Unlocking business potential: the power of next-generation IBP – part 1

30 Sep 2024

This blog covers:

• The key features and benefits of our advanced IBP solution
• How this solution addresses common pain points in business planning
• Real-world applications across different business functions

The ability to make informed decisions quickly can mean the difference between market leadership and obsolescence. That's why Oliver Wight has partnered with Board to create a pioneering Integrated Business Planning (IBP) solution that not only keeps pace with change but drives it.

The results of Oliver Wight IBP Powered by Board speak for themselves, as evidenced by the transformative impact on global companies like Lamb Weston.

Real-world impact

Indeed, while we're just beginning this IBP evolution, early adopters are already seeing significant benefits. Lamb Weston, a global frozen food processing company, faced operational challenges following acquisitions in the Australian market. By implementing our IBP solution, they were able to consolidate their planning processes and gain a new level of confidence in their forecasts.

Allan Findlay, Head of Supply Chain at Lamb Weston, says: "We've gone through a phase of deployment where we've been able to launch rapidly, and within two months, we had our first demand plan. We could forecast our sales with a level of confidence that we will deliver against the plan."

This isn't just an incremental improvement – it's a complete transformation of their operational planning capabilities, allowing Lamb Weston to respond to market changes faster than their competitors, driving increased market share and profitability.

Key components of our IBP solution

To appreciate the breadth and depth of our IBP solution fully, let's explore the key components – as covered in our recent video series. Each of these elements plays a crucial role in transforming your business planning and execution:

1. Core Capabilities

At the heart of our solution lies a set of core capabilities that set it apart from traditional planning tools. These include:

• Seamless integration with existing systems with 100s of connectors already developed and the ability to add bespoke systems with ease
• Ability to capture and maintain activities and assumptions driving plans
• Scenario modeling to understand the impact of uncertainties
• Visualization of gaps vs commitments
• Translation of operational plans into financial projections

These capabilities work together to provide a competitive edge, enabling faster and more accurate decision-making than your rivals.

2. Portfolio Review

Our Portfolio Review functionality allows businesses to:

• Understand the financial and strategic health of current product or service portfolios
• Visualize and manage the innovation funnel for future products
• Create and manage a dynamic product master plan
• Analyze critical resource loading for innovation and portfolio development

By providing a clear view of your portfolio's performance and future potential, you can make strategic decisions that outpace your competition and drive market share growth.

3. Demand Review

The Demand Review process is streamlined with features like:

• Integration of portfolio plans into demand forecasts
• Capture and analysis of assumptions supporting demand plans
• Modeling of risks and opportunities and their potential impact
• Gap analysis against committed plans driving early actions to manage or mitigate

These features enable you to respond more quickly to market changes, improving customer responsiveness and reducing the cost to serve.

4. Supply Review

Our Supply Review capabilities enable organizations to:

• Visualize and manage critical supply constraints
• Model the impact of demand scenarios on the end-to-end supply chain
• Visualize inventory projections and working capital implications
• Create comprehensive Supply Review information decks

By providing early visibility into supply chain risks and opportunities, you can optimize your operations for maximum efficiency and profitability.

5. Integrated Reconciliation

This crucial step brings everything together, allowing businesses to:

• Flag material issues across the entire business
• Model and understand the impact of scenarios across all plans including interdependencies
• Understand the impact of vulnerabilities and opportunities from all review stages
• Prepare for the Management Business Review in the solution with no need for additional information or manipulation of data

This holistic view enables you to identify and mitigate risks before they impact your business, giving you a significant advantage over competitors.

6. Management Business Review

The culmination of the IBP process, our solution supports the Management Business Review by:

• Providing an up-to-date view of organizational performance
• Straightforward visualization of gaps vs strategic objectives and recommendations to close those gaps or, indeed, go beyond current performance projections
• Presenting family or sub-aggregation plans along with the whole-of-business view
• Capturing and tracking action items and decisions

This comprehensive overview ensures that your entire organization is aligned and moving faster than the competition.

These components work together seamlessly to provide a comprehensive, integrated approach to business planning. As demonstrated by Lamb Weston's success, this holistic view enables faster, more confident decision-making and agile responses to market changes.

Why wait? Contact us to arrange a free demo of Oliver Wight IBP Powered by Board.

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