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From Static to Dynamic: How Businesses Can Embrace Agile Planning, Part 2

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In the first part of this two-part blog post, we introduced the key business benefits from replacing traditional, static planning with dynamic agile planning.  In this second part, we will be looking at the key practical challenges to implementing agile planning and how to  overcome them.

The Key Barriers to Agile Planning

Transitioning to agile planning isn’t simple. Most organizations face three primary challenges:

1. Manual Processes: Many companies still rely heavily on Excel spreadsheets. While spreadsheets are great for certain tasks, they become unwieldy when trying to coordinate planning across an entire organization. Manually aggregating data from many sources, fixing broken formulas, analysing budget submissions, and manually coordinating stakeholder approvals consume enormous amounts of time and effort.

2. Lack of Collaboration: Traditional planning often happens in silos. Sales works separately from operations, operations works independently from HR. This disconnection prevents a holistic view of the business and makes strategic alignment difficult.

3. Disjointed Data: Different departments often use different datasets, leading to conflicting information and slow decision-making. Without a single source of truth, organizations struggle to create coherent plans.

How to Move Towards Agile Planning: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Assess Your Current Situation

  • Understand your existing planning processes
  • Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies
  • Map out current technology and data challenges

2. Build Organizational Alignment

  • Get senior leadership support
  • Create a cross-functional team including finance, operations, sales, HR, and IT
  • Develop a clear business case that quantifies the potential impact of agile planning and the key objectives to be achieved

3. Focus on effective driver-based planning

  • Identify key interrelationships and shared drivers and KPIs between different business functions 
  • Build processes and models that reflect those interdependencies and support the use of shared assumptions and KPIs
  • Where feasible, replace manual inputs with driver-based calculated outputs enabling faster forecasting and scenario analysis
  • Assign a suitable owner to every key input and output of the planning process
  • Ask budget holders to plan to use the KPIs and metrics that they recognise, can control and therefore can forecast.

4. Prioritise user experience over complexity

  • Focus on key business drivers rather than overly complex models with highly granular input requirements
  • Provide flexibility to add more detail when desired or required
  • Challenge the value of additional modelling complexity

5. Leverage Technology

Remove dependence on spreadsheet-based planning processes and invest in a modern planning solution that offers:

  • Automated data integration
  • Collaborative planning tools offering an intuitive user experience
  • Scenario modelling capabilities
  • Flexible and accessible self-service reporting offering real-time insights

6. Foster a Culture of Continuous Planning & Continuous Improvement

  • Encourage regular communication across departments
  • Make planning an ongoing, dynamic process
  • Regularly evaluate the accuracy of planning outputs 
  • Identify and implement improvements to the planning process and models to reduce any recurring variances

The Future of Planning

The businesses that will succeed in the coming years are those that can plan with speed and flexibility. As the saying goes, “Change has never been this fast, and it will never be this slow again.”

Agile planning isn’t just a trend—it’s a fundamental shift in how businesses operate. It transforms finance from a reporting and governance function to a strategic partner that drives business innovation.

Final Thoughts

Transitioning to agile planning is a journey. It requires investment in technology, a shift in organizational culture, and a commitment to continuous improvement. But for businesses looking to stay competitive in an increasingly unpredictable world, it’s not just an option — it’s a necessity.

The companies that master agile planning will be able to quickly identify opportunities, mitigate risks and turn uncertainty into a competitive advantage.

Are you ready to make the shift?

More from our FP&A Done Right Series:

The Hidden Value of Strategic Planning: Gaining Operational Efficiencies

Budgeting That Works: How to Plan for Success in an Uncertain World

10 Steps to Transform Financial Planning & Analysis: A Guide to a Successful FP&A Implementation

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From Static to Dynamic: How Businesses Can Embrace Agile Planning, Part 1

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In today’s lightning-fast business world, the old ways of planning are quickly becoming obsolete. Remember when companies used to create an annual budget and stick to it religiously? Those days are gone. Modern businesses need a more flexible, responsive approach to planning—and that’s where agile planning comes in.

