As another tumultuous year draws to a close, it goes without saying that our lives have been impacted like never before. And this is no different, particularly for our IBF membership base, as well as other demand planning and forecasting professionals who have had to navigate their companies through this unprecedented time.

This pandemic is arguably the largest global disruption in recent decades, affecting not just what consumers purchased, but when they made purchases, the quantity they purchased and, of course, how they made their purchases in terms of the platforms used.

These behavioral changes have been extremely compressed – what typically takes years to evolve, took place in a matter of months or even weeks.

Consumer behavior is one heck of a thing. Along with supply shortages, one of the key reasons demand has been so difficult to predict is fear. During the pandemic we saw a type of fear known as food insecurity – a primordial reaction to scarcity of food, or at least the perception of it. This wreaked havoc on demand patterns making business planning even more difficult than ever before.

In this new environment where historical data offers little insight into the future, our IBF members were looking to us to learn how to manage supply and demand. As a result, just like many school systems around the world, we created virtual programs to disseminate the knowledge they needed, helping professionals guide their companies to success in the most difficult of times. Plus, as our face-to-face conferences and meetings came to a screeching halt, I am proud to say the IBF was quite prolific in developing new products and services in an effort to help companies and planning professionals remain confident during times of great uncertainty.

IBF Showed Planning & Forecasting Professionals How To Survive The Pandemic

At the beginning of the lockdown, we kicked off our first Virtual Town Hall back in March of 2020. This was a free program with open discussions with top leaders at global brands with the aim of helping our tribe navigate the rough waters of the pandemic when we knew our forecasts were going to be severely wrong.

For that first Virtual Town Hall we had 3000 people attend – an IBF record! Do you think IBF delivered? Actually, we didn’t. At least not on the first attempt. So what happened? Well, if the whole world jumped on Zoom at the same time, what do you think would happen? Think rush hour traffic times 1000. Our webinar system crashed – another victim of changing behavior during the pandemic. (Of course, the irony was not lost on us that a webinar about managing demand was impacted by excess demand). So, what did we do? We asked everyone to send in their questions via email and we recorded the town hall panelists without an audience. And then, we disseminated the recording back to the community which was very well received.

You can see that first Town Hall recording here. It’s as relevant now as it was when lockdown started. Plus, you can watch all of our past IBF Town Halls online and other valuable webinars. It’s all FREE.

Through our monthly town halls, we delivered regular webinars that shared how to make confident planning decisions, step-by-step. Much of it centered around modifying S&OP to react quicker to demand shifts, and the crucial component of planning in good times and bad – cross-functional collaboration.

And of course, delivering forecasting and planning education being a part of our DNA, IBF transitioned its multi-day corporate training seamlessly to the virtual sphere. We delivered our Demand Planning, Forecasting and S&OP/ IBP Boot Camps virtually. We delivered our Corporate Training for enterprise members virtually as well. Essentially, we continued to teach the fundamentals to ensure planners had the tools and knowledge to manage during this difficult time. You can find out more about our Corporate Training.

And I urge you to check out our events page where you can register for upcoming webinars and town halls too.

Plus, with our members holding back on travel, and still having a strong desire to learn and develop professionally, our eLearning platform surged with registrations during the COVID-19 crisis. This platform allows professionals to learn the fundamentals of demand planning and S&OP at their own pace, on-demand. :

The Planning Community Showed Resilience In A Crisis

For those that were furloughed, the IBF gave free access to conferences for those who had lost their jobs. The idea was to keep them active and prepared when they would be welcomed back into the workforce, and to let them know the community was in some way supporting them.

The planning community as a whole wasn’t idling by either – several hundred planning professionals passed through our Certified Professional Forecaster (CPF) program in 2020 and 2021. In a downturn when layoffs are happening and many people are forced to apply for new jobs, this certification is a way to let employers know that you’re at the top of your field and can hit the ground running in a forecasting, demand planning or S&OP/IBP role.

And of course, such credentials give confidence to the professionals themselves that they know what they are doing and can approach planning roles knowing they have the skills to deliver. On that note, IBF has recently improved its Jobs Board, where companies can post their planning and forecasting positions to reach the largest group of S&OP and forecasting professionals in the world. Again, this is FREE!  So if you’re looking for your next move, or are hiring, go check it out. We also have our highly popular LinkedIn jobs portal page connecting thousands of job seekers and hiring managers/recruiters.

