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CFO & Enterprise Value

Agile and active planning in a time of uncertainty

July 29, 2022 5-MINUTE READ

In brief

  • As the pace of change accelerates, the need for speed, agility and predictability is vital.
  • Agile and active planning can help improve responsiveness and permit rapid scenario modeling, key to addressing unforeseen change.
  • To create an always-on planning skill, you’ll need a blueprint, C-suite involvement, and a plan to adopt change across your company.

The current business, geopolitical and market situation means that change is happening faster than ever, and the consequences of not keeping up are growing.

To build greater speed, agility and predictability into their business, CEOs and their teams need to reassess their existing planning skills. Traditional planning is often siloed and based upon historical and hard to operationalize across the business.

By spanning the company, always-on planning facilitates responsiveness and improves the performance of day-to-day operations. The real game-changer, though, is the digitally based, scenario-driven predictive modeling that can help anticipate change and prepare for an uncertain world.

A springboard for rapid scenario modeling

Always-on planning is a jumping-off point for a key activity that every business today needs to be doing, rapid scenario modeling. This ability helps leaders simulate situational responses and act quickly when unexpected disruptions hit.

This iterative ability allows companies to quickly analyze changing circumstances and business assumptions. This is vital to modeling future scenarios and shaping responses to potential threats—like natural disasters—and growth opportunities, like accelerating new products and services. The result, you can act now and anticipate what’s next.

Change starts with the C-suite

So how do you go from outdated, episodic planning to active, company-wide planning? As with any new skill, you need new mindsets, behaviors, investments and ways of working. You need the C-suite.

The good news? The C-suite understand the importance: Accenture research and experience shows that executives agree that using new data and analytics approaches to better respond to future events is vital to success.

A blueprint for an always-on planning capability

Once priorities, incentives, and metrics are defined, the C-suite can develop a strategic planning capability around the following elements:

  1. An enterprise-wide view
  2. Connecting the business from the top-down and bottom-up
  3. Artificial intelligence and machine learning to quicken insights
  4. A shared set of data
  5. A cloud-first foundation
  6. New mindsets and behaviors

“… always-on works, even for things you can’t plan for.“

— JASON DESS, Global Lead, CFO & Enterprise Value

Operationalizing the plan

When it’s time to roll out your strategy into your operations, financial plans and day-to-day decisions, you’ll need more than a blueprint to do it. Yet, few companies are fully prepared for the changes required, which include:

  • Create a unified, operational planning capability
  • Invest in ongoing skills development
  • Create new roles as work and processes are reimagined

Transforming your company can seem like a huge task. But in this climate, inaction is far riskier. Companies that can’t identify and respond quickly to internal and external shocks risk falling behind.

The tech is ready, and your company can be too. Now is the time to invest in an agile, always-on planning culture, with the mindsets, behaviors and skills to help you thrive in a time of uncertainty. No matter what's in store.

Change starts at the top.

Patrick F. Picha

Managing Director, Enterprise Performance Management Global Lead—CFO & Enterprise Value

Tiffany Brown

Managing Director – Strategy & Consulting, CFO & Enterprise Value

Tim Kelly

Managing Director, CFO & Enterprise Value – Enterprise Performance Management EMEA Lead

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