Using Anaplan to Enable Better Planning in Conjunction with Blue Yonder

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Anaplan and Blue Yonder are leading providers of software solutions in the supply chain space, and they are often viewed as competitors. In fact, we compared these solutions already from IT and supply chain business user perspectives. What we found was that these platforms do not always have to be in competition. Actually, they can work together to improve planning processes across an enterprise. Let us take a closer look at how business users can take advantage of using Anaplan to enable better planning in conjunction with Blue Yonder, to deliver maximum ROI and productivity.

Blue Yonder

Blue Yonder is a legacy platform that has been around for over 35 years. Many large companies that implemented Blue Yonder many years ago are mature in their processes and have both a financial and emotional investment in the solution. These companies have complex infrastructure already in place, fully trained business teams, negotiated licensing agreements in place, and tight integrations existing with other software systems. Most of the time, companies cannot fundamentally change or justify a change in this type of software due to these facts.

But that does not mean you cannot take advantage of the benefits derived from a state-of-the-art planning tool that can enable processes that Blue Yonder may be missing. That is where Anaplan comes in.

Adding Anaplan to your System

Planning systems deliver the most ROI to a business. With Anaplan, you can easily integrate the platform to process data in and out of other systems, including Blue Yonder. Anaplan features in-memory processing to allow for instant scenario planning. With Blue Yonder, you will have to wait for the batch job to finish, which will take hours at a minimum. Instant scenario planning by itself can offer an organization a competitive advantage.

In addition, the Anaplan system is owned by the business user and built on use cases. It is designed to connect departments to a central data hub, so that planning decisions and data are updated, accurate and available for strategic decision making across all departments. No matter the company or industry, Anaplan can be customized to work with your current systems and processes without any additional equipment or IT involvement.

Co-Existing with Leading Software Solutions

Software solutions are created to address a multitude of opportunities. The challenge is that businesses are individually unique, and one software platform cannot perform perfectly for all of them at once. If your organization is happy with Blue Yonder for daily supply chain functions, but you are missing the mark in planning and forecasting, then adding Anaplan to the mix is a winning proposition.

Interested to learn how Anaplan can be leveraged within your Blue Yonder organization? Contact ajain@accelytics.com for an introduction.

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Using Anaplan to Enable Better Planning in Conjunction with Blue Yonder