It wasn’t long before companies realized that a return to growth in this period of unstable demand and supply shortages required planning professionals. We were needed, and continue to be needed, to sort out this mess, and planning job vacancies started appearing again.

Beyond that, we launched the IBF On Demand podcast, led by Eric Wilson, to advance these discussions. It is available on YouTube, Spotify, and whichever service you use for podcasts.

IBF Provided Forecasting Expertise To The Government

We also volunteered our expertise to government agencies as Dr. Chaman L. Jain, Editor-In-Chief of the IBF’s Journal of Business Forecasting and author of our Fundamentals of Demand Planning and Forecasting, IBF’s body of knowledge book, was part of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) COVID-19 forecasting team, predicting numbers of cases and deaths. Dr. Jain’s forecasts regularly achieved 99% accuracy, which was not too shabby. He continues to provide forecasts on COVID every week at Demand-Planning.com.

IBF Launched Its S&OP Maturity Model Self-Assessment Tool

We also launched IBF’s S&OP maturity model to help companies identify gaps in their S&OP across People, Process, Data, and Technology. You can complete this free S&OP self-assessment on ibf.org, for free. It will give you tailor-made recommendations and resources to help you reach the next stage in your S&OP maturity.

We also relaunched our consulting services, providing word-leading guidance to companies looking to implement or improve S&OP and demand planning/forecasting processes. To gain a sense of what we could do for your company, click here and reach out to us for a discussion.

IBF Launched A New S&OP Certificate

We also launched our S&OP certificate that is a gateway to full CPF certification. It’s a quick and affordable way to show employers that you have a solid foundation in the field. It’s also the only certificate of its kind. They are associated with our S&OP/ IBP Boot Camps, with the boot camp training providing the knowledge required to earn the certificate. Information on the certificate and boot camp can be found here.

IBF Launched A Corporate, Enterprise Level Certification

During the pandemic, we launched our IBF Corporate Certification. This pandemic has really been a stress test on our S&OP processes, highlighting any underlying weaknesses. Corporate Certification validates a company’s capabilities and shows that they can withstand not only pandemics, but natural disasters, new legislation, and other unplanned events.

IBF Launched A New Predictive Analytics Book

This year, we released IBF’s new book, written by Eric Wilson, Predictive Analytics For Business Forecasting, which is now required reading for IBF’s Advanced certification program, ACPF. It is your guide to leveraging advanced analytics in the age of big data. Make no mistake, data is forcing the field to evolve, and this will help you keep pace with cause-and-effect models and proper data management, including use of internal and external data, and structured and unstructured data.

IBF’s new book is available on ibf.org and Amazon.

IBF Chapters Continue To Grow

We’re also forming IBF student chapters, the latest being at the University of California, Berkeley, led by energetic and bright young minds. That’s in addition to our existing New York Metro and New England chapters. For more information on attending a chapter meeting (or starting your own!), click here.

IBF Returned To Face-To-Face Events

October 2021 saw our return to face-to-face events with our flagship Orlando conference. It was a much welcome opportunity to connect with old friends and new. At the core of IBF conferences is learning new approaches, new methodologies, and new technologies. That’s not to mention taking advantage of new opportunities to improve the companies we work for and our skill sets, and taking charge of our careers .

Our full schedule of conferences and face-to-face training is available to view here. For 2022 we have events in Chicago, Orlando, Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Scottsdale, Seattle, and more.

In October 2021 IBF made a return to face-to-face events in Orlando.

IBF Is Celebrating Our 40th Year Anniversary

2022 marks the 40th year IBF has been fostering the growth of demand planning, forecasting, S&OP/ IBP, predictive analytics and the careers of those in the field.

We couldn’t sit on the sidelines to wait this thing out. Our team at IBF remained intact and we stand ready to serve the planning and forecasting community for our 40th year and beyond.

In 2022, IBF is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

I want to take this opportunity to thank our IBF members for your support, and all professionals who have contributed their knowledge to a conference, town hall, webinar, article, book, panel discussion, or podcast over the last 2 years during this transformative period. This knowledge exchange is what keeps the community going, keeps myself going, and the field advancing – in good times and bad.

Thank you.

