Perspectives on Sales & Operations Planning » SaaS http://www.steelwedge.com/blog Best Practices in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:55:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 Does the Cloud need ERP validation, or do ERP’s Need Cloud Cred? http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/does-the-cloud-need-erp-validation-or-do-erp%e2%80%99s-need-cloud-cred.html http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/does-the-cloud-need-erp-validation-or-do-erp%e2%80%99s-need-cloud-cred.html#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:10:17 +0000 Glen Margolis, Founder & CEO http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/?p=1340 Much ado has been made of the recent moves by ERP vendors Oracle and SAP to acquire their way into the SaaS space.  It is indeed high time that the big ERP players  embrace cloud computing.  Certainly, the value of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service has not been lost on next generation software and solutions players—nor, more importantly—on its users at global businesses of all sizes.

Further,  businesses haven’t limited their SaaS investments just to sales and human capital management like the recent acquisition examples of RightNow  and SuccessFactors.

Ironically, in the supply chain arena, for at least the last five years, it has been the new breed of SaaS player that has actually added more value to the very on-premise systems where Oracle and SAP dominate.

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) which informs better supply chain agility, is all about bringing together the planning process across demand and supply organizations for a single view of the truth to make better business decisions.  While the process of S&OP has been in place for a few decades, it hasn’t been until the last few years that technology—especially easy to access, implement and configure SaaS-based technology—has enabled companies to unite the disparate ERP, CRM, SCM, BI and Finance systems data to achieve their S&OP priorities. Indeed some of the world’s largest, most complex manufacturers are trusting cloud-based S&OP solutions to help them harmonize their ERP and other rigid, on premise systems and, in turn, become more agile organizations, able to cope with today’s volatile business environment.

Since cloud computing solutions have been delivering better business leverage from ERP systems, it is time that ERP vendors give cloud computing the credit it deserves and has rightly earned.

 

]]> Much ado has been made of the recent moves by ERP vendors Oracle and SAP to acquire their way into the SaaS space.  It is indeed high time that the big ERP players  embrace cloud computing.  Certainly, the value of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service has not been lost on next generation software and solutions players—nor, more importantly—on its users at global businesses of all sizes.

Further,  businesses haven’t limited their SaaS investments just to sales and human capital management like the recent acquisition examples of RightNow  and SuccessFactors.

Ironically, in the supply chain arena, for at least the last five years, it has been the new breed of SaaS player that has actually added more value to the very on-premise systems where Oracle and SAP dominate.

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) which informs better supply chain agility, is all about bringing together the planning process across demand and supply organizations for a single view of the truth to make better business decisions.  While the process of S&OP has been in place for a few decades, it hasn’t been until the last few years that technology—especially easy to access, implement and configure SaaS-based technology—has enabled companies to unite the disparate ERP, CRM, SCM, BI and Finance systems data to achieve their S&OP priorities. Indeed some of the world’s largest, most complex manufacturers are trusting cloud-based S&OP solutions to help them harmonize their ERP and other rigid, on premise systems and, in turn, become more agile organizations, able to cope with today’s volatile business environment.

Since cloud computing solutions have been delivering better business leverage from ERP systems, it is time that ERP vendors give cloud computing the credit it deserves and has rightly earned.

 

]]> http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/does-the-cloud-need-erp-validation-or-do-erp%e2%80%99s-need-cloud-cred.html/feed 0 Tiger Woods, S&OP and Elephants http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/tiger-woods-sop-elephants.html http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/tiger-woods-sop-elephants.html#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:02:15 +0000 Glen Margolis, Founder & CEO http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/?p=437 As Tiger Woods slowly recedes from visibility in today’s fast paced, polyphonic, multi-media environment, I am driven to identify some sort of meaning in it all.   And, in a world in which bits, bytes and terabytes of data stream before us daily this is no easy task.  Living in an age when global conflict shares a table with global social networking, creating personal connections has become the Holy Grail.  On occasion connections do occur.  When this happens the information that fog my life temporarily lifts.  So, ending a long day immersed in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP),  I ponder — do S&OP, Tiger Woods and Elephants share something in common?

