The exciting aspect of Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is enabling leaders in an organization to view their business from a new perspective. This new perspective permits the organization to ask the right questions in the right forum to align the business plans with their business ambition. The challenge begins with the realization that many fundamentals are just not sufficiently in place and these can range from how the organization establishes a strategy to the limitation of systems or even if we have the right people capable of answering the right questions. These all manifest during implementation, as IBP has the extraordinary ability to shine the light into those well-hidden dark corners. For me, IBP is like art and my passion is working with a business as they learn to see.
I am experienced in leading and deploying IBP in a variety of different businesses in multiple regions around the globe. Accountable for IBP education, delivery of workshops, audits, coaching of teams, and leading reviews. With this experience, I have encountered many adversities that come with implementation and have accumulated a long list of common potential failure modes and how to resolve or avoid them altogether. An IBP leader role is definitely not for the faint of heart as confrontations are frequent and changing a culture is complicated. My purpose here is to offer advice, guidance, and even comradery to others that are on this journey that could gain insights from my experience.
Kim Britton
Traditional approaches to business planning lack the sophistication to perform in today’s dynamic environment. Business strategy all too often is an annual process of refining a presentation before being returned to a dark corner of a filing cabinet then getting back to day-to-day tasks.
In my opinion, strategic planning, the corresponding enterprise capability architecture, and the necessary connectivity to integrated business planning (IBP) is the most challenging aspect of business management. My purpose and motivation continue to be to challenge the capabilities of planning systems and processes to realize the business ambition.
Having been responsible for Strategic Planning and experiencing the power of IBP when used to ground and align an enterprise, to secure ‘freedom’ from backorders and supply issues while driving the top-line revenue past $1Bn, bought enlightenment. Being able to practice and advance these skills in three continents with three global organizations has provided a wealth of experience.
A career utilized designing and introducing operational programs and processes to integrate with the business management cycle, linking critical capabilities and performance levers wrapped by pragmatic frameworks for General Managers to successfully lead their business. My passion is as much in the accomplishment as it is in the design and wiring of the process.
Sriram Parameswaran
- Amazon Inc – General Manager for Advanced Analytics and Operational Excellence
- Experienced in leading and deploying Analytical and Planning Solutions across the globe
- 16 years of industry experience in operations, analytics, machine learning, AI for planning, materials management, supplier management and business process improvement.
- Lead multiple software implementations, analytical solutions for planning, MRP / ERP replacements and supply chain transformation.
- MS in Nuclear Engineering from University Of Tennessee Knoxville, MBA in Supply Chain Management from University Of Tennessee Knoxville