A. Jain - IBF

Taking a 7 hour flight from New York to Heathrow, and then dragging yourself down to Central London can be a brutal commute.  But, on this day, there were no strenuous travel plans that were going to distract me from my excitement for IBF’s first London Forecasting Meet-up, hosted by Accenture.  And I am pleased to say, it was a great success.  We had Attendees from companies such as Nokia, Dell, AstraZeneca, McCormick, Rolls-Royce, Argos, Vodafone, and more. I was thrilled to hear how McCormick built a successful demand planning team and process.  I was also very happy to hear how other well known global companies, both up and downstream, improve their operations through better forecasting and planning.

The goal of the IBF meet-up was to provide a networking opportunity for professionals that recognize the importance of forecasting & planning. This event was geared towards professionals who are eager to learn, but lack the professional development budget needed for IBF conferences regionally and abroad.  While the Forecasting Meet-up may not have included the 2-days of rich and structured knowledge that an IBF 2-day conference offers, it still provided an environment to share lessons learned, best practices, and to build a professional network with little or no investment.

The event kicked off with a short introduction from Erik Daren, Supply Chain Consultant at Accenture who welcomed everyone to their office on Fenchurch Street.  Actually, Erik was instrumental in making this event happen, which we at the IBF greatly appreciate.  Allow me to take a second to mention a few things about the offices since they were so kind as to offer them up for our Meet-up. Stepping though Accenture’s office made me feel as though I had actually jumped into a Delorean and arrived in the future. I doubt Accenture does factory tours, but, maybe you can sneak in as a pizza delivery person to check it out :).

Our featured speaker, Rachael Stafford who is the Business Integration Manager at McCormick UK shared with us her journey towards building a strong demand planning and forecasting team.   Rachel mentioned that some key challenges at McCormick were dealing with the company’s silo mentality as well as getting their internal customers and those who supply forecasting information to collaborate to achieve consensus.  She went on to say that, when attempting to achieve a cultural change in this environment, the common question was, “What’s in it for me?” So, Rachel thought, “Why not lunch? Her treat!”  And that is what she did.  Rachael meticulously scheduled lunch meetings with key people throughout the company. These lunches allowed her to reiterate her point, which was that working together is better for both of us, as well as holistically for the company too.  This enabled her to develop strong relationships in pursuit of “one number of the truth” as we say. Of course, all forecasters are often pressured to take down or raise their forecasts at any given time.  But, having key relationships that are less combative allows Rachel and her team to manage the game play that others in the company may create in order to achieve an objective forecast.

When it came time for Q&A there were so many people interested in Rachel’s experience that it almost seemed as though she was being cross examined. One attendee laughingly pointed this out to me later in the evening.  However throughout the “inquisition,” she handled herself beautifully showing her toughness, which is a prerequisite for today’s successful forecasting & demand planning professional.  Rachel will be the first one to point out that we’re not just number crunchers, but strong well rounded professionals.

Finally, we opened up the room for a round table discussion and a key topic of conversation was “Forecasting ownership in terms of where the function should reside and why?” Many companies have forecasting as part of the Supply Chain.  This is an interesting fact since it continues to validate IBF’s benchmarking research on where the forecasting function is finding a home internally.  The guys from Dell seemed to truly appreciate this discussion as expressed to me during the evening. They plan to explore the pros and cons of ownership upon returning to their office and credit the discussion at the meet-up for thinking this way.  As one of the attendees said, “Forecasting needs to be aligned where the major operational decisions are being made.”  It appeared as though the group concurred with this point.  For me, this reaffirmed my prior notion that there are times when forecasting should not be a truly independent function or department.  This is because you risk losing a connection with the business and could lose an opportunity to develop those important relationships.

One thing that bothered me during the discussions was someone had said that we must get the most out of our demand planners before they jump off to another area of the company?  I do think this is contrary to what’s happening with successful companies today. At many companies, Demand Planning and Forecasting is not an intermediary discipline before heading to another area of the company.  Many companies are actually creating hierarchies for demand planning all the way up to the Vice President of Demand Planning. This evolution continues to happen.  Plus, the salary levels are rising at an exponential rate, which will surely keep good demand planning professionals right where they are. IBF’s benchmarking reports prove this.

I must say, even after 2 hours had past, we still could have kept discussing and debating.  Thank goodness for the Accenture people who were mindful of the schedule and let us know it was time to wrap things up.  They were not sending us home though, they were kind enough to reserve space for us at the local bar for drinks.  Good times.

The next London/ UK Meet-up will be in the Fall of 2011.  Watch the IBF calendars for details. We hope to see you there!