At its best, a highly collaborative, data-driven Sales and Operations Planning process creates visibility.  The consequences of bad choice become clear.  And, elephants sitting in the room – or perhaps obsolescent inventory lying in a warehouse – cannot be avoided.  In good S&OP scenarios are created, alternatives examined, and the path forward is understood.  Often, the process of S&OP itself surfaces important issues that might otherwise have been missed.  Were there early indications of bad choice in Tiger Wood’s behavior?  Was his life story of discipline and perfection to good to be true?  Was there an elephant in the room all along that we were all ignoring?

We all love a hero.  And of course, we seek to avoid unpleasant experience.  While the world worshipped Tiger, Tiger was spending his energy struggling to contain a boiling maelstrom of problems. There indeed was an elephant in Tiger’s room and neither he nor the rest of the world was willing to confront this painful fact until the elephant crashed through the house.  The good news is that life will go on for the rest of us and Tiger will survive the storm.…

]]> As Tiger Woods s1lowly recedes from visibility in today’s fast paced, polyphonic, multi-media environment, I am driven to identify some sort of meaning in it all.   And, in a world in which bits, bytes and terabytes of data stream before us daily this is no easy task.  Living in an age when global conflict shares a table with global social networking, creating personal connections has become the Holy Grail.  On occasion connections do occur.  When this happens the information that fog my life temporarily lifts.  So, ending a long day immersed in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP),  I ponder — do S&OP, Tiger Woods and Elephants share something in common?

At its best, a highly collaborative, data-driven Sales and Operations Planning process creates visibility.  The consequences of bad choice become clear.  And, elephants sitting in the room – or perhaps obsolescent inventory lying in a warehouse – cannot be avoided.  In good S&OP scenarios are created, alternatives examined, and the path forward is understood.  Often, the process of S&OP itself surfaces important issues that might otherwise have been missed.  Were there early indications of bad choice in Tiger Wood’s behavior?  Was his life story of discipline and perfection to good to be true?  Was there an elephant in the room all along that we were all ignoring?

We all love a hero.  And of course, we seek to avoid unpleasant experience.  While the world worshipped Tiger, Tiger was spending his energy struggling to contain a boiling maelstrom of problems. There indeed was an elephant in Tiger’s room and neither he nor the rest of the world was willing to confront this painful fact until the elephant crashed through the house.  The good news is that life will go on for the rest of us and Tiger will survive the storm.

However, in today’s troubled economy, corporate executives cannot afford to ignore the elephant’s in the room.  There is no room for bad choice.  Constant vigilance and decisive action are imperative.  Sales and Operations Planning is a process that can elucidate the elephant in the room.  Moreover, Steelwedge S&OP drives better decision making and good choice.  Did a major customer in a remote region of the world just cancel a major order?  If so, how should we react?  Should we discount aging inventory before promoting new products?  Can we improve profitability with a different price structure?  The answer to these questions is the fuel that powers successful corporate governance.  And, indeed the story of Tiger Woods, Elephants and S&OP provides an important message.

]]> http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/tiger-woods-sop-elephants.html/feed 2 The economy is getting better, oil prices are up…what next? http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/the-economy-is-getting-better-and-oil-prices-are-upwhat-next.html http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/the-economy-is-getting-better-and-oil-prices-are-upwhat-next.html#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:26:14 +0000 Glen Margolis, Founder & CEO http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/?p=338 Anyone following the news is aware of the now steady drumbeat (finally!) of good news on the economic front.  Exports are up, Europe is doing better, home sales are up, and, of course, the stock market is up.  But wait, what follows next?  Oil prices are up.  Soon, commodities prices will start rising.  Then transportation costs will rise.

So what does this mean for manufacturers and how  does it relate to Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)??  Clearly, after many quarters of focus on efficient operations and lean inventory management, the focus will once again shift to managing supply chain costs.  Transportation costs, materials costs, and eventually labor costs will eventually rise to prominence.

Are you prepared?

Effective planning is essential.  How will your operations change if there is another oil spike?  What will you do if a port is closed down by a strike?  How do transportation economics impact lead times?  These are just a few of the questions that must be understood by planners.

