Why This Question Matters Now
Every company today is under pressure to adapt, digitize, and stay ahead. But buzzwords like “digital transformation” often feel more like noise than action. Supply chain and operations professionals face the added complexity of aligning planning across functions—Sales, Operations, Finance, and beyond. That’s where Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and Integrated Business Planning (IBP) come in. But here’s the problem: most companies are still managing S&OP like it’s 2010.
Attending digital transformation events—especially those with a practical lens—can reframe your approach. The Global S&OP & Integrated Business Planning Summit is one such example. It’s not just a networking exercise. It’s a wake-up call.
What Digital Transformation Events Actually Offer
Most digital transformation events aren’t about software demos or general hype anymore. The good ones are about connecting strategy to execution. That’s what makes them relevant to anyone involved in supply chain planning, commercial strategy, or enterprise performance.
At events like the Global S&OP & Integrated Business Planning Summit, the focus is sharp:
How can you align demand and supply with actual market signals?
How do you make planning cycles faster, more responsive, and less political?
Where does digital actually improve—not complicate—decision-making?
Attendees aren’t just tech people. They’re heads of supply chain, commercial leaders, and finance execs—all trying to get real results from IBP.
S&OP and IBP Need to Catch Up to Reality
Most S&OP processes are manual. Quarterly plans are out of date before they’re approved. Cross-functional meetings lack real data. And worst of all, strategic decisions are often based on gut feel rather than evidence.
At the summit, it was clear: S&OP and IBP are overdue for a reboot. Digital transformation isn’t about automating what already exists. It’s about restructuring processes around new possibilities.
For example, one global CPG company shared how they reduced planning cycle times by 40% by combining demand sensing algorithms with real-time inventory data. But they didn’t start with tech—they started with process redesign. That’s a core lesson from digital transformation events: stop leading with tools, start leading with intent.
What the Summit Revealed About Practical Change
Several recurring themes came up at the Global S&OP & Integrated Business Planning Summit, all of which underline how digital transformation is reshaping planning:
1. Breaking Silos Isn’t Optional Anymore
Legacy organizations still run Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance on separate tracks. But digital data doesn’t care about org charts. Companies that succeed in IBP use digital platforms to create a single version of the truth. The summit featured a pharma company that built a shared digital planning dashboard used by all functions. The result: faster trade-off decisions, less finger-pointing, and more trust.
2. Forecasting Can’t Be a Black Box
AI-based forecasting was a hot topic at the event. But several speakers warned against using “black box” models that the business can’t understand. Instead, they advocated for explainable AI—tools that show the why, not just the what.
This aligns with a core digital transformation principle: transparency drives adoption. If your planners and salespeople can’t trust the system, they’ll go back to spreadsheets.
3. Leadership Buy-In Still Makes or Breaks It
Tech projects fail when executives treat them as IT initiatives. The most successful transformations shared at the summit had one thing in common: C-level engagement. In one case, the COO personally chaired the monthly IBP review. That kind of visibility changes how seriously the rest of the organization takes the process.
Digital Fluency Is the New Planning Skill
One understated insight from the summit: the skills needed in S&OP are changing. It’s not just about knowing Excel or understanding SKU-level forecasts. It’s about digital fluency—the ability to work with data models, interpret scenario planning outputs, and ask the right questions of analytics tools.
Training for this is still patchy. But companies investing in capability-building are seeing better adoption of IBP systems and stronger business performance.
Stop Thinking of Digital as IT’s Job
Here’s where many companies go wrong: they think digital transformation belongs in the IT budget. But planning is a business function. If you work in supply chain, commercial, or finance, you need to own the process changes that tech makes possible.
The Global S&OP & Integrated Business Planning Summit made it clear that digital transformation is everyone’s responsibility. Planning teams that embrace digital tools don’t just execute better—they shape strategy.
Where to Start If You’re Behind
You don’t need to attend every conference to start moving. But events like these offer valuable templates for action:
Map your current S&OP process: Where are the bottlenecks and blind spots?
Identify what could be digitized or automated: Not everything should be.
Reframe the problem: Instead of asking “What tech do we need?” ask “What decisions do we want to improve?”
Then, look at case studies from events like the summit. Learn from companies a few steps ahead of you. Adapt their playbooks—not copy them blindly.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Practical
Digital transformation events aren’t about theory anymore. They’re about solving real planning problems. The Global S&OP & Integrated Business Planning Summit showed that with the right mindset, even legacy organizations can use digital tools to modernize S&OP and IBP processes.
But change won’t come from software alone. It comes from shifting how people think about planning, collaboration, and accountability.
If your S&OP process feels stuck or outdated, ask yourself this:
What could you learn from someone who’s already done it better? That’s the value of events—and the risk of ignoring them.
