Most planning programmes go live. Far fewer pay back.
Independent advice for retailers and consumer brands choosing, implementing or fixing planning technology, whatever platform you use.
Led by a practitioner who has been on both sides of planning software: first helping build it, then fifteen years implementing it for retailers across the US, UK, Middle East, South Africa and India.
Of recently implemented ERP initiatives are predicted to fail to fully meet their original business case goals by 2027. As many as a quarter will fail catastrophically.
GartnerOf planners report that supply chain transformations of the previous three years achieved half or fewer of their targeted benefits.
Gartner research, via Supply Chain Management Review, 2023Of supply chain planners use spreadsheets for at least half of their planning work.
Board survey, via Supply Chain Management Review, 2024The software usually works. What fails is everything between the software and the decision: the process, the roles, the data, and whether anyone measures what actually changed. That is where we work.
- Retailers replacing spreadsheets or an ageing planning system
- Retailers and brands comparing enterprise and mid-market planning platforms
- Teams midway through a planning programme that has started to drift
- Businesses whose planning system is live, but whose planners still work in Excel
- Consumer brands building a more disciplined planning rhythm across modern trade, e-commerce and quick commerce
Three kinds of help, at the three moments that decide the outcome.
Platform selection
Choosing the right planning platform for your business, and paying the right amount for it.
When you need it
You are outgrowing spreadsheets or an ageing system, or you have three proposals on the table that all sound the same and cost very different amounts.
What we do
- We start with the decisions, not a feature checklist: what gets decided, at what level, how often, and what should change in the numbers
- A shortlist that includes mid-market options, not just the names everyone knows
- Scripted demos run on your own data, with your scenarios, scored by your team
- Reference calls with comparable retailers, focused on what happened after go-live: adoption, effort, cost and realised benefits
- Five-year cost including the implementation partner, and a hard look at the contract and statement of work
What you get
A recommendation you can defend to your board: which platform, why, what it will really cost, how long it will really take, and the three risks to manage from day one.
Planning transformation
Keeping a programme honest, on track and pointed at the business case.
When you need it
You are about to start a programme, or you are in the middle of one and it is drifting: dates moving, scope growing, design decisions being made by whoever is in the room.
What we do
- Independent review at each gate: design, build, testing, go-live, and ninety days after
- Design reviews from someone who has configured and built these systems, not just managed them
- Challenge on integrator plans, change requests and staffing, in their language
- Adoption tracked by what planners actually do, not by who logged in
- Benefits tracked against the original business case, month by month
What you get
A clear view of where the programme really is and what to change, reported to your sponsor, not to the integrator. And a much better chance of delivering what the business case promised.
Planning operating model
Making sure decisions are actually made in the system, by the right people, at the right rhythm.
When you need it
The system is live but the real decisions still happen in spreadsheets and meetings, or the lines between merchandising, buying, planning and supply chain have blurred.
What we do
- Decision rights: who decides what, at which level, how often, and who can override
- A planning calendar and meeting rhythm that fits your trading cycle
- Roles, team size and skills for exception-based working rather than line-by-line review
- KPIs that measure the quality of decisions, not the volume of activity
What you get
An operating model your teams can run on Monday morning, with the roles, rhythm and measures written down, and a plan for getting there without disrupting trade.
Our independence is part of the service.
We build planning software, so you deserve to know exactly where our interests sit.
Full disclosure from day one
We build Plavista. You will know that from the first conversation, along with whether we think it could be relevant to you. No surprises three weeks in.
We step back when we are a candidate
If you want Plavista considered, it goes through the same script and scoring as every other vendor, judged by your team, and we take no part in that decision.
No fees from anyone else
We take no referral, commission or partner fees from any software vendor or systems integrator. You are the only one paying us, so you are the only one we work for.
Often the answer is an enterprise platform
They are excellent, and for some businesses they are exactly right. When that is you, we will say so, and help you get the most from it.
Fixed scope where we can. Light touch where it helps more.
Platform selection
From decisions and requirements to scripted demos, references, five-year cost and a reviewed contract. Allow up to 16 weeks if a proof of concept on your own data is needed.
Programme health check
For a programme already underway where something feels wrong. A written view of where it really stands and what to change, delivered to your sponsor.
Programme assurance
Alongside your programme for its whole life, with a one-to-two-week review at each gate: design, build, testing, go-live and ninety days after.
Operating model
Design and agreement with your leadership team, then a pilot through two full planning cycles before it becomes the way you work.
Every engagement starts with a conversation about where you are, and a written proposal with a fixed fee or a monthly retainer, agreed before any work begins.
Ranga Mallipudi
I started in the R&D team of one of the major enterprise planning platforms, helping build its merchandise planning suite from the ground up. Then fifteen years on the other side of the table, leading planning programmes for grocery, hypermarket and fashion retailers across the US, UK, Middle East, South Africa and India.
So I know how these systems are designed, how integrators staff and price them, where programmes usually go wrong, and what it takes for planners to trust the numbers enough to stop re-keying them into Excel.
Across retail planning, merchandising, supply chain and planning technology
Built planning software, then implemented the leading platforms
US, UK, Middle East, Africa and India
What people usually ask first.
Do you work with any planning platform?
Yes. Advisory is platform-neutral. We work with retailers and brands running or choosing any of the major enterprise planning platforms, mid-market tools, or their own spreadsheets.
Do we have to use Plavista if we work with you?
No. Advisory stands on its own. Most advisory clients will never use Plavista, and that is fine.
Can you work alongside our systems integrator?
Yes, and it usually works better that way. We are not there to replace the integrator or take over delivery. We make sure the programme stays pointed at your business case, and that design decisions are made by people who understand their consequences.
Where do you work?
From Hyderabad, with clients across India, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, on site when it matters and remotely when it does not.