Planning as a Service for Supply Chain Teams
Not just software. A planning team on demand. Our demand planning as a service combines trained planning analysts with Planamind to run your forecasting, replenishment and S&OP cycle with you, so you build capability instead of dependency.
Planning is getting harder. Hiring planners isn't getting easier.
Supply chains are more complex, and balancing service levels against inventory cost takes skills many teams don't have in-house.
Data, but little analysis
The team spends its time producing numbers in Excel, with little left for the analysis the business actually needs.
Talent gaps and attrition
Experienced planners are hard to hire and harder to keep, and planning knowledge leaves when they do.
Systems without adoption
Planning software is bought, but without the people and process to run it, value never arrives.
A trained planning analyst plus an advanced planning system.
Human judgement and sector expertise, working in Planamind every day, together make a decision support unit that improves every cycle.
Specialists in planning, not general consultants
Our team brings 50+ years of combined planning experience across supply chain and finance, with Chartered Accountants, CPAs, MBAs and engineers who have run planning in industry. They join your cycle, learn your business and own the analysis.
The platform your analysts work in
Every engagement runs on Planamind: twelve forecasting models, a daily supply simulation, promotions and opportunities, and a gross-profit view against AOP, all in one workspace your team can see.
Choose how far we go
Run planning as a fully managed service, or have us build and run the function and then transfer it to your team (build-operate-transfer) or keep operating it for you (build-own-operate). Modelling services, process consulting and coaching are available on their own.
Your planning cycle, run by specialists.
Each part of the cycle is delivered by an Anamind analyst working in Planamind, with your team in the loop at every step.
A forecast your business can act on
We build and maintain the forecast with twelve competing models, add known opportunities and planned promotions, and review accuracy every cycle so the numbers keep getting better.
Replenishment and safety stock, set by the numbers
We run the daily supply simulation, set safety stock by service level, plan transfers and materials, and review orders before they go out, so stock sits where it's needed.
An S&OP process tailored to you
We design the S&OP calendar, KPIs and review pack, prepare the AOP gap and gross-profit view for each meeting, and follow up on the actions agreed.
How outsourced demand planning works with Anamind.
We set up the system and process quickly, with a dedicated analyst for your planning service from the start. After that, the service runs on your monthly planning calendar.
Understand
Your business, the problem to solve, and what the forecast needs to deliver.
Set up
Your data in Planamind, the planning process and the KPIs we will be measured on.
Deliver
Forecast and supply plans every cycle, with reports and the analysis behind them.
Improve
Continuous engagement with your team, and improvement tracked against the agreed KPIs.
Every planning cycle, we
- Load your latest sales, stock and open orders into Planamind, in the Excel-shaped files you already have
- Refresh the statistical forecast and review the items where it moved most
- Add the promotions, new customers and large orders your sales team knows about
- Agree the consensus forecast with sales and marketing
- Run the supply plan: safety stock, replenishment orders, transfers and materials
- Prepare the S&OP pack with the gap to AOP and the gross-profit view
- Review last cycle's forecast accuracy and bias, and act on what caused the misses
What your team does
- Shares the data, or gives us read access to where it already lives
- Brings market knowledge to the demand review: launches, promotions, customer changes
- Makes the decisions: the consensus number, the orders, the trade-offs
- Sees every forecast, override and plan in Planamind, with full visibility
- Learns the process through coaching, so the capability stays in-house if you take it over later
From number-crunching to a decision support function.
Decision agility
Faster, data-driven decisions and a planning process that adapts as the market changes.
An attrition-proof process
Trained analysts and documented processes keep planning running when people move on.
OPEX, not CAPEX
A service fee instead of a system project, with strong control over planning and no full team to build.
Advanced analytics from day one
Modern forecasting models and AI analysis applied to your data from the first cycle.
No IT burden
No IT resources or system learning curve needed, with Excel-shaped uploads for your data.
A process that scales
A flexible set-up that grows with new products, channels and markets.
What clients say about our planning service.
“We saw it as a fantastic collaborative planning tool that could not only forecast but also drive consensus from top to bottom cut across functions. The graphical views of data with drilldowns was something we were looking forward to effectively use in our S&OP discussions.”
Pharmaceutical company optimises demand planning
Better efficiency, accuracy and inventory management, leading to cost savings and improved performance.
Outsourced demand planning: common questions.
What is demand planning as a service?
It is outsourced demand planning run by specialists. Anamind's planning analysts build and maintain your forecast in Planamind, run the demand review with your sales team, and hand over a consensus forecast and supply plan every cycle. Your team keeps full visibility and makes the decisions.
How is outsourced demand planning different from buying planning software?
Software gives you the tools; someone still has to run them every month. With planning as a service, our analysts run the cycle in Planamind for you, so you get the forecast, the supply plan and the analysis without first hiring and training a planning team.
What does planning as a service cover?
Demand planning (forecasting, promotions, known opportunities and accuracy reviews), supply and inventory planning (safety stock, replenishment, transfers and materials) and S&OP (calendar, KPIs, the review pack and the gap to AOP). You can start with demand planning and add the rest later.
How much does outsourced demand planning cost?
It is a service fee rather than a system project, so there is no large upfront licence or implementation cost. The fee depends on scope: how many products and locations we plan, and which parts of the cycle we run. We quote after a short discovery call.
How long does it take to get started?
Set-up starts with your data in Planamind, the planning calendar and the KPIs we will be measured on. A dedicated analyst is assigned from the start. With Planamind, the first live plan can be ready within 48 hours of receiving your data.
What data do you need from us?
Monthly sales history by product and location, ideally 24 months or more, plus current stock, open orders and product master data. Excel exports are fine. More history helps the models detect seasonality: see how much data is required for forecasting.
Can we take the planning back in-house later?
Yes. Build-operate-transfer is one of our engagement models: we build and run the planning function, coach your team, and then transfer it. Because the process and the plans live in Planamind, nothing is lost in the handover.
Do you work with companies outside India?
Yes. Anamind has teams in India, Australia and the United States.
Does outsourcing replace our in-house planning team?
No. It works best as an extension of your team, not a replacement. Our analysts add expertise and capacity: they maintain the models, the statistical forecast and the error analysis. Your planners keep the business knowledge and the decisions, and spend the time they save gathering market information for us to build into the forecast.
How do you know whether overrides improve the forecast?
We measure it. Planamind's forecast value added (FVA) report compares every override with the statistical baseline, showing MAPE before and after, and flags collaborators whose changes tend to make the forecast worse. See how it works on the demand planning page.
Is our data kept confidential?
Yes. Planamind is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified and has a SOC 2 Type II report. It supports single sign-on, role-based access that can be limited by product, location or customer, and an audit log of every access and configuration change.
Our analysts work in Planamind every day.
See your own plan, live, in 48 hours.
Send your last 24 months of data and we'll run your numbers, with a 60-minute readout in 48 hours. If we don't beat what you have today, you walk away with the export.
No commitment · No procurement process required