It’s stating the obvious to say that how well executives manage planning processes has a big impact on how well a business unit or company plans. However, one significant source of the value of our benchmark research is that it establishes hard evidence – the numbers – that transforms mere assertions into proof points. This is particularly important when people within an organization want to improve a process. Change
We use the term “business planning” to encompass all of the forward-looking activities in which companies routinely engage. Our research covered 11 of the most common types of planning that go on in businesses, including sales, production and head-count planning as well as budgeting. In the research fewer than half of participants said their organization manages processes well or very well. Overall, the research finds that the best managed plans are those covering capital spending, workforce planning and demand planning. The ones at the bottom the list are sales forecasting, sales and
The research also quantifies the impacts of important ingredients of a well-managed process. For example, communication is an essential element of successful planning. Nearly all (85%) companies in which executives communicate strategy and objective well or very well said their planning process works well or very well. By contrast, only 18 percent of companies in which executive communication is only adequate or poor have a well-functioning process. All aspects of business involve making trade-offs in allocating resources, and clear communication of strategy and objectives works to keep everyone on the same page. When the strategy is not plainly laid out, individuals must rely on tacit understanding of or guesses about it and the trade-offs that support it best. These assumptions may not be accurate or consistent across a company and can prevent concerted effort in the required direction.
Unfortunately half of the participating companies said their management doesn’t communicate strategy and objectives well. Often this is because executives think they’ve made this clear without confirming that is. An email message at the start of the annual budget process isn’t enough. Ambiguity also is inevitable when strategy is laid out are at such an abstract level that the way to achieve results is open to wildly different interpretations.
The solution to the communications issue is consistent repetition of objectives and their strategic context and framing planning and review discussions in that context. The research demonstrates the need to maintain clear, effective messaging. Companies in which executives communicate well the need to adapt plans during the planning period have a planning process that works well or very well (83%) more than three times as often as those that don’t (25%).
I’ve stressed the importance of integrating planning across business silos because it can make all planning processes more effective. One key aspect of integrating planning is having ready access to other business units’ plans. For example, Manufacturing and Operations should be able to see the latest plans of
Those are some of the ingredients necessary for a well-managed planning process. The research also demonstrates the value of a well-managed process. One of the most important objectives for effective planning is accuracy because correctly anticipating how the business will evolve and perform over time can lead to optimal allocation of resources and coordination of efforts. The research confirms the perhaps obvious assertion that companies that have a well-managed planning process produce plans that are more accurate. The numbers also illustrate the stark consequences of not managing the process well: Most (80%) of those that do it well create plans that are accurate or very accurate, while just one-fourth of those that only adequately manage the process and almost none of those that do a poor job achieve such accuracy.
An important measure of planning efficiency is the appropriateness of the time spent on the process. Spending too much time obviously is wasteful, but so is spending not enough time, since a hastily constructed plan is likely to be subpar. Indeed only 16 percent of companies that spend too little time have plans that are accurate or very accurate, compared to two-thirds of those that spend the right amount of time and one-third that spend too much time.
Using the right software to support the business planning also is a factor in managing the process well. I have noted that desktop spreadsheets work well for individuals who create planning models and work with limited sets of data, but they are not well suited for recurring collaborative enterprise processes. Our research shows that companies that use a dedicated application more often have a process that works well or very well than those that use spreadsheets (60% vs. 47%). To be sure,
Regards,
Robert Kugel – SVP Research