Integrated Business Planning

Let’s Rethink How We Manage Business

 

IBP is provocative, challenging, and, at times, contentious, yet the benefits are unquestionable. We have experience navigating the dynamics which impede IBP implementation in a variety of different businesses. This experience affords us the opportunity to help others take the concepts of IBP and provide pragmatic operational solutions, avoiding rabbit-holes, minefields, and some of the frustration associated with the deployment.  This site is created to provide online support, answer questions, and help others on their IBP implementation journey.

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A Reflection on Implementing IBP

My journey with IBP began on Halloween in 2013.  A day to remember as that was the day of the first MBR workshop with the leadership team and it was a day full of challenges, contention, and even hope.    Oliver Wight consultants did their best to keep this group together while being challenged from every imaginable angle but never faltering from the barrage of questions thrown at them like cannons in a war zone.  With much of the tension centered around trust, alignment, behaviors that would need to change for a fully functioning IBP process, and after much deliberation…
Debbie Evans
September 21, 2020
Business

Aligning Business Chaos with Integrated Business Planning

I have a business with a great product and tremendous opportunity with a great team, however I am concerned with our ability to achieve our aggressive growth targets. It seems like we have so many issues with just getting through the month on plan that I am concerned our longer-term goals just won’t happen.  Our current sales plans continue to decrease each month and yet supply chain backorders continue to increase.  My sales team is suggesting that revenue growth will turn around next quarter, but our supply chain continues to struggle with the current demand claiming that the forecast is…
Debbie Evans
May 31, 2023
Integrated Business Planning

IBP Challenges, no one wants to talk about

Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is a management process that aims to bring together different business functions to plan and execute an organization's strategies. IBP goes beyond traditional Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) by including functions such as finance, marketing, and human resources in the planning process. While IBP can provide many benefits, such as increased visibility, better decision-making, and improved alignment, it also comes with several lesser-known challenges or rather taboo sensitive challenges that can make implementation difficult. Basic supply chain capability is lacking in any ability to execute the plan. There is a misconception that if you build it,…
Debbie Evans
April 24, 2023
Integrated Business Planning

“The Comedy of Integrated Business Planning: An Unparalleled Adventure”

Integrated Business Planning (IBP) - a concept that sounds as exciting as a spreadsheet party! While it may be a critical business process, let's take a lighthearted approach and dive into the world of IBP, where strategic decisions meet the unexpected twists and turns of corporate life. The Perils of Forecasting: IBP starts with forecasting, where businesses try to predict the future like fortune-tellers armed with spreadsheets. But alas, forecasting can sometimes feel like gazing into a crystal ball that stubbornly refuses to reveal its secrets. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, reality does a cheeky…
Debbie Evans
June 29, 2023