When it comes to implementing an effective S&OP process, do we need a hard-driving commander or a consensus driven committee?  After all, S&OP is about collaboration, right?  Well, yes and no.  An S&OP process must be collaborative.  But the implementation need not be heavily committee-based.

The Tony award winning musical Memphis includes a song titled “Change Don’t Come Easy”.  Oh how true that is.  In social norms and in business, change can be slow and painful.  So what’s a successful recipe for S&OP change?  Although every enterprise has its own unique characteristics that will influence its approach, here are five observations we see when assisting clients to employ best practice S&OP processes and tools.

Top Management Support: Do your senior executives know what S&OP is?  Do they understand the value of S&OP?  How committed are they to making S&OP truly ingrained in the culture of your organization?  When S&OP implementations fail, often the root cause can be traced back to a lack of senior leadership.  At all levels of the organization, it must be clear that the whole organization is committed to making necessary changes.

Company Goals Above Individual or Department Goals: What’s the goal of S&OP?  It should be to drive strategic business decisions that benefit the entire company NOT one employee or department.  Too often personal goals conflict with the greater good.  Strive to minimize such incentives that detract from the overall goals.

Make Decisions and Keep Moving Forward: Cross functional representation is required to get buy-in from all business disciplines.  One person will not implement S&OP on her own.  Assemble a group of knowledgeable doers who have the company’s interests at heart and know their functional area well.  When this group reaches an impasse, a single S&OP sponsor/leader should step in and make key decisions. …