In this two-part blog, we’ll be looking at the move from traditional static planning, to dynamic agile planning.  In this first part, we’ll introduce the key concepts of agile planning.  In the second part, we’ll look at some of the main challenges to achieving agile planning and how to overcome them.

The Problem with Traditional Planning

Traditional planning looks something like this: Once a year, senior leadership gets together to define strategic objectives and targets for the coming year.  Finance teams then get to work, hopefully together with leaders across the business, to create a detailed budget that’s supposed to guide the entire organization for the next 12 months. After an extended and often painful process, including multiple iterations, the budget is finalised.  However, before the ink is even dry, the market has already changed and the details in the budget are no longer relevant.

Think about how much can happen in a year (or now, even a quarter!). New and disruptive technologies emerge, customer expectations shift, new competitors appear, economic conditions fluctuate, and unexpected global events (like a pandemic or a regional conflict) can turn entire industries upside down. A static, rigid planning process simply can’t keep up.

What is Agile Planning?

Agile planning is fundamentally different from traditional, annual budgeting. It’s a continuous, dynamic process that allows businesses to:

  • Respond quickly to changes
  • Make real-time decisions
  • Adapt strategies rapidly
  • Create multiple scenario plans
  • Maintain a forward-looking perspective

Agile planning incorporates two key concepts: continuous planning and scenario planning.  With continuous planning or rolling forecasts, businesses replace infrequent and time-consuming planning cycles with regular, light touch forecast updates based on the latest business and market trends.  While traditional forecasting often assumes that the world will end on the last day of the current financial year, rolling forecasts are always looking further forward beyond the year end, projecting at least 12-24 months into the future.  As each new month begins, the first month of the previous forecast is replaced by actuals and a new forecast month is added to the end.

With scenario planning, rather than simply focusing on a base budget or forecast, business leaders are actively encouraged to consider multiple alternative versions of the future and the impact on the business from each scenario.  These alternative scenarios could include changes to macro-economic factors, changes to existing markets, entry into new markets, alternative investment decisions or changes to organisational structure.

This increase in forecast frequency and creation of alternative scenario versions might initially sound like more work overall. However, in practice, small regular incremental updates to an already relevant recent forecast is a much easier request to the business than a long and disjointed budgeting process building up a detailed plan from scratch over multiple iterations and usually multiple months.

The Benefits of Agile Planning

When done right, agile planning offers tremendous advantages:

  • Faster Decision Making: Based on scenario analysis already completed or increased speed in generation of new scenarios, companies can respond to market changes in weeks or days instead of months
  • Better Insights: More frequent forecasting using the latest actuals trends, allows for more accurate forecasting 
  • Increased Collaboration: Continuous planning helps maintain an ongoing dialogue across the business, breaking down departmental silos and creating a more integrated and consistent approach
  • Strategic Flexibility: The ability to model multiple scenarios helps businesses assess and prepare for the impact of potential strategic decisions
  • Improved Resource Allocation: Scenario planning allows the business to identify the best investment opportunities for the business, while continuous planning allows resource allocation decisions to be constantly reassessed and revised as required.

While the benefits of agile planning are easy to see, in practice they are harder to achieve.  Catch the second part of this blog post, where we will look at some of these key challenges and how best to overcome them, to unlock the benefits described above.

Revelwood is dedicated to helping the Office of Finance succeed through the strategic use of technology. We have a nearly 30 year history helping CFOs and FP&A leaders modernize and transform the Office of Finance. Our approach is to focus on your success, speak business first and to leverage best-in-class technology that suits your organization’s unique needs. Contact us at info@revelwood.com to start a conversation on how we can help your Office of Finance be thes best it can be.