Ensuring that your S&OP Plan incorporates scenarios that mitigate these concerns is fast becoming essential.  Ensuring that your team is aware and focused is even more essential.  Today’s S&OP solutions such as Compass Express by Steelwedge offer the perfect antidote for these kind of challenges.

]]> Anyone following the news is aware of the now steady drumbeat (finally!) of good news on the economic front.  Exports are up, Europe is doing better, home sales are up, and, of course, the stock market is up.  But wait, what follows next?  Oil prices are up.  Soon, commodities prices will start rising.  Then transportation costs will rise.

So what does this mean for manufacturers and how  does it relate to Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)??  Clearly, after many quarters of focus on efficient operations and lean inventory management, the focus will once again shift to managing supply chain costs.  Transportation costs, materials costs, and eventually labor costs will eventually rise to prominence.

Are you prepared?

Effective planning is essential.  How will your operations change if there is another oil spike?  What will you do if a port is closed down by a strike?  How do transportation economics impact lead times?  These are just a few of the questions that must be understood by planners.

Ensuring that your S&OP Plan incorporates scenarios that mitigate these concerns is fast becoming essential.  Ensuring that your team is aware and focused is even more essential.  Today’s S&OP solutions such as Compass Express by Steelwedge offer the perfect antidote for these kind of challenges.

]]> http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/the-economy-is-getting-better-and-oil-prices-are-upwhat-next.html/feed 0 Improving Business Performance with Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/improving-business-performance-with-sales-and-operations-planning-sop.html http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/improving-business-performance-with-sales-and-operations-planning-sop.html#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:12:57 +0000 Glen Margolis, Founder & CEO http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/?p=333 Effective Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) measurably improves margins. However, historically, S&OP relied on backward-facing shipment data, subjective opinion, and incomplete operational data.  It was overly complex, costly, time-consuming, unreliable and inaccurate.

Now, technology-enabled S&OP processes drive a practical S&OP process, systematically integrating people, processes and data, and restoring confidence in the forecasting and planning processes. Effective technology-enabled S&OP guides participants through a workflow-driven, collaborative process, resulting in a highly accurate aligned forecast and plan that all functions and trading partners can trust. With solutions such as Steelwedge Compass Express S&OP planners can quickly adapt resources to changing conditions, significantly increase margins and dramatically improve revenue predictability. The key is the adoption of a flexible, easy to use, collaborative, and comprehensive solution.

Improve Revenue Visibility

Two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies have no formal way of aligning supply and demand based on corporate-wide inputs. Unscientific approaches result in poor focus of organizational resources like capacity, manufacturing, staffing, sales efforts, finance and budgets. The overall Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process suffers in turn. Creating true revenue visibility not only requires strong analytic support, but also the automation of systematic and automated processes for soliciting feedback and creating agreement among multiple parties

Create a Profitable S&OP Plan

Steelwedge empowers executives to evaluate alternate pricing scenarios, product mixes, and configurations. Once the optimum margin forecast scenario has been identified, promotions, product packaging and configuration, and customer targeting decisions can be even further tuned to drive the most profitable demand plan possible. Through participative processes, sales, operations, marketing, and finance are able to work in unison toward a common goal of selling and delivering the most profitable mix of products. The result is enhanced corporate earnings and more efficient…

]]> Effective Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) measurably improves margins. However, historically, S&OP relied on backward-facing shipment data, subjective opinion, and incomplete operational data.  It was overly complex, costly, time-consuming, unreliable and inaccurate.

Now, technology-enabled S&OP processes drive a practical S&OP process, systematically integrating people, processes and data, and restoring confidence in the forecasting and planning processes. Effective technology-enabled S&OP guides participants through a workflow-driven, collaborative process, resulting in a highly accurate aligned forecast and plan that all functions and trading partners can trust. With solutions such as Steelwedge Compass Express S&OP planners can quickly adapt resources to changing conditions, significantly increase margins and dramatically improve revenue predictability. The key is the adoption of a flexible, easy to use, collaborative, and comprehensive solution.

