Analyst Insight: Ideally, the output of the S&OP plan should drive companies' income statement and balance sheets. Companies should create internal projects and SWAT teams wherein the S&OP plan is mapped to the key financial documents with collaboration between finance and supply chain.

Analyst Insight: Leading companies have a portfolio of true end-to-end supply chain metrics, use those metrics in key processes such as S&OP, supplement the metrics with customer and supplier dashboards, and have an open attitude and metrics culture that drives them through an upward spiral of increasingly higher levels of performance. Most importantly: they understand they cannot be good at everything, and they consciously manage tradeoffs.

Analyst Insight: This software market, like most, took a hit in 2009, but we still like its long-term growth potential. We continue to see companies adopting service parts management software successfully, saving millions of dollars in inventory costs.

Analyst Insight: Optimizing inventory safety-stock policies without considering capacity and material constraints is not enough. Inventory management should be viewed within the context of a supply and demand balancing process associated with S&OP. Rough-cut capacity planning within the S&OP process should be augmented with inventory analysis.

Analyst Insight: The recent economic turmoil has pulled into sharp focus the issue of how to manage increasingly volatile supply chains. Through late 2008 and 2009, many companies simply panicked and aggressively cut both production and productive assets. These companies are beginning to pay for those aggressive cuts as demand is now starting to increase -- straining diminished capabilities. For 2010, we offer guidance on how companies can get supply chains back in balance and get sales and operations planning right.

Analyst Insight: The life sciences industry is realizing significant supply chain and operational benefits by driving even modest increases in demand forecast accuracy. Companies included in a recent AMR Research study pointed to improved demand management processes as the number one reason for this increased supply chain visibility. And the benefits don't stop there!

Analyst Insight: Maturation of inventory management in organizations often follows a somewhat linear path from the technical basics of planning to the organizational issues encountered in sales and operations planning (S&OP). Coordination between product development and planning may not be the last hurdle, but it has been a major stumbling block that many mid-sized firms are increasingly overcoming.