21 October 2024
By 2025, 60% of planning initiatives will be driven by extended planning and analysis (xP&A) requirements, according to a recent Gartner study. This shift reflects a growing recognition of the importance of integrating planning and analysis across all departments to drive better business outcomes. However, with 2025 just around the corner, the reality is that few organizations are executing to achieve this goal. Why?
Most planning tools are too complex, requiring specialized knowledge and limiting their use to a small group of experts. This disconnect slows down decision-making and lowers adoption. IBM® Planning Analytics tackles this by offering an intuitive, user-friendly interface that empowers everyone, regardless of role or technical skill, to contribute to planning. With AI and generative AI, users will be able to ask questions in plain language, generate forecasts and streamline decision-making, so that advanced planning becomes accessible and collaborative.
“We explore AI and GenAI to accelerate the transformation of our usages. ”
—Benoit Lampuré, Director of Finance as a Service, Orange Group (Source)
To make planning even more accessible and collaborative, we have introduced two significant AI innovations: the IBM Planning Analytics Assistant and Multivariate AI Forecasting. These tools harness the power of artificial intelligence and generative AI to simplify complex tasks, provide deeper insights and empower users across all departments to make smarter decisions with greater confidence.
Earlier this year, we introduced the IBM Planning Analytics Assistant—a generative artificial intelligence (AI) assistant powered by IBM watsonx™ that brings the power of natural language processing to your planning processes. Business leaders and financial planners, regardless of skills or seniority, can use natural language to access, manage and act on data with speed. The assistant is continuously enhanced with additional capabilities that enable users to create easy-to-understand content, uncover hidden trends and forecast with greater accuracy.
Imagine you're a sales manager preparing for a quarterly review. Every day, you deal with complex data; and accessing the right information quickly is crucial. Instead of sifting through multiple reports, you simply ask, “Show me last year’s revenue for mobile phones,” and the Planning Analytics Assistant will be able to generate the specific data view. No more time wasted on manual searches—just the information you need, when you need it.
As a financial professional, you need to explain reports to stakeholders who may not be as familiar with the data. Imagine no longer presenting numbers but also the story behind them. For instance, while preparing for the quarterly review meeting and you need to explain an outlier, like a significant drop in operating margin. Instead of sifting through financial models and complex calculations, you will be able to use Chart insights to automatically generate a PDF report that highlights the key factors contributing to the margin decline. You might find out that the increased cost of raw materials and lower-than-expected sales in Florida were the primary drivers.
Understanding the underlying reasoning behind specific data points is crucial for validating data accuracy and effectively communicating insights. With the Cell Explainability feature in the Planning Analytics Assistant, you will be able to extract the model logic on any cell in any crosstab.
For instance, if you're reviewing employee salary data and want to understand how a specific salary was calculated, Cell Explainability will break it down for you. It will reveal all the details—such as the job code, region and adjustments for salary raises—without the need to manually track back through layers of data. Simply click on the salary cell to see every formula, assumption and data source behind the number.
Identifying complex relationships between variables is crucial for strategic planning. Multivariate AI Forecasting in IBM Planning Analytics uncovers these relationships and identifies which variables have the greatest impact on your outcomes.
In supply chain management, knowing how production volume impacts inventory and transportation costs is crucial. Multivariate AI Forecasting in IBM Planning Analytics uncovers these complex relationships and identifies which variables have the greatest impact. By considering various factors, it offers guidance on balancing your inventory levels, monitoring product quality upon delivery and ensuring optimal, fuel-efficient, low-risk delivery routes for your goods. Every decision you make will be data-driven and strategically sound, taking into account even future state variable data.
Our vision for IBM Planning Analytics is to transform business planning through autonomous capabilities. We aim to move beyond tools that simply enhance productivity and ease of use. Our ultimate goal is to develop a planning solution that not only assists you but actively provides recommendations and guidance on your next steps.
Autonomous business planning means the system doesn't just respond to inputs—it learns from data patterns, anticipates future trends and proactively suggests optimal courses of action. This approach shifts planning from a reactive to a proactive function within your organization.
By leveraging AI and generative AI, IBM Planning Analytics will understand your data, suggest strategies, predict future trends and guide you through complex decisions across all areas of your business—finance, marketing, operations and more.
By continuing to invest in these new technologies within IBM Planning Analytics, we aim to help your organization stay ahead, adapt quickly to changes in the market and achieve better results in a world that's always changing. We're committed to this journey towards autonomous business planning and can't wait to share these exciting advancements with you.
The future of planning is here and with IBM Planning Analytics, your team is ready to lead the way.