue that brings together finance, line-of-business managers and executives to enhance coordination and alignment to strategy.