IBF's S&OP Workshop

Last week, I attended IBF’s Executive S&OP workshop with Tom Wallace and companies such as LG, Celegene, Integra Life Sciences, UGG Boots, and more.   Some folks flew in to New Jersey from beautiful Southern California just for the S&OP education.  Bless them for coming to the North East.  If that doesn’t show dedication to the field, I think it certainly comes close.

I am often amazed how demand planning, forecasting, and S&OP always initiate great discussion.  This program was no different.  We’ve been covering S&OP for some time and I truly enjoy when a program provides nuggets of new thought to take back.

Here are some thoughts, questions, and/ or takeaways from the workshop:

1) There is still confusion between what is demand planning software and S&OP software.  Of course, any S&OP software does need input from demand planning & forecasting.  But, is it ok to call a demand planning application a S&OP application?

2) Some companies call the S&OP meeting the compromise meeting.  This certainly resonates well with me when I think of shopping with my wife on a budget :).

3) What are the steps that need to be taken during and after a company acquisition?  Tom says, S&OP should be leading the discussions prior to acquisition.

4) How do you change behaviors and thinking when a company has been extremely successful with double digit growth? How can we be proactive during this time to ensure we have a process in place to handle anything which might arise in the future?

5) Is one number planning truly one number or one set of numbers that drives planning?

6) There are many companies that have successfully implemented a S&OP process without a  consultant. This, of course, depends on the knowledge of the person driving the new process.  If completely new, it may be in the best interest of a company to hire an S&OP consultant to save time and resources in order to reach the benefits of the process much faster.

7) Tom always says the S&OP process is balancing Supply with Demand, not the other way around. However, for example, Ugg shoes uses supply to drive demand?!  I will talk more about this in a later post.

If you have any further thoughts on the above, or have an answer to these questions, we would love to hear from you.

Thanks for listening.

Anish Jain
Managing Director
Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning – IBF

Luis Carlos Rojas - CPF, IBF Speaker, GOODYEAR & Anish Jain, IBF

I recently returned from Mexico City from our Spanish based Supply Chain Forecasting & Planning Conference: Latin American Experiences, produced together with Corporate Resources Management – Mexico City and IBF – New York USA.

As the IBF continues to deliver more International programs, it is clear that many of the challenges we face in the United States are the same challenges that are being faced in other countries, including companies from Mexico.  Of course, they too are dealing with a declining economy, maintaining proper inventory levels, ensuring product is available for their customers when they want it, and abiding by the rules that large retailers, including Walmart Mexico, dictate to their suppliers.

I have to say, it was a bit embarrassing that I had to keep saying to folks, “No Hablo Espanol” (I don’t speak Spanish) at the conference.  However, my newly made friends at the conference were extremely forgiving, which was “mucho” appreciated.  Therefore, although, the sessions were in Spanish, based on my conversations in English with attendees, here are a few takeaway’s:

• A person from the makers of Tecate Beer mentioned that they are just exploring CPFR relationships with one of their customers, but it continues to be slow to develop. However, it helps to share information and business plans when your retail customers are partially owned by your own company.

• Attendees from Coca-Cola Mexico certainly recognize the value of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and how it can bring significant benefits in terms of profitability, long-term visibility of the business, and competitive success.  However, they can’t seem to find the magic pill to get everyone to buy-in and change their behaviors to support the process…stick to the plan?  Folks, does this not sound familiar?

• Revlon Mexico leverages the demand data from Revlon USA 6 months after launch in the States.  Although, different cultures have different dynamics, it provides Mexico something to go on during consensus forecasting and inventory planning discussions.

• Another, “surprise, surprise” common in the States is many companies that are trying to get their S&OP processes off the ground, continue to struggle with having the right data at the meeting.  Again, no different from many companies in the States.

Anish Jain, IBF & Jesus Campos, CEO, Corporate Resources Management

Furthermore, although the sample of attendees at the conference did not represent Mexico on a broader level, I was impressed with how hungry they are for knowledge to implement or improve their demand planning, forecasting, and supply chain planning processes to stay ahead of the competition. And you also have to thank their bosses/ senior management for recognizing the value of such an event.  As I said in my opening speech (which was translated to Spanish) it is the best companies that continue to invest in their people in terms of professional development, training, conferences, certification, and programs that provide access to learn how others are handling the business in this never seen before, fast changing market place.

Please share your experiences, that will surely encourage others to share theirs in an effort to help us all grow! Your comments and input on the challenges you’re currently facing in demand planning, forecasting, S&OP, and supply chain management are sincerely welcome.

