S&OP best practices: how to elevate your Sales & Operations Planning process with AI

In today’s volatile supply chain environment, traditional Sales & Operations Planning processes are reaching their limits. Demand uncertainty, frequent disruptions, and increasing pressure on inventory make it harder than ever to align sales, operations, and finance.

Yet many companies still rely on manual, Excel-driven S&OP cycles that are slow, rigid, and disconnected from real-world events.

This on-demand webinar explores modern S&OP best practices and shows how AI and automation help supply chain leaders elevate their S&OP process, improve decision-making, and respond faster to change.

Fill out the form to get your access to the webinar and learn how leading teams are transforming S&OP from a monthly exercise into a dynamic, digital process.

What is the S&OP process today?

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) is a cross-functional process designed to align demand, supply, and financial plans over a mid-term horizon.

A typical S&OP process includes:

• Demand planning and forecasting
• Supply planning and capacity planning
• Inventory and financial alignment
• Executive review and decision-making

In theory, S&OP creates alignment across the organization. In practice, many teams struggle to keep the process relevant in fast-changing environments.

Common challenges with traditional S&OP processes

Despite its importance, traditional S&OP often fails to deliver the expected value. Common challenges include:

• Heavy reliance on spreadsheets and manual consolidation
• Long planning cycles that prevent rapid reaction to disruptions
• Limited scenario simulation and what-if analysis
• Poor visibility across demand, supply, and inventory
• Difficulty aligning stakeholders around a single version of the truth

As volatility increases, these limitations turn S&OP into a bottleneck rather than a strategic advantage.

S&OP best practices for today’s volatile supply chains

To remain effective, S&OP must evolve. Leading organizations are adopting best practices that focus on agility, collaboration with suppliers, and data-driven decision-making:

Executive alignment and faster decision-making

S&OP works best when executives have clear visibility into trade-offs and can make informed decisions quickly.

Continuous planning instead of static cycles

Moving beyond monthly cycles allows teams to react to changes as they happen.

End-to-end visibility across demand, supply, and inventory

Breaking silos is essential to align operational and financial objectives.

Scenario planning as a core capability

Simulating multiple scenarios helps teams anticipate risks and choose the best course of action.

Automation to reduce manual effort

Automating routine tasks frees teams to focus on strategy rather than data preparation.

Why traditional S&OP best practices are no longer enough

While many best practices remain valid, the context has fundamentally changed. Volatility, shorter product lifecycles, and supply chain disruptions require real-time insight and faster response.

This is where AI and automation become critical enablers — not to replace S&OP, but to strengthen and modernize it.

Elevating your S&OP process with AI and automation

In this webinar, we show how AI helps transform S&OP into a digital, responsive, and predictive process.

You will discover:

• How AI enhances demand forecasting beyond historical data
• How automated planning accelerates reaction to disruptions
• How scenario simulation improves financial and operational decisions
• How digital S&OP improves cross-functional collaboration

Through concrete examples, we illustrate how AI-driven S&OP reduces decision latency from weeks to minutes.

Who should watch this webinar?

This session is designed for:

• Supply Chain Directors and Managers
• Demand and Supply Planners
• Operations and Inventory Leaders
• Companies struggling with Excel-based or legacy S&OP tools

If you are looking to modernize your S&OP process without adding complexity, this webinar is for you.

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Want to go beyond best practices? Download our whitepaper on digital S&OP to explore a strategic blueprint for building a resilient, AI-enabled planning model.