Keynote Johan Smits | S&OP Vendor Day 2021

Supply Chain Media organized the first hybrid edition of S&OP Vendor Day on October 13, 2021. “Taste the flavours of S&OP Vendors” in one day. The main topic of this new and innovative international event in Utrecht and online was the selection of a suitable S&OP software vendor and the implementation of the solution. Besides independent keynotes from well-known companies about their S&OP journey, leading companies presented their solutions in a 30-minute breakout session as well as at their booths. Johan Smits highlighted the Why, What and How of IBP-transformation, as well as the challenges to overcome as a supply chain leader.

Click & Collect, Click & Deliver, Return & Drop and Dark-shops-delivery are just a few of the new routes-to-markets in a B2B2C environment and for supply chain leaders to deal with. This puts a lot of pressure on the forecast ability and quality of demand, as well as the end-to-end supply chain responsiveness. IBP is meant to be the process in the middle to Decide & Commit based on (financial) scenarios, maximising value and margin. All aligned with all business stakeholders to drive the execution of the strategy. Today, the latest and greatest technology providers are offering the most sophisticated systems to accommodate a near-real time S&OP or IBP-process if you wish.

Very nice theory, ambitions and technologies. Not so easy to realise. The reality is that many companies experiment to build new processes and new systems on top of their (quite often malfunctioning) legacy foundations and broken (Planning/S&OP) processes. Such investments in new technology are very often turned into programmes to first restore the foundations (and data!), before the benefits of a successful business transformation can be grasped.

Most successful companies take the time to re-think their future operating model before they spec. & select the right and more sophisticated software to drive their IBP. Based on many learnings and good-practice operating models, companies need an approach to accelerate their journey of tech-enabled-business-transformation, and to maximise the benefits of a ”powered supply chain”.

Missed this keynote?

The slide deck is available for download below.