All 2025 Conference Sessions

Autonomous Planning: Separating Hype from Reality

Speakers:

• Pia Orup Lund, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner

Key takeaways

• Automation can help us boost throughput, improve the quality of our planning outputs, and make much better use of the scarce talent we have.
• Only simple planning decisions can be made autonomously which is why it is important to move decision into becoming simpler. You can still have automation to some degree in other categories but not full autonomous planning.
• Addressing both data and culture helps ensure successful and sustainable autonomous planning.

Pre-Executive S&OP — The Missed Meeting Behind Your Bad Decisions

Speakers:

• Tessa Mahon, Director Analyst, Gartner

Key takeaways

• Pre-S&OP is a vital yet often overlooked step that bridges gaps in planning, surfacing and resolving issues before they reach executive review.
• Implementing a structured pre-S&OP process drives more informed, cross-functional decision-making and strengthens overall S&OP effectiveness.
• Organizations that lack pre-S&OP risk missed opportunities and misaligned business outcomes due to unresolved disconnects in the planning process.

Build a Planning Workforce Ready for an Uncertain World

Speakers:

• Lorraine Gavin, Sr Principal Analyst, Gartner

Key takeaways

• Your planning workforce may be holding onto “what was” or hoping for a return to “normal”. This focus on the past only prevents us from moving towards the future.
• When we explore the unknown, we’re more likely to find a competitive advantage and to thrive.
• Embrace positive uncertainty. In a world where the future refuses to be forecasted, the most powerful thing we can do is encourage our people to explore it with confidence.

The Planning Revolution: The Rise of AI Agents in SCP

Speakers:

• Jan Snoeckx, Director Analyst, Gartner

Key takeaways

• AI agents are set to become efficiency multipliers, transforming supply chain planning by automating routine tasks and augmenting planner capabilities.
• Adopting advanced AI practices enables organizations to achieve higher planning maturity, allowing planners to focus on strategic and value-adding activities.
• Embracing AI-driven planning fosters greater agility, accuracy, and responsiveness, positioning organizations for a competitive edge in a dynamic environment.

Supply Chain Planning Reimagined Through Antifragility and Decision-Centricity

Speakers:

• Sr Director Analyst, Gartner

Key takeaways

• Antifragility is the ability of your supply chain to gain value when exposed to uncertainty.
• Decision-centric planning is not a new process; it is a concept — an approach — to business decision making.
• Real-time data availability, artificial intelligence, probabilistic and experiment-driven planning create a world of possibilities for supply chain planning.

Radically Rethinking Reorganization of Planning

Speakers:

• Alan O’Keeffe, VP Analyst, Gartner

Key takeaways

• When you reorganize, you need to ask – how do I build strength into this organization design?
• Companies who are radically rethinking reorganization are intentional about improving decision-making speed as an outcome of a new organizing model.
• Successful reorganizations eliminate decision latency and organize resources to increase speed for customers, orchestration and transformation.