Sun 20th May 2012
We are running a $15bn business; we currently have no bigger priority than improving forecast processes. We estimate we can drive up to $200m of avoidable costs out of the business.
If you are in business to supply goods/services to meet demand, estimating that demand will drive everything else you do. When your forecasts determine what stock and capital is tied up at each stage in your supply chain, errors can be costly:
Yet no one in your company can tell you how much these errors are costing each week.
Millions are spent each year, attempting to improve forecast accuracy: on systems that aim to improve data integrity or on automation using ever more complex forecast algorithms.
But research shows that over 70% of all such forecasts are subsequently manually adjusted.
Until now, very little has been invested in measuring and improving the quality of both statistical and judgmental forecasting i.e. the end-to-end effectiveness of the whole process.
CatchBull’s ForecastQT ™ application is used to measure and inform the whole forecasting process:
So the whole company can engage in continuous improvement of the forecast process.