Leading connected planning business Anaplan recently wrote a piece for Forbes on the focus for this year. Looking back at 2019, there were a number of uncertainties relating to various challenges including Brexit and Tariffs. Businesses battled to maintain prosperity during a transition in consumer demands and a continued rise in competition.  

This year is anticipated to be another period of uncertainty, with elections influences market stability and signs of continued changes in global trading trends. Anaplan believes that those businesses likely to experience success and further development will be the ones that are capable of adapting to change and transform periods of uncertainty into a competitive advantage. Yet, in reality, many companies continue to use long-range planning systems, resulting in significantly slower response time to potential changes in the marketplace.

Real-Time Planning – a necessity?

Traditional long-term plans observed a market over several years and leaders would use a combination of current market trends and historical information to make predictions about the future. Many of these findings are used for large periods of time, not recognising the continuous market changes. As a result, the data generated is not accurate and more importantly, the information generated and used to make decisions is not necessarily correct. 

Evolving market conditions and periods of uncertainty are effectively eliminating the benefits of implementing a long term plan. This was proven last year with many businesses that showed signs of agility creating higher levels of success over their competitors. 

Businesses today need to be far more flexible than ever and responsive to change. For this year, business leaders should avoid long term planning tools and implement accurate, short term planning systems to target growth. This is exactly where connected planning systems can really support businesses in achieving this.

Connected Planning Systems

Connected Planning can support operations in a business, boosting productivity and transforming decision-making processes. Business leaders require a strategy that incorporates our ever-changing landscape, the benefits of technology and new regulations in our markets.

Connected Planning systems remove manual, time-consuming work, exactly the type of jobs you would associate with long-range planning. The system provides a singular platform, incorporating all parts of a business and delivering one channel of information. This translates into clarity, a source of information incorporating an entire company and enabling leaders to understand how their decisions will influence the whole company.

Decision-makers have the ability to define multiple scenarios, blending a range of variables to define what impact future market changes could have on business performance. Businesses can feel secure and more confident in their plans and use this time of uncertainty as an advantage.

A recent report by Forrester into the total economic impact led by Anaplan believes that investing in a connected planning tool can generate a number of improvements for a business. The study concluded that within three years, the Anaplan Connected Planning platform can generate an over 300% increase in return on investment.

Uncertainty is expected to be a common trend this year and consequently, companies that have the capability to plan in real-time will likely stay ahead of unstable times. Removing the long term plan and implementing a connected planning solution provides business leaders with an added level of agility. Integrated in the right way, connected planning provides businesses with a clear, accurate strategy to tackle future market changes and continue to advance during 2020.