More from our FP&A Done Right Series:

The Hidden Value of Strategic Planning: Gaining Operational Efficiencies

Budgeting That Works: How to Plan for Success in an Uncertain World

10 Steps to Transform Financial Planning & Analysis: A Guide to a Successful FP&A Implementation

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10 Steps to Transform Financial Planning & Analysis: A Guide to a Successful FP&A Implementation

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The role of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) has never been more crucial. Organizations are increasingly relying on FP&A solutions to streamline data, enhance decision-making and drive business strategy. Yet, despite the potential, many FP&A implementations fail to meet expectations.

Why FP&A Matters

FP&A systems are more than just software—they are a transformative tool for financial leaders. By centralizing data and enabling real-time analysis, FP&A allows organizations to:

  • Eliminate spreadsheet chaos and data silos.
  • Focus on strategic decision-making.
  • Align business goals with measurable financial outcomes.

But the path to success requires more than technology. It demands a strategic, phased approach that considers people, processes, and culture.

Read Top 10 Steps for a Successful FP&A Implementation to learn why the best implementations include:

  • Securing Strong Leadership: Every successful FP&A implementation begins with an engaged and empowered executive sponsor. Their support can steer the project and drive cultural alignment.
  • Defining Clear Requirements: A detailed understanding of your organization’s needs is critical. Without clarity, even the best technology will fall short.
  • Phased Implementation: Breaking the project into manageable phases ensures quick wins, sustained momentum, and reduced risks.
  • Emphasizing Ownership: Knowledge transfer is key. Ensure your team is equipped to take full ownership of the system post-implementation.
  • Communicating Effectively: Transparent communication keeps all stakeholders informed, builds trust, and minimizes resistance to change.
  • Partnering with IT: While FP&A is often led by finance, IT plays a vital role in data integration, infrastructure support, and ensuring scalability.
  • Investments in Training: The success of any system depends on its users. Tailored training programs ensure every team member—from power users to casual users—is ready to leverage the system.
  • Staffing Wisely: The right team can make or break your implementation. Carefully choose project managers, solution owners, and functional leads.
  • Closing the Loop: Measure your results against initial goals. Document lessons learned and use them to inform future projects.
  • Choosing the Right Partner: An experienced implementation partner can make all the difference. Look for expertise in your chosen software and a track record of delivering value.

Ready to Get Started?

Download the full whitepaper, Top 10 Steps for a Successful FP&A Implementation, to unlock the strategies for success.

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Revelwood’s Partners IBM and Workday Named Leaders in IDC Report

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Two of Revelwood’s partners, IBM and Workday, have been named Leaders in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting Applications 2022 Vendor Assessment for IBM Planning Analytics and Workday Adaptive Planning. 

The report assessed 13 vendors in the market. In addition to IBM and Workday Adaptive Planning, IDC looked at Anaplan, Board International, insightsoftware, Planful, Prophix, OneStream, Oracle, SAP, Syntellis, Vena Solutions and Unit4. 

“We expect companies to continue to invest in modern enterprise planning, budgeting and forecasting applications to help them adapt to changes in the business environment and enhance agility to combat market volatility,” said Raymond Huo, senior analyst in IDC’s Business Analytics and Decisioning market research and advisory practice. 

This report is based on a “comprehensive and rigorous framework.” The vendors included in the report had to meet the following criteria:

  • Have standalone, packaged enterprise planning, budgeting and forecasting applications on the market
  • Meet the threshold of $50 million in enterprise planning, budgeting and forecasting software revenue in C&21 based on IDC’s Semiannual Software Tracker
  • Have market presence and momentum

Download this report for IDC’s viewpoint on IBM and Workday Adaptive Planning and to learn:

  • How disruption has impacted the market
  • Why differentiation in this market is challenging
  • The latest developments in software features
  • Why rapid innovation is expected to continue
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FP&A Done Right: The Changing Role of the CFO

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This is a guest blog post from our partner Workday Adaptive Planning, explaining strategy and vision for the Office of Finance.

Companies are asking more of their CFOs than ever before. They’re expected to lead environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, oversee finance transformation projects, and ensure their teams have the right skills for the future. That’s why finance leaders need the right technology.

