The health check for your corporate planning

In our health check, we put your planning solution under the microscope. To do this, we put you through a short test consisting of seven key categories. These stand for the seven performance areas that indicate a future-oriented, digital planning solution. If you can claim to be able to guarantee good results in all categories for corporate planning, then you have reason to be very proud. However, if the alarm lights are flickering in your head or you are facing serious problem areas, then it’s time to make a change.

Speed sets the tone

If you oil the gears of your corporate planning, the processes will not only run faster, but also at a significantly higher level. This also leads us to the first question: Is your plan capable of being completed in less than a week? If not, your plan may be out of date before it has even been in use. In today’s fast-paced world, the market situation can turn 180 degrees within a week. You need to be prepared for this. If the time span from the start of planning to the final result does not exceed one week, you have already set a very relevant cornerstone for your planning processes, with which you are still a minority at today’s standpoint.

Tendency towards high planning frequency

However, it is not only about the speed of the planning process, but also about the frequency of the planning cycles. Satisfactory planning throughput can only be said to exist if multiple planning cycles take place within the fiscal year and are adapted ad hoc to the changing market situation. Can you check the box behind this aspect?

Transparency is the key

Now it should be about the keyword “transparency”. In terms of successful reporting, the precise status of the planning process is crucial. Who has already started planning? Who needs to be reminded again? Which planning figures have already been submitted? And how far away are you from the final planning? If you can give specific answers to all of these questions because you have control and insight into the most current processes, you are on very good track with your planning. However, if you have to keep shaking your head, this indicates that the potential of your planning method has not been fully utilized.

Trust in the numbers

With transparency comes reliability. Current numbers are of little use if they cannot be relied upon. When presenting the results of your corporate planning, there should be no doubts about the accuracy of the digits, knowing exactly where the origin of an outlier in the values lies. Can you keep a cool head in this aspect as well?

Automated processes save a lot of time

Automatization is essential in order to operate at the process speeds of the leading players. As an expert in the analysis and evaluation of planning content in controlling, the collection of data often takes up more of your working time than you would like. Are you already saving the extra manual work wasted on tedious importing of numbers and data by turning to a lean automated planning solution?

Data security through the cloud

To guarantee the security of planning data, it should be stored in a secure data center together with the complete planning solution. In this way, you can avoid security gaps that pose a threat when data is sent laboriously via e-mail. The service provider of your planning solution takes care of security and DSGVO for you. That way, you can plan worry-free.

Intuitive planning interface for more user acceptance

There is one last question you need to answer: Are the users of the planning method satisfied? User acceptance makes it pleasantly easy to keep planners happy. The daily work routine is a pleasure. There are no callbacks to the planning tool because it is intuitive and as simple as possible, but also as complex as necessary. The work on the plan proceeds step by step according to the schedule. It is as uncomplicated and fast as is most satisfactory to everyone involved. Management benefits from reliable data to make informed decisions when ambiguities arise.

If you decide to use QVANTUM, user acceptance is ensured by the fact that it is based on Excel knowledge. Every controller has this knowledge. Tool training is therefore minimal and you can get straight to planning.

Conclusion

Where do you find yourself with your business planning after this self-test? If the result is not satisfactory, it is important to know one thing: There is a quick and lean solution. Many companies find themselves where you are now. The key difference is that you now know what you need to change. You can be a front-runner now.

Each of the top performance areas is covered by QVANTUM. With our cloud solution, you don’t need IT and benefit from your Excel skills by building on your existing Excel templates. Planning in a team this way becomes a lightness. You can easily create the planning model via a template and upload it to the cloud with one click. With a second click, you start your planning. Your users automatically receive an email with access data and a personal link and start planning.

Want to learn more? Find out why agile sales planning is so important for your company and which 7 criteria are crucial in the process in our whitepaper.