The situation in the world is changing drastically and has an effect on everybody’s daily life. For an organization like yours, this means that forecasting becomes even more important than it was before. We should take external, less controllable, information more seriously because using only our own data, is simply not enough anymore.
During the event we focussed on this next level of business planning. Also we covered the approach towards a higher planning maturity level. More than 65% of organizations struggle with the transformation towards a data driven and driver based planning organization.
Keynote speakers
Rens van der Vorst, Technophilosopher at Fontys University – Does technology make us happier?
In our world, digital technology plays an increasingly large role, that’s not news. But what do we really expect from all that technology? How do we want to relate to that technology? When does digital technology make life better and what do we actually mean by better? What role do data and AI play? These are big and important questions that Rens van der Vorst brings back to today’s practice. Why does Spotify always recommend Ed Sheeran to me? Can you be a soccer dad without WhatsApp? And why do you always want to beat your navigation system?
In a stimulating, quirky but relevant way, Rens shone his light on our place in this digital world.
Hugo Haak, Former Head Sprint Coach Trackcycling KNWU
During this event, Hugo shared his journey on preparing the Dutch national track cycling team for their main goal: the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo. ”This was not only about physical gains or just hard work but also about managing the team and the performances in the best possible way.”
Session speakers
Luke van Harskamp, Business Controller Alcredis Finance – the leasing and financing division of Louwman
Luke is responsible for the design and execution of the financial planning process to construct driver-based rolling forecasts. He is also involved in the implementation and further development of Board through co-building.
Luke demonstrated the Board-platform in one of the breakout sessions around data-driven decision-making for financial forecasting.
Robbert Otto, Manager Business Control Alcredis Finance – the leasing and financing division of
Louwman
LouwmanRobbert is responsible for the end-to-end process for the budget & rolling forecast and is strongly involved in the implementation of Board from a key stakeholder perspective. Board is being used for the budget & rolling forecast process for the Income statement, Balance sheet & Cash flow forecasting. This whole process is fed by operational data coming from individual lease contracts.
Robbert presented the Board use case and the advantages of this solution during the event.
Erwin Stevels, Head of Business Controlling and Business Analytics at TUI
As manager Business controlling Erwin is responsible for the planning cycle of TUI Nederland. Drivers are the essence of the company. By setting targets on these business drivers and monitoring them, Erwin pro-actively supplies the business partners with relevant insights and information.
During the future of forecasting, Erwin Stevels shared the forecasting process at TUI and his vision on driver-based forecasting.
Julius Ronner, Head of Financial Planning & Analysis at VodafoneZiggo
Julius spoke about long-term planning in a demanding context. He shared all the advantages and disadvantages of and differences between top-down and bottom-up forecasting. “In this ever fast-changing world, we need to move to continuous forecasting instead of an annual process.”
Arjan Boers, Implementation manager Integrated Business Planning (IBP) at Stedin.
The energy transition is dynamic and booming. Houses are being off gas, we are driving more and more electrically and roofs and meadows are being filled with solar panels. In
addition, the economy is growing, for example as a result of more new homes being built and the growth in data and distribution centers. For grid operators like Stedin, this already presents major challenges, let alone when we look at 2030 or 2050.
Over the past few years, Stedin has shaped the implementation of driver-based forecasting. Arjan Boers shared Stedin did this and what the results where and what lessons the company learned during his talk at the future of forecasting.
Ralf de Haan, Director Data & Analytics, Data Science & AI at Pon
The mobility industry is a fast moving and innovative sector in which data plays a hugely important role. But given Pon’s decentralized model, how do you successfully establish a scalable data strategy? And where do you need to start? Ralf answered these questions by sharing the central setup of the data teams, practical data science examples, lessons-learned and the final approach towards a data-driven Pon.
