A demand planning-as-a-service initiative uncovered inefficiencies in a major national information technology solutions provider’s planning solution, hampering their long-term growth. Plantensive designed a flexible solution to enhance their planning processes.

Client
A leading multi-brand provider of information technology solutions
Services
Implementation, Planning-as-a-Service
Area of Expertise
Demand Forecasting
Industry
Information Technology Solutions

Challenge

A major national information technology solutions provider faced several challenges within their existing instance of Blue Yonder; specifically, limitations in their demand forecasting were limiting user engagement. These challenges included having an excessive planning item count, a planning hierarchy that did not align with the business and ineffective parameters and algorithm settings. This prevented them from establishing standardized processes and kept their planners from effectively managing the system, limiting opportunities for the growth and evolution of their planning processes.

Solution

Plantensive’s demand flex solution significantly reduced the implementation timeline while maintaining high levels of flexibility in its design. Plantensive’s agile solution enabled new dynamic rules to govern the new product introduction process, improving its ease of use and increasing its performance by reducing the overall planning item count. Through these changes and the addition of user-friendly parameter tables, the client and Plantensive worked together to redesign their entire planning process, providing critical structure to the daily workflow of their planners.

Impact

These flexible solutions promoted greater development

and growth for the client’s business, allowing them to update their planning hierarchy and new product introduction rules quickly with minimal disruption to the business.


Additional outcomes included:

  • Improved Forecast Accuracy – Three months after the implementation, which aligned more with the business planning structure and thus increased input from the planning team, there was an average reduction of nearly 8% in forecasting errors compared to the previous year.
  • Increased User Engagement – The client’s planning team significantly increased their system utilization by focusing on critical planning items, resulting in an increased number of inputs and time spent in Blue Yonder. As part of the new product introduction and item clean-up improvements, planners could now easily navigate the system, resulting in improved forecasts.
  • Improved System Performance – By refining the focus around the number of items planned in the solution, the client achieved a significant decrease in system lag and load times. This improvement not only enhanced the user experience, but also increased overall efficiency. This optimization led to substantial cost savings by only hosting and processing critical planning data.

Despite retail executives citing inaccurate inventory counts as the number one cause of poor customer experience, fewer than half apply AI to fulfillment optimization (48%), labor scheduling and workforce optimization (45%), demand forecasting (42%) or inventory placement (42%). – Blue Yonder