Improve Revenue Visibility

Two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies have no formal way of aligning supply and demand based on corporate-wide inputs. Unscientific approaches result in poor focus of organizational resources like capacity, manufacturing, staffing, sales efforts, finance and budgets. The overall Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process suffers in turn. Creating true revenue visibility not only requires strong analytic support, but also the automation of systematic and automated processes for soliciting feedback and creating agreement among multiple parties

Create a Profitable S&OP Plan

Steelwedge empowers executives to evaluate alternate pricing scenarios, product mixes, and configurations. Once the optimum margin forecast scenario has been identified, promotions, product packaging and configuration, and customer targeting decisions can be even further tuned to drive the most profitable demand plan possible. Through participative processes, sales, operations, marketing, and finance are able to work in unison toward a common goal of selling and delivering the most profitable mix of products. The result is enhanced corporate earnings and more efficient operations.

Increase Corporate Accountability

Most planners point solutions don’t allow you to identify, track and archive multiple plans of record, individual adjustments, detailed accountability statistics, and process measurements. For example, the sales staff is inevitably overshooting and undershooting their numbers. However, they typically do it consistently. What’s needed is a system for tracking those consistent fluctuations and archiving the information for analysis.

Support Emerging Manufacturing Initiatives

Steelwedge is the first S&OP solution that addresses vital emerging manufacturing initiatives, revenue visibility issues, and corporate accountability challenges faced by today’s corporations.

Outsourcing Managing outside suppliers or contractors requires a high degree of collaboration and communication, as well as negotiation skill when dealing with competitive bids for limited manufacturing capacity. Accurately understanding inventory liabilities, managing demand and coordinating forecasts is essential for effective outsourcing.

Postponement Planning In order to understand how many configured products will be sold and to “manage the mix,” manufacturing companies need to dynamically manage product attach rates and connect sales pipeline data to customer buying patterns that are based on historical estimates and analysis of item/component demand.

Lean Manufacturing There is a misconception that with just-in-time (JIT) inventory there is no inventory and hence no need for a forecast. In actuality, accurate forecasts are more important than ever. Suppliers need to know what orders to expect, and specialized components often have long lead times and are not always in inventory. Moreover, regardless of short-term operational requirements, product management, marketing and finance need to plan and invest based on a common set of future assumptions.

Mix Management In today’s volative environment, companies are struggling to understand and deliver the right mix of products, components, and packages.  Retailer’s are increasingly bundling products to reduce costs and increase margins while technology players are becoming highly focused on delivering the exact mix of components required by their clients.  In this envrionment, the need for an S&OP process that manages  product mix and assortment is crucial.

]]> http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/improving-business-performance-with-sales-and-operations-planning-sop.html/feed 2 Creating Value through Purpose Built S&OP Technology http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/creating-value-through-purpose-built-sop-technology.html http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/creating-value-through-purpose-built-sop-technology.html#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 20:40:28 +0000 Glen Margolis, Founder & CEO http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/?p=299

Many corporations are turning to S&OP to create value by improving financial and operational performance through better alignment of supply and demand. However, the majority applications that claim to be “S&OP” solutions (e.g. excel, demand planning, supply planning, business intelligence…), where designed as “building blocks” to solve only a subset of the S&OP problem. S&OP “building blocks” are critical functions for an effective S&OP solution, however, they where not architected and designed to leverage the full value resulting from a fully technology enabled Executive S&OP process.

To achieve the full benefits of S&OP, a convergence of multiple capabilities within a technology platform is required to enable the process including:

  1. Centralized Database
  2. Info Bridge
  3. Multi-Level Planning
  4. Multi-User Collaboration Model
  5. Flexible Business Rules & Formulas
  6. Workflow
  7. Performance Management

The Steelwedge OnDemand Executive S&OP solution was designed with a 100% focus on S&OP. It was architected and designed to specifically meet the requirements of an Executive S&OP solution. The Steelwedge OnDemand Executive S&OP solution is built on an enterprise class three-tiered Java platform that embraces the seven key capabilities identified above.

]]>

Many corporations are turning to S&OP to create value by improving financial and operational performance through better alignment of supply and demand. However, the majority applications that claim to be “S&OP” solutions (e.g. excel, demand planning, supply planning, business intelligence…), where designed as “building blocks” to solve only a subset of the S&OP problem. S&OP “building blocks” are critical functions for an effective S&OP solution, however, they where not architected and designed to leverage the full value resulting from a fully technology enabled Executive S&OP process.