Anish Jain
Managing Director
Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning – IBF
New York USA

Michael Jackson

We all know a strike, natural disaster, large scale power failure/ black out, major retail customer dropping you as a supplier, major competitor dropping out of the market, recall of a product due to contamination and more can have a major impact on your demand, for the worse and for the worse (yes, I said it twice).  For the worse #1, the demand for many of your products will take a nose dive, and you’re left with ageing stock without liquidity.  And for the worse #2, you experience shortages and stock-outs because of your inability to handle the sudden surge in demand, leading to loss of opportunity and possibly loss of customers for good.

Last week we lost one of the greatest entertainers, arguably, of all time, the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson. Personally, this was very difficult to handle when my childhood was spent trying to dance and moonwalk to “Billy Jean” and “Thriller.”  I know I am not alone.  So don’t be afraid to admit it as you know who you are :).  Regardless of your personal opinions of Michael, his reach and world wide interest is indisputable.

Of course, resulting from this shocking news, we are now seeing an astronomical surge in demand for every item related to Michael Jackson, from books to dvd’s, cd’s, mp3’s, and even internet domain names with Michael Jackson as part of the name.  If you search “Michael Jackson domain” on ebay, you’ll see website domains selling for $1,000,000 (USD)+ (as of June 26, 2009).  You will not only find domains for sale such as inmemoryofmichaeljackson.org, but also  michaeljacksonwear.com for those who want to build an online store to sell replicas of Michael Jackson’s sequenced glove, or his red Thriller jacket, and more. I am always fascinated by the ingenuity and creativity of many opportunists who attempt to capitalize on the happenings in the world.

As a junk yard for car parts capitalize on automobile accidents for more business, there are many businesses that will benefit from the death of Michael Jackson.  Although, we are sure, many would not have wanted to gain new business this way. I don’t think they’re unhappy either, especially in this difficult economy for many.  It appears there are a scarce number of stores right now where you can find his cd’s, dvd’s, and books about his life, where I am sure prices are currently skyrocketing.  I also believe this is true for his classic clothing and other memorabilia. Of course, this is certainly an outlier as no one expected his death to come so prematurely?

Furthermore, as surprising as it seems, the electronic/ virtual supply chains or supply chains that package news and information as electronic data are also impacted by his death.  Who would have thought with cloud computing and the promise of near unlimited bandwidth, computer power,  and storage that google search, google news, AOL Instant Messenger, and twitter.com would fail for significant periods of time caused by the outpouring of people around the world sharing their emotions, feelings, and searching for Michael Jackson news through these platforms?  A quote from CNN, “How many people does it take to break the Internet? On June 25, we found out it’s just one – that one is Michael Jackson”  I also heard some one saying how funny it is when the real time web breaks news, but the news ends up breaking the web? Another FYI, when these platforms went down, many election protestors in Iran had no medium to share the brutal violence being faced by their own military?

In the States, the power companies handle a sudden jump in a cities temperature by buying more electricity from other locations and sending it to where needed.  Are we naïve to think that some of the behemoths of the internet, such as google don’t have this type of electronic supply chain flexibility, nor do they have proper risk management plans for handling this unforeseen surge in demand? If they didn’t before, I am sure they must be putting the pieces in place to have them now.  Google themselves said the number of queries for Michael Jackson was “Volcanic” and initially thought they were being attacked, which forced the site to automatically be shut down for the wrong reason. Personally, I hope our government is more proactive on potential risks to the country than the corporate world.

I bet that the companies that will truly benefit from this unexpected demand are the ones that have formal collaborative processes such as Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) that can quickly gather input on what’s happening in the marketplace, sit together in one room, along with members of senior management, and work out a plan to take advantage of this challenge.  Of course, it must go hand in hand with an agile and more flexible supply chain to make it happen.  Plus, your demand planning & forecasting team must be efficiently running as well.

When I think of agile supply chains, one company that comes to my mind is the clothing company Zara.  Zara sells premium clothing to women as well as men.  Fashion products tend to have shorter life cycles with extremely selective customers, making forecasting and planning a major challenge. It’s almost like dealing with an “outlier” every day.  However, Zara has been heralded for being able to quickly incorporate the latest trends and fashion into clothing that can be on the racks in a matter of a few weeks, which is remarkable.

Therefore, the companies that can react to sudden changes in the marketplace and incorporate every major input into the decision making process, stands to fatten their bottom line quite well.