The role of CFOs is changing as their responsibilities keep growing. “Today, CEOs and boards are looking to CFOs to help outperform peers while navigating crises,” said Terrance Wampler, group general manager, office of the CFO, at Conversations for a Changing World, a global Workday digital event. “CFOs are moving from a sole focus of maximizing shareholder value to addressing a much broader set of stakeholder values.”

These broader stakeholder values—and expectations—require a greater focus on sustainability, talent acquisition, and digital acceleration.

Simply put, companies are asking more of their CFOs—especially when it comes to having the right technology.

Growing Revenue

“Revenue is all about growth,” Wampler said. “Successful growth requires striking the right balance between quick wins within three months, medium-term operational improvements spanning three to nine months, and longer-term, more strategic initiatives across one- to three-year plans,” he said. 

There’s a strong correlation between revenue growth and high-performing financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams, according to a 2021 study by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Companies with high-performing FP&A teams saw a 21% revenue growth, compared to just 4% growth among companies with the worst-performing FP&A teams. 

What does a strong FP&A team do well? 

“One of the most impactful things CFOs and FP&A teams can do is model multiple revenue scenarios,” Wampler said.

Workday can help them do that, Wampler explained: “With Workday, customers model and execute on short-, medium-, and long-term scenarios, incorporating financial and operational data and performing what-if comparisons.”

Controlling Costs

Reining in costs remains a primary concern for finance leaders: In a 2022 PwC survey, almost one-third (30%) of CFOs ranked reducing cost as a percentage of total revenue as a top priority.

When looking at organizations that are successful at optimizing spend and driving predictable cash flow, one of the biggest opportunities to manage discretionary spend lies with their suppliers and procurement practices. 

As they grow revenue while containing costs, CFOs also must ensure that capital investments maximize ROI. 

“A CFO is the guardian of the capital that he or she has been entrusted with,” Wampler said. “Planning in Workday can help organizations get the most return from their capital investments with improved forecasting of capital expenses, effective and efficient capital project planning, and, of course, fast and accurate reporting and analysis for the complete lifecycle of your capital assets. You can also plan and model capital asset acquisitions, automate depreciation methods, and gain complete visibility into the impact of capital on your financial statements.”

Meeting ESG Goals

Organizations and their CFOs face increasing pressure to deliver not only financial impact but environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact as well. For 58% of corporations, there was a positive relationship between ESG and financial performance, according to a 2021 meta study by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business and Rockefeller Asset Management.

Companies that have made ESG factors a priority can benefit from the ability to track sustainability data—not just within the organization but extending to third parties, as well. “Data you could track include things like a carbon footprint, climate change, even risk to the supply chain … all through a configurable dashboard,” Wampler said.

Recruiting and Retaining Talent

As the “Great Resignation” sees workers leaving their jobs in record numbers, CFOs must consider how they can best recruit and retain talent in a rapidly changing economy. Of employed U.S. adults, one in four plans to look for opportunities with a new employer once the pandemic subsides, according to a Prudential survey.

Employers need to leverage technology that can give them an edge in hiring. 

“A good software user experience translates to a great employee experience,” Wampler said. That’s why Workday prioritizes developing products that improve employee engagement, in part by automating processes, he explained. With intelligent process automation, Workday enables teams to work smarter, not harder.

Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), along with the opportunity to learn new technology skills, are additional ways to keep employees engaged, Wampler added.

Beyond providing better technology solutions, a cloud-based platform also helps support workers outside of the office. As many employees have adapted to remote or hybrid work environments due to the pandemic, Workday’s robust functionality allows employees to perform their duties regardless of where they’re located and gives them additional flexibility, Wampler said. 

The CFO Stakes

Employees, suppliers, customers, and communities can benefit when companies invest in transforming back-office processes and systems—suggesting that there’s a lot at stake today’s CFO.

The good news: 75% of CFOs say the pandemic has accelerated the digitization of their operations, according to the Hackett Group. “Next-generation technology is now considered table stakes not only to survive but to thrive in the new normal of uncertainty,” Wampler said.

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