To achieve the full benefits of S&OP, a convergence of multiple capabilities within a technology platform is required to enable the process including:

  1. Centralized Database
  2. Info Bridge
  3. Multi-Level Planning
  4. Multi-User Collaboration Model
  5. Flexible Business Rules & Formulas
  6. Workflow
  7. Performance Management

The Steelwedge OnDemand Executive S&OP solution was designed with a 100% focus on S&OP. It was architected and designed to specifically meet the requirements of an Executive S&OP solution. The Steelwedge OnDemand Executive S&OP solution is built on an enterprise class three-tiered Java platform that embraces the seven key capabilities identified above.

]]> http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/creating-value-through-purpose-built-sop-technology.html/feed 0 S&OP: The need for automation http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/sop-the-need-for-automation.html http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/sop-the-need-for-automation.html#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 17:24:14 +0000 Glen Margolis, Founder & CEO http://www.steelwedge.com/blog/?p=297 S&OP continues to gain visibility among global manufacturing companies as a key process to drive improvements in revenue, profitability, customer service and competitive advantage. Unfortunately, many companies are confused about what it is and where it fits. Executive S&OP is focused on the medium to long term planning horizon based on product family volume versus SKU level unit mix. Engaging executive management in a monthly review for a 1-2 hour meeting requires a more aggregate level of planning to drive strategic level decisions around balancing supply and demand.

The types of decisions addressed in Executive S&OP are as follows:

– How much to increase or decrease plant capacity Should we add or delete operational shifts?
– Do we need to pursue alternative global sources of capacity?
– Does our pre-build inventory strategy support our needs looking out 3 quarters?
– What is the best timing for a major new product introduction?
– How does reducing our capacity by 25% impact Revenue and Margin?

Is it practical for executives to log onto an SAP or Oracle ERP, CRM, Demand Planning, Supply Chain Planning, or Business Intelligence application to get answers to the above questions? Do these applications provide the appropriate level of detail in one solution to support strategic level decisions?

Most enterprises do not have a single application with the appropriate level of detail to support Executive S&OP. The primary application used to support the process is desktop Excel, which has many short comings including: manual data consolidation, lack of security, limited version control…

Steelwedge Software (www.steelwedge.com) is purpose-built for Executive S&OP. The application is designed to consolidate data from multiple applications and provide multi-level aggregate views needed for cross functional collaboration and Executive level decisions.]]> telescope3S&OP continues to gain visibility among global manufacturing companies as a key process to drive improvements in revenue, profitability, customer service and competitive advantage. Unfortunately, many companies are confused about what it is and where it fits. Executive S&OP is focused on the medium to long term planning horizon based on product family volume versus SKU level unit mix. Engaging executive management in a monthly review for a 1-2 hour meeting requires a more aggregate level of planning to drive strategic level decisions around balancing supply and demand.

The types of decisions addressed in Executive S&OP are as follows:

– How much to increase or decrease plant capacity Should we add or delete operational shifts?
– Do we need to pursue alternative global sources of capacity?
– Does our pre-build inventory strategy support our needs looking out 3 quarters?
– What is the best timing for a major new product introduction?
– How does reducing our capacity by 25% impact Revenue and Margin?

Is it practical for executives to log onto an SAP or Oracle ERP, CRM, Demand Planning, Supply Chain Planning, or Business Intelligence application to get answers to the above questions? Do these applications provide the appropriate level of detail in one solution to support strategic level decisions?

Most enterprises do not have a single application with the appropriate level of detail to support Executive S&OP. The primary application used to support the process is desktop Excel, which has many short comings including: manual data consolidation, lack of security, limited version control…

Steelwedge Software (www.steelwedge.com) is purpose-built for Executive S&OP. The application is designed to consolidate data from multiple applications and provide multi-level aggregate views needed for cross functional collaboration and Executive level decisions. Companies that implement Steelwedge have a single application with built in workflow, user security, catalog management, excel user interface, and performance management.yes;”>While Executive S&OP has existed as a concept for many decades, for today’s complex, data-rich, highly collaborative global organizations, application-driven Executive S&OP is no longer a luxury but rather a necessity.

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