LinkedIn·Thursday, 13 August 2026·13d ago
SAP IBP for demand planning doesn't win because it's the best fit for planners. It more often than not wins because procurement already has…
Ben Van Delm
Supply chain planning enthusiast | Horizon
SAP IBP for demand planning doesn't win because it's the best fit for planners. It more often than not wins because procurement already has an SAP contract.
Planners then go with it, and they spend the next year and a half rebuilding Excel workarounds around it, because changing one parameter needs a consultant and a change request.
The tool that wins the RFP is not the tool that ends up getting used.
This isn't really only about SAP, but it's what happens whenever procurement criteria are written around "fits our existing landscape" instead of "will the people who use it every day actually use it."
If you're evaluating planning software right now, ask a different question than your RFP template does: not "does this integrate with what we already have," (which all modern systems do!), but maybe something like "will a planner still be using this, unmodified by a consultant, in eighteen months?"
#supplychain #planning #sapibp #ERP #IT #AI
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