On April 27th, Art of Procurement is hosting an AOP Live session with Anaplan to demonstrate and discuss the financial outcomes and sustainability gains that can result from connected planning. We will be joined by Dr. Adrian de Groot Ruiz, Executive Director at the Impact Institute; Nick Wingbermuehle, Senior Director in Procurement at Anheuser-Busch; and Bryan Baum, Head of Supply Chain Solutions, Sourcing and Procurement at Anaplan.
Many members of our community may be asking themselves, that sounds great, but what is connected planning?
You may not use the phrase internally, but chances are, you know exactly what it is. Connected planning, also known by names like ‘Extended Planning & Analysis’ (xP&A) by Gartner, strives to bring all functions, data sources, and decision makers together into one cohesive system – in real time.
Every decision made by someone in a company impacts someone else. Connected planning doesn’t seek to contain the impact – after all, sometimes the impact is intended – but it does make it possible to understand the impact better in advance, and then either proceed or alter the decision in some way.
When we combine the idea of connected planning with Dr. Adrian de Groot Ruiz’s area of expertise, understanding the external costs that may negatively impact the environment or human rights, it quickly becomes apparent how much potential value there is for procurement in this approach.
