Organisations see client planning as a good and invest considerable resources in the process. This article looks at the reality and what leaders, product owners, and architects can do to improve the experience and outcomes.
Planning is defined as the process of “thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal.” It’s forward looking, and outcome orientated for a specific Client or “Key” Account. Whilst many sales and other professionals have their own ad hoc approaches Institutions seek to standardise the process.The bulk of Institutional plans’ content stems from academic writing between the 60’s and 80’s incorporating a smorgasbord of tools such as; objectives, forecasts, commentary, swot, engagements. Predominantly sales orientated it is an annual process (with exceptions) and production consumes significant time and effort. The technology support for this process is often limited, often relying on Excel instead. Where modules are built they’re inflexible, primarily due to budget allocation constraints.
The problem is that actual benefits of planning are seen as marginal and have been for the past 20 years, the current covid crisis highlights the challenge. Most clients plans written in the past six months are predominantly invalid. Or as one senior leader candidly explained so long as the dates were updated, he wanted his organisation to focus on the customer.
In this time customer and market behaviour has shifted massively, marketing and sales cycles have contracted,
Four factors seem to stand out in conversations on why planning has not moved with the times:metamorphized and blurred, supply chains and demand management have revolutionised, the digital revolution and omni channel experiences became a norm, and AI is emerging. All of which is disintermediating the quasi bilateral sales dialogue that planning is predicated upon.
- The trope that client planning is a “good thing”.
- Organization Comfort – “it’s what we do…”
- There is no consensus on alternative approaches
- Technology investment is constrained
Deeper analysis reveals two other factors.
- Little relevancy and alignment to the organisation’s activities – on multiple levels; Client, sales team, business plan, discordant data, accountability / reward, and the lack of digital consideration.
- Producing a single multi-function document creates an inflexible, heavy weight, compromised tool. A 53 feature Swiss army knife with a knife and fork is great, unless you want to cut the steak.
To address these challenges a number of requirements emerge:
- Be clear on the business objective
- Be client relevant
- Be low cost (Financial and human)
- Be digitally inclusive
- Be dynamic a working practice
- Be scalable and flexible
In order to achieve this a package of measures are needed:
Decouple conflicting business objectives
For instance, client Budget and the plan forecasting. Client Budgets are internal targets, plans
aspirational compacts between business and client with clear accountabilities. The two serve different purposes and separated can be quickly automated.
Focus on a client value proposition
A value proposition is a short forward-looking statement that defines the tangible and intangible benefits a client gains from the organisation rather than competitors.
This is the product of three lenses:
- What does your client need and what do they really value to support their business goals?
- What does the competition do and what does the client really value?
- What do we deliver and why does the client really value us?
This approach allows more complex approaches to be disintermediated:
- The brevity creates scalability
- Cultivates clarity
- It is easier to reuse
- Allows devolved ownership
Note, writing a good value proposition is not easy. It encompasses Sales And Service, and requires clear understanding and thought – the precise purpose of planning.
Co-opt parallel and duplicative sales and service processes
The DNA in humans differs by 0.1% and between Chimpanzees and Bonobo apes barely 2%. Yet organisations often use the same differences to justify rebuilding the 98%. New opportunities are arising to address this:
The digital revolution offers the opportunity to reengineer parts of the planning process. For instance, Sales processes and analytical triggers. Secondly leveraging, enhancing and co-opting existing processes and data, such as sales compliance. CRM platforms often only requiring small amendments if the business able to clarify the objective.
Focus on the “Effort P&L”
This is the balance of a person contributing to a process and value it delivers to the client or them. A critical review is required in the regard and delivers the flexibility and scalability needed. Programmes should look at four key actions (In priority order):
- Demise
- Re-engineer
- Re-energise
- Invest and grow
“Go Micro”
Only get sales teams to focus the planning detail on those situations that are differentiating and impactful. Don’t plan for the client, plan for the opportunity or service that enhances the value proposition.
Leverage the IT “Ecosystem”
Today Apps, API’s and dynamic flexible integration are mainstream and solution architects can define a less monolithic architecture that leverages the components better, increases the ‘refresh rate’ and delivers significant cost and delivery risk savings. This would then bring in the service side of the relationship and potentially ‘client safe’ views that can be shared with the client.
Programmes can reverse processes back into the source systems and visualising through BI tools and other techniques enhancing the working utility of the data.
Focus on the Cultural Change
Changing planning processes touches many parts of an organisation mode of operation and thinking:
- Planning becomes an embedded way of working – not an annual cul de sac
- Forecasting automation asks people to accept a range of outcomes and uncertainty
- Co-option of other processes forces transparency
- Transparency requires a tolerance of losses
- Information arbitrage is reduced
- Accountabilities and performance become easier to identify
- The client becomes part of the process
Conclusion
The impact of the above measures allows teams to create strong measurable causal links between planning processes and outcomes, simplifies teams work-loads, increases CRM adoption and utility, reduces programme delivery risk and ultimately makes for a more effective holistic client relationships.
