What Is the Cost of Your Forecast Error?

Forecast Accuracy, a metric that permeates throughout a company’s multi-faceted functions, impacts both the top-line sales revenue and the bottom-line prot margin. Even though managers of organizations are well aware of it, they are reluctant to go through the rigor required to reap its full benet. This article explores why many organizations and their managers fail to fully capitalize on forecast-accuracy information and what can be done to change it. SUMIT S INGH | Mr. Singh is the Director of Merchandising Planning at Dell, Inc. His experience includes over 12 years of functional and managerial roles in strategy and transformation, demand planning, product operations, and executive S&OP management within the high-tech consumer electronics industry. In his prior role, he has consulted for start-ups and medium-size businesses in areas of transformation, strategy, and business plan formulation. Over the past several years, the computer hardware industry, especially in the retail channels, has witnessed dramatic changes in the landscape. Customers today not only have a plethora of choices among competing brands and products, but they also expect quality at the most competitive ...