Outside-in planning: a big elephant that needs a bite-sized approach

“There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” Desmond Tutu Outside-in thinking in theory Outside-in thinking makes sense. It has been suggested to include a market, customer, and competitor view in a strategy definition for more than 50 years. It is not new in strategy. It is not new in supply chain management either.  Lee’s uncertainty framework (2002) shows … Continue reading Outside-in planning: a big elephant that needs a bite-sized approach

Decision Centric IBP is Becoming a Reality

A Vision coming to Life IBP decisions can be segmented by machine centric S&OE decisions and human centric IBP decisions. This new planning paradigm was suggested by my colleague Hein Regeer and I in a Foresight article in 2021 Our article was a continuation of my articles autonomous supply chain planning (2019) and Technology Support in Integrated Business Planning: Automation, Augmentation and Human Centricity (2021), where I lay out a … Continue reading Decision Centric IBP is Becoming a Reality

How to Overcome the Supply Chain Decision Gap

As John Lennon said, “Live is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”. Every supply chain plan or schedule meets variations or disruptions that require corrective decisions and actions. However, a gap remains between data, plans, insights and taking action to solve short and long term issues and grasp opportunities. I called this the “Decision Gap” in a recent webinar. A week later I … Continue reading How to Overcome the Supply Chain Decision Gap

Revolutionizing Supply Chain Decision-Making with Decision Intelligence

In the fast-paced world of supply chain management, the ability to make timely and informed decisions can spell the difference between success and failure. One crucial aspect of this decision-making process occurs in the sales and operations execution horizon—a critical 13-week window where key stakeholders gather weekly to navigate the complexities of demand planning, supply management, inventory allocation, and more. Traditionally, these meetings involve a … Continue reading Revolutionizing Supply Chain Decision-Making with Decision Intelligence

Planners, Embrace your Biased Judgements

The content discusses the limitations of forecasting and the evolving role of forecasters/planners. It emphasizes the need for integrating human judgment and predictive analytics in the digital supply chain, highlighting the advantages of machine detection and correction of human bias. It suggests using decision checklists to counteract human biases, and encourages collaboration between humans and machines for improvement. Continue reading Planners, Embrace your Biased Judgements

Think Decision first, Data and AI later

“Companies with flaky master data would be wise to cleaning that up first before embarking on DI.”, a comment on my last blog about Decision Intelligence said. I surely agree, data is absolutely important when implementing technology. It already was when I was implementing ERP and APS systems 20+ years ago. And it still is. Garbage in is still garbage out indeed.   Maybe more … Continue reading Think Decision first, Data and AI later

Decision Intelligence, a Natural Step in the Planning Evolution

Decision Intelligence (DI) is a natural evolution in supply chain planning technology. It closes the planning and execution automation gap which has been left by ERP and APS, both technologies that have reached the maturity phase for their functional aims. 7% of companies have started to adopt autonomous end-to-end planning. 3% of companies use autonomous execution to enhance their supply chain resilience. Prediction are that … Continue reading Decision Intelligence, a Natural Step in the Planning Evolution

A Case for a More Decision Centric IBP

Although Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is designed to make high-impact business decisions, little attention has been given to the quality of decisions in an IBP cycle. In my latest Foresight article, I argue that to continuously learn from and improve IBP decisions, decision processes ought to be integrated with the traditional IBP process and supported by Decision Intelligence technology that goes beyond existing transactional and … Continue reading A Case for a More Decision Centric IBP

The Intelligent IBP Manifesto – key principles for a new planning paradigm

The IBP paradigm has hardly changed for 30 years, the decision needle has not moved enough. We’ve entered an AI era where 74% of work can be augmented or automated and 26% eliminated. Planning will not be excluded from this evolution. However, only 3% of companies apply automated execution and 7% autonomous end to end planning. 2% of managers apply best practice decision methods. Hardly … Continue reading The Intelligent IBP Manifesto – key principles for a new planning paradigm

Reimagining IBP in the Age of AI

What would a Martian expert in supply chain planning and technology think when looking back at earth? With all technology available on earth would it continue with a 30+ year old, sequential, cascading, rather sluggish, manual planning process with a lack of focus on decision digitisation, decision quality and decision learning? Or would it start with a blank sheet and reimagine IBP? Closing the planning … Continue reading Reimagining IBP in the Age of AI