Five ways to enhance your Demand Planning and Forecasting

 

Demand planning is quite similar to weather forecasting. They are recognized very frequently for doing their job correctly, and they are observed only when they get it inaccurate. Regardless, they must get it right or else trying and likely fatal - supply chain glitches can occur.

While there is absolutely no magical formula for demand forecasting, there definitely a few ultimate steps that can help companies to mitigate uncertainty as well as enhance their demand planning capabilities. Companies can leverage emerging technologies by making appropriate use of tools like demand planning software, demand forecasting software, demand management software, etc. Knowing these tips is quite important for helping the companies avoid these challenges further down the supply chain. The following tips listed below can help your organization to enhance forecast accuracy with great potential. So below are the 10 tips to gauge your company's demand planning preparedness and help you get the forecasts right.

Let’s dive in!

Keep the right approach:

Demand Planning is a procedure between sales and operations planning or combined business planning and it is definitely not a one-man show. Forge an integrated, in-depth business plan that will meet the company requirements and accelerate the rest of the business to financially meet customer demand.

 

Determine at what level you need to plan demand for your business:

Various businesses research, plan and analyze the demand at the customer level, geographical location level, or product level. The way you choose your demand planning and forecast is always significant and unique to your business.  Don't be dictated by your IT technologies' limitations, and be ready to change how you plan demand according to your business changes. You can also consider making use of some of the best demand planning software available in the market.

Demand planning is a collective strategy:

The statistics deliver a factual basis for work, but the real value comes from an over-laying understanding that systems cannot possibly know. Deploy internal collaboration before external collaboration, recognizing that the closer you get to the right demand signal, the better the forecast will be. This can be perfectly practiced through demand planning and forecasting software.

 

Demand planning does not always mean only forecasting:

Forecasting is a part of demand planning which associates with your best estimate of future demand. Businesses excelling in this area will challenge the forecast process (and the integrated business plan) and seek for more and more opportunities to influence demand through marketing events and promotions to bring the estimates more in line with the company plan.

 

You cannot control what cannot be measured:

This statement is definitely true when it comes to demand planning, you can surely not control anything that cannot be measured. Put the right set of connected key performance indicators in place and regularly gauge against these aspects.

 

Learn before you train:

As the demand planning process is cross-functional, many people input the forecast without recognizing the importance of their contributions. As a result, this can hamper the quality of their contributions greatly. An excellent educational training session will help all the team members to comprehend their contribution towards the task and at the same time impact on the implementation of demand planning.

 

Recycle and purge the data:

Make sure you don't spend all your valuable time in probing it and losing confidence in the process, as this can develop a breeding ground for others to second-guess the demand plan and come up with their very own version. Demand planning deals with a huge portion of data, and to cleanse this data robust processes are a must.

 

Trust the digits and manage by abnormality:

Always remember that 80% of your return can be achieved by reviewing just 20% of the items. So, make sure that the digits are always mentioned appropriately.

 

Utilize the mistake in your forecast for a positive result:

An excellent statistical forecast will have an appropriate error too. This can ultimately target and drive the right safety stock. This leads to good and groundbreaking inventory management and at the same time delivers higher service with a lower total inventory.

 

Deploy a proven, best-in-class key:

Companies that excel in demand management - reporting higher forecast precisions and lower inventories are two-and-a-half times as likely to have executed a best-in-class demand planning strategy.

 

Now that we learned about the tips and tricks to streamline your business processes, you must be probably wondering about what is demand planning software? How can it help your organization? How is demand planning done? Let us explain this to you and give you a satisfying closure. Demand planning software is a unique tool that brings the power of forecasting into a company's processes. Ultimately, this software helps you to serve your customer base more effectively by planning your inventory and production schedule ahead of time. And demand planning can be effortlessly done by using various software’s that help you achieve your boundless business goals.

 

Demand planning is the foundation of a successful business that ensures employees working towards a common goal. As we learned from the above tips, forecast needs advanced tech solutions to achieve refined data, focusing on the metrics that matter, working in a collaborative environment, and disaggregating higher-level demand data.

 

To achieve these ultimate solutions and streamline your business you can consider making the perfect use of best demand forecasting software offered by Avercast. To know more, connect with us today!