Scenario planning with confidence – can the right technology help?
Is your scenario planning process quick enough?
How will the increase in remote workers effect the planning process?
Are you Self Sufficient enough to react with speed during change?
Is your planning process a risk, or competitive advantage?
We have reacted, we have pivoted and now we need to recover … How have you reacted? How have you pivoted? Can you pivot? How are you planning your recovery? Can you recover? Big questions, big impactful decisions which are being made all over the world.
Being faced with the unknown, unexpected and downright scary changes, all businesses react. Depending on your industry, process, company culture, customer type, market dependencies and your own approach to business, we will all react differently.
Why are some brands quick to recover? What makes some fold? How do others leap into a new path to adapt to the change?
We cannot plan for these changes, we cannot anticipate them, we just need to be ready to react when they happen, right?
Wrong! (Well almost)
Brands who do well, anticipate change, they plan for it. How do they do it? Aside from having great forward-thinking leaders, they have insight – and lots of it.
How do you gain insight that helps you plan for future change?
Businesses have mounds of data coming in by the second, all of this data, with the right technology to curate it, tells a story. A snapshot of business past, present and future. Most companies have this in place already, they have a certain view of the future based on how the world is now. What successful brands also have, is the ability to see the future of the business with various different endings based on different scenarios playing out. If this happens, then this happens. If we do this, then this changes. Being aware of these scenarios gives brands an edge. They are aware, therefore can be ready to react better than those who only had one view of the future.
Scenario planning is KEY to being able to react quickly when ‘change’ happens. If you are aware of different scenarios, you can create recovery plans in preparation and be quick to move when/if such change happens. This key insight is not only used to react, but as a regular process to avoid risk and inform positive decisions that push the business forward.
What about change that simply cannot be predicted?
This will happen, and it has. Sometimes, no matter how much we plan and prepare, we cannot avoid being hit unexpectedly by change. Does it throw all our theory out the window? No, it doesn’t. We cannot plan for some change, but what we can do, is have a robust process in place which helps us to understand the change as best we can and react quickly and informatively. Brands with the right scenario planning technology will be able to plot their path much quicker than those who rely on multiple excel spreadsheets, inadequate systems or external reporting solutions.
At HAYNE, we partner with leading software brands such as IBM, LucaNet and CCH Tagetik to help our clients future proof their Budgeting, Planning, Reporting and Forecasting processes with the right technology and support. IBM Planning Analytics is one of the software products in which we are experts, it is also fantastic at scenario planning. In our upcoming webinar we will be showing you how this powerful Planning software tool supports integrated scenario planning, aids remote working and empowers you to be self-sufficient.
If you are a senior Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing or HR Professionals responsible for ‘Planning’ in their business, you are likely to want to understand how technology, such as IBM Planning Analytics, can deliver powerful scenario planning tools. We showcase this in our on-demand webinar: Plan for anything, be ready for Anything with Scenario Planning (July 2020). It’s 30 minutes long and will show you key features and functionality in action, which showcase IBM Planning Analytics powerful ‘scenario planning’ capability. The webinar will focus on three key areas;
- Scenario Planning – How does technology support this and give you the edge?
- Remote Workforce – How can you ensure an effective planning process with a newly expanded remote workforce?
- Self-sufficient – What impact does being ‘self-sufficient’ have on the business during the planning process and scenario planning?
Looking for more resources and support?
- Take a look at IBM Planning Analytics more closely
- Request a Call, Demo or Free Trial of IBM Planning Analytics.
- Contact us to discuss your scenario planning requirements
