Forecast Plus

Use Decision Intelligence to effectively control complex decision-making processes in your company and to make the right decision for your business at all times. Learn how to utilise your data strategically and sustainably for business forecasting and use it in data-driven decision-making processes. Get a head start on the most important transformation strategy for innovation in the age of AI.

The future-oriented and data-driven steering of companies succeeds on the basis of efficient planning. This is where strategic decisions are made, sales targets are set and optimal resource allocations and incentives are derived. The planning is the starting point for controlling during the year against the defined budget. Based on this, rolling forecasts are used to check the performance of the steering-relevant KPIs at regular intervals and to make management decisions for their optimisation at an early stage. New methods from the field of advanced analytics, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, are efficient tools in this regard and help to provide humans with an objective basis for decision-making and insights from the available data.

We uniquely combine cutting-edge AI-powered technology capabilities and our expertise in consulting across business functions with deep industry knowledge from our strategy experts to tailor our methodology to our clients' needs. This provides our clients with an AI-based forecasting mechanism that they trust. This frees up time for tasks that lead to growth and value creation.

The rolling forecast is carried out at regular intervals, e.g. monthly or quarterly, on an ongoing basis and is therefore not bound to the (regulatory) time frames of the financial years. For the rolling forecast, primarily key figures with a high steering relevance are considered. The aim of this method is to identify deviations from the plan at an early stage, even during the year, and to be able to react to them dynamically. Forecast Plus optimally supports the rolling forecast process by efficiently providing the forecasts in the required cycle (monthly or quarterly). Additionally generated steering-relevant information, such as identified drivers, provide strategic input for business development and allow more time for value-added use of the results: Making analyses and observations, forming hypotheses based on them and drawing conclusions based on the combined data.

Successful and sustainable support of the steering processes requires two essential prerequisites: Planning must take into account the complex interactions of the value chain and at the same time minimise the effort required to map the planning processes. These two aspects are taken into account by the integrated planning approach, whereby several dimensions of integration need to be considered:

• Methodological integration for the combined use of manual planning, statistical approaches ("predictive planning") and simulation possibilities.
• Process integration of strategic planning, operational sub-planning and - financial planning (consisting of P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statement)
• Integration of planning horizons, from long-term to medium-term, budget planning and short-term forecasts
• Functional integration across the different business units (sales, production, etc.)
• Technical integration across the processes as well as data integration with regard to both master and transaction data

Forecast Plus enables you to forecast future demand and upcoming fluctuations along the supply chain. You get a predictive analysis to study demand patterns. 

This gives you the following benefits:

• Simplified decision-making (for example, on topics such as: pricing, staffing, production, marketing spend).
• Improved service levels and increased turnover
• Maximise customer satisfaction by improving production lead time
• Avoid excess inventory and reduce inventory costs

Forecast Plus enables you to optimise your workforce planning to ensure you have the right number of people at the right time.

The current market environment is changing dramatically.  High inflation, high interest rates and fluctuations along supply chains have a major impact on liquidity needs and therefore on cash flow planning and forecasting.

With Forecast Plus, you can identify and analyse all factors that influence cash flow to determine patterns and trends for cash flow.

This allows you to anticipate potential liquidity gaps, better plan borrowing, avoid payment defaults, use cash surpluses efficiently, or generally optimise cash flow management.

With Forecast Plus you can identify early indicators for your business to predict changes at an early stage. This enables you to react to opportunities and risks at an early stage and to take appropriate measures.