Pioneers of planning transformation:

Forward-looking businesses around the world have been adapting to a shifting planning dynamic. It’s a topic I’ve discussed at length with our customers – leading brands like Nvidia, Jaguar Land Rover, and L’Oréal, who have realized the critical importance of being able to change direction quickly, and strategically, to meet the market. These businesses have replaced the traditional, and often rigid, annual planning cycle with a more continuous exercise. Budgets and forecasts are fluid, models are nuanced, and even the most well-intentioned plan is reviewed at a regular cadence.

This shift has also ushered in a wave of new enterprise solutions and technologies. From robust CRMs like Salesforce to integrated planning platforms like Anaplan, data-driven tools enable businesses to operate with flexibility, communicate in real-time, and move at the speed of a rapidly shifting market. 

But an agile approach to planning is a departure from the status quo. And, once you add new technology to the mix, it’s bound to be met with some hesitation and resistance. That’s why effective change management, clear communication, and ongoing training programs and support are critical to help minimize disruptions, accelerate user adoption, and maximize results. 

This week, during our Anaplan Connect event in San Diego, we had the chance to recognize two individuals who have been instrumental in driving their organization’s planning transformation forward. These individuals have led by example, demonstrating their own enthusiasm for Anaplan as a platform for planning transformation, creating a shared vision for their teams and cross-functional partners, and encouraging collaboration, continuous learning, and engagement.

Our Center of Excellence Leader of the Year, Anne-Charlotte Regnaut Vidal, is the Head of the Anaplan Center of Excellence at Moët Hennessy, the Wines and Spirits Division of LVMH.

Moët Hennessy – which leverages Anaplan across its supply chain, sales, and finance departments – has a global Center of Excellence (CoE), with users in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the United States. Under Anne-Charlotte’s guidance, the CoE team has doubled its use cases since DATE and expanded from 400 to 1,100 Anaplan users. With a relentless focus on value, Anne-Charlotte has helped re-imagine countless processes for the prestigious organization, aligning with cross-functional decision-makers from different departments on worldwide Anaplan deployments. At a time when consumer preferences and buying behaviors are constantly in flux, Anne-Charlotte’s tenacity, clear and consistent communication, and ongoing support have helped the global CoE team maximize the value of Anaplan to drive powerful results for the luxury retailer.

Our Certified Master Anaplanner of the Year, Adam Cookson, is a staff architect for the Anaplan platform within Sony Interactive Entertainment, a global leader in interactive and digital entertainment.

In recent years, as change has forced businesses to toss their assumptions out the window, words like scenario planning and modeling have become a common part of our lexicon, and individuals like Adam, with extensive modeling capabilities, have provided invaluable expertise.

In his role, Adam has created and shared technical Anaplan roadmaps with executive leaders at Sony Interactive Entertainment, helping the organization get the most value out of its Anaplan implementation. He’s showcased the power of connected planning across the organization, overseeing the internal Anaplan ecosystem for over 220 active users, and has provided guidance and oversight across multiple workstreams and projects. Adam has also evangelized an agile, integrated approach to planning – creating detailed write-ups of implementation practices, developing knowledge centers for other model builders within the organization, and playing an active role in the Anaplan Community. 

Implementing new technologies and rolling out new processes, from communications tools to planning software, requires more than just technical expertise. Change management, clear and consistent communication, and a continued commitment to learning and sharing best practices are critical to success. Anne-Charlotte and Adam have been instrumental in not only helping their organizations overcome resistance to change but in driving successful process transformations forward – paving the way for enhanced productivity, improved decision-making, and sustainable growth.

Please join me in congratulating Anne-Charlotte and Adam for their outstanding accomplishments.