NEWS: Oliver Wight seminar reveals executives lack planning ambition
A survey conducted at a recent seminar for European business leaders, suggests that top executives are not getting the most from their planning processes because they are not being ambitious enough.
The poll, conducted at the exclusive Oliver Wight thought-leadership seminar on ‘achieving business transformation through Integrated Business Planning’ in London on 1stMarch, revealed that almost a quarter of delegates (23%) claimed ‘improved forecast accuracy’ was the biggest benefit for their business when IBP was implemented, while only 7% had seen an increase in revenues.
The sample also revealed that improvements in customer service, better supply planning, reduction in inventory and improved demand-to-procurement all scored highly. Oliver Wight CEO, Les Brookes, believes this shows senior executives are not demanding enough from their planning process and they don’t recognise its true potential.
“Often the motivation for implementing an Integrated Business Plan is just to improve processes rather than to transform the business. The objectives are typically set by supply chain around inventory and supply planning, which are not exciting for the business leaders, so they don’t get involved at the outset” he says.
The seminar, jointly hosted by Oliver Wight partner Paul Archer, showed that once management starts to see the true benefits of IBP coming through, far more impressive results are possible. “With realisation at the top, that means IBP can actually be used to run the entire business, ambitions are often recalibrated and growth of 10-15% is possible through the use of IBP in the proactive closing of business performance gaps.”
Archer identified three things that need to be addressed for the right ambition to be set and for transformation to be achieved through successful business planning implementation. First and foremost, the relentless pursuit of the business strategy is key to success. “Never give up,” he says. “You must continually strive to reach the perfect planning environment and make sure you take the value from every step along the way.”
Secondly, to deliver the experience and value customers require. And lastly, inspiration is essential; by “inspiring internal teams to get behind the process, the whole business will work towards a single goal and see transformation delivered across the board,” claims Archer.
40 delegates from 30 companies across Europe - retail, service, FMCG, pharmaceutical and manufacturing attended the event at the Radisson Blu hotel, London Heathrow. Using the findings from the research, and the knowledge and advice from the Oliver Wight consultants, delegates were encouraged to set greater ambition for the success of implementing IBP to deliver business transformation.
- ENDS –
More information
Zoe Davis
Oliver Wight EAME
www.oliverwight-eame.com
Chelsey Palmer
RONIN Marketing Limited
44 (0)203 701 3974
chelsey@roninmarketing.co.uk
www.roninmarketing.co.uk
About Oliver Wight
At Oliver Wight, we believe sustainable business improvement can only be delivered by your own people; so, unlike other consultancy firms, we transfer our knowledge to you. Pioneers of Sales and Operations Planning and originators of the fundamentals behind supply chain planning, Oliver Wight professionals are the acknowledged industry thought leaders for Integrated Business Planning (IBP).
Integrated Business Planning allows your senior executives to plan and manage the entire organisation over a 24-month horizon, while Oliver Wight’s extended Supply Chain Planning and Optimization ensures your supply chain is designed and structured to deliver best-in-class customer service with minimal costs. Using the Oliver Wight Maturity Model to pursue our globally recognised Class A standard for best practice will determine a tailored improvement journey for you to develop your organisation’s processes, and reach and sustain excellent business performance. With a track record of more than 40 years of helping some of the world’s best-known organisations, Oliver Wight will help you define your company’s vision for the future and deliver performance and financial results that last.
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