What No One Tells You About Automating Business Planning
Most CFOs have a reasonable understanding of the benefits of Automating Business Planning – speed, accuracy, efficiency etc.
However, here’s what no one tells you about automating business planning:
- It’s not plug-and-play. It demands clean, well-structured data, and most teams underestimate just how messy their data really is.
- You need real 100% stakeholder buy-in. Total commitment. Without it you’ll run into delays, frustration, and rework.
- And then there’s the cultural shift. Automation changes roles, decision rights, even team dynamics.
Yes, Automation is powerful – but success depends on far more than just the tech.
In fact, the tech is the easy part!
Automation success depends on several other factors.
Here’s my top 3:
- It’s about your vision. Do all your stakeholders know what difference automation will make?
- It’s about your mindset. e.g. Are you determined to persevere until the data is clean?
- And it’s about clarity. That’s clarity of expectations. e.g. Does everyone know what each step of the project will deliver?
20 years have taught me that most planning process automation project failures are organizational and process-related, not technical.
If you want to ensure your planning process automation project is a success then message me.
Meanwhile, remember…
Processes that frustrate are opportunities to innovate and automate.