Again, personally, I would have preferred not to have written a post referring to Michael Jackson’s death.  Our heart filled condolences go out to his children and family during this difficult time. But, this ”phenomenon” has  a real impact on business and it cannot be ignored.
Can your business survive or greatly capitalize on a future “phenomenon”?

Your comments and experience are welcome

Anish Jain
Managing Director
Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning – IBF

Folks, it is with great pleasure to welcome all of you to the IBF’s Blog! I don’t know why it has taken us so long to get here with the amount of content, knowledge and experience we have to share in Demand Planning, Forecasting, and the Supply Chain. But, we’ve arrived and now full speed ahead.

Please consider this forum a platform to hear lessons learned, opinions, thoughts and disagreements about Forecasting, Demand Planning and optimizing the Supply Chain. This is a place to get personal insights from what practitioners at every level are dealing with in the field today.

Furthermore, we cannot get to a higher place and expand the boundaries of the discussion without questioning the opinions and experience of others. The only way this can be nurtured is by commenting on the points raised in postings to generate discussion. The interaction and discussion will help you think in new ways, while at the same time help us ensure we deliver answers to your problems through all of Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning – IBF’s programs. So, share your thoughts, beliefs, and experience without fear. Often times, there is no right answer, but that’s ok.

In terms of our bloggers, we have some amazing people and thought leaders that will be making contributions to this blog.

Larry Lapide

Our bloggers include Dr. Larry Lapide, a well known educator in Forecasting and Planning and regular contributor to our Journal of Business Forecasting. If you’re researching best practices in forecasting & planning, you will more than likely run across some of his articles and writings in the field. There is no doubt that many of the best practices he has written about is being utilized throughout corporate America and the world today. Plus, his endearing quality is his approachability and willingness to help, which magnifies the person he is. Of course, if you’re a Boston Red Sox fan, you’ll have an in too .

Tom Wallace

We also have Tom Wallace of TF Wallace & Co., one of the pioneers and well known thought leaders in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP). Tom does an incredible job of simplifying complex processes and ideas, making them accessible and easy to understand for the masses that want to bring S&OP to their company or just improve upon what they currently have.  Tom will always help you “bring the moose on the table.”  You don’t understand what that means?  Well, ask him and he’ll tell you.

Jeff Marthins

We also have Jeff Marthins, Director of Supply Chain from TastyKake Baking Company. Jeff is a prime example of someone who has learned quite a deal from the IBF, IBF Conferences, IBF research, etc. and has used them to bring success to his company. Jeff will provide a true “straight from the line of fire,” perspective in his postings. As an active practitioner, he has spoken at many IBF events and will speak about his real world experiences providing different angles on forecasting topics such as his webinar: CSI S&OP.

Mark Lawless

We also have Mark Lawless, the IBF’s lead trainer for our online training, corporate training, and regular contributor to our Supply Chain Forecasting Digest. I have to say it’s a privilege to have Mark as part of our team. He’s a true example of the right balance between humility and intelligence. Mark will provide regular snap shots and opinions of what’s happening in industry through his regular interaction with professionals trying to make it happen at their respective companies. So stay tuned.

Chaman L. Jain, Ph.D

The IBF blog would not be complete if we did not have Dr. Chaman L. Jain sharing his valuable ideas and knowledge for discussion. In my eyes, Dr. Jain has been a major pillar in shaping this field of forecasting & planning for practitioners. Last year, his paper was published in the Wall Street Journal as part of MIT’s Sloan Management Review. Dr. Jain is also the founder of the Journal of Business Forecasting and the IBF. So listen carefully, if he writes. You may pick-up something that could bring you to new levels, both in your career and for your company. You won’t get theory from him. You’ll get practical knowledge that is useful and just makes simple sense.

Anish Jain

And then there is me. As Managing Director of the IBF, I would not be here if I didn’t believe in this field and the benefit it provides to companies across the globe. There is no greater pleasure than when you hear a company found success through the learning’s provided by IBF. It’s like that one golf shot that keeps you coming back. I look forward to hitting the ball longer, straighter, lowering my handicap, and making cuts until the body is unable to do more. So stay tuned and get ready. We also plan to regularly add new bloggers as we meet professionals with great stories to tell. Again, we welcome you to be a part of this journey and look forward to your regular interaction!

Kind Regards, Anish Jain

Managing Director, IBF

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