Connected planning is the heartbeat of your company’s profitability and resilience. In today’s volatile business landscape, planning isn’t just a back-office function.  Yet, too many organizations still treat planning as a routine, transactional task, relying on outdated tools or gut feeling. The result? Missed opportunities, wasted resources, and money quietly leaking out of the business. 

At Solventure, we’ve seen firsthand how connected planning transforms not just supply chains, but entire organizations. In this blog, I’ll go over seven red flags that signal your company is losing money on planning, often without even realizing it.

1. Chronic delivery failures are draining your profits

If your business regularly struggles to deliver orders on time and in full, you’re losing more than just shipments. you’re hemorrhaging money and credibility. Every late or partial delivery translates directly into lost revenue, rush fees, and damaged customer relationships. When you’re constantly reacting to emergencies and chasing missing inventory, expediting shipments, or reallocating staff, these inefficiencies quietly eat away at your margins. Connected planning directly targets these leakages, ensuring resources, schedules, and commitments are in sync, so you stop leaving money on the table.

2. Your warehouse is overflowing (or empty)

If your warehouse is bursting at the seams with unsold stock, or you’re running out of critical materials, your planning isn’t matching reality. Overproduction ties up cash and increases storage costs, while underproduction leads to lost sales and unhappy customers. Both scenarios are symptoms of disconnected sales and operations planning.  

3. Sales forecasts are always “too optimistic”

Sales teams tend to plan for the best-case scenario and overestimating demand to avoid saying “no” to customers. But if your planning process doesn’t challenge these assumptions, you’ll end up with chronic overcapacity, wasted production, and excess inventory. Connected planning means balancing ambition with realism, using data and scenario analysis to set achievable targets.

4. You’re ignoring seasonality and trends

Connected planning isn’t just about today’s orders. It’s about anticipating what’s coming. If your plans don’t account for seasonality (think: holiday peaks, summer surges) or market trends, you’ll be caught off guard. Advanced planning systems (APS) and analytics can help you spot these patterns and prepare accordingly, reducing both shortages and surpluses.  

5. You think your ERP system is “enough”

Many companies believe their ERP system can handle planning. The truth? ERP records what is, not what could be. It can’t simulate scenarios, optimize across constraints, or provide the foresight needed for agile decision-making. If you’re still planning in Excel or relying solely on ERP, you’re missing out on the true ROI of business planning.  

6. Investments are driven by gut, not business case

It’s easy to justify millions for a new warehouse or production line, but much harder to build a business case for planning software or process improvements. Yet, the real value often lies in using what you have more efficiently. If your CFO or CEO can’t articulate the value of supply chain planning, that’s a red flag. Private equity firms and industry leaders know: optimizing planning is often the fastest way to unlock value at (recently acquired) companies.  

7. Planning is siloed and not integrated

If your sales, finance, and supply chain teams each have their own plans, you’re setting yourself up for misalignment and missed opportunities. Integrated business planning (IBP) connects strategy, finance, and operations, enabling cross-functional collaboration and unified decision-making. Without it, you’re likely leaving money on the table.  

What to do if you spot these red flags 

• Start with awareness: Recognize where your planning process is leaking value. 

• Build a business case: Quantify the impact of connected planning – reduced inventory, improved service, higher margins, etc.
  
  
• Engage leadership: True transformation requires buy-in from the top.
  
  
• Invest in the right tools: APS, AI, and advanced analytics can provide the foresight and agility your ERP can’t.
  
  
• Break down silos: Foster integrated planning across departments. 
  

Final Thoughts 

If you recognize any of these red flags in your organization, you’re not alone. The good news? With the right mindset, tools, and leadership, you can turn planning from a cost center into a competitive advantage.