Unified Demand Forecasting

“Unified Demand Forecasts” (UDFs) enable automated and optimal planning in supply chain, production, sales, marketing and finance. For industrial, retail and consumer goods companies, unified demand forecasts can lead to a significant improvement in key performance indicators.

Improve your performance!

Typically, different units in the company carry out their demand assessments independently of each other, without an uniform, cross-company data basis. As a result, forecasts are not based on the most relevant, up-to-date data and information in the company and are therefore inaccurate. For industrial, retail and consumer goods companies, unified demand forecasts therefore lead to a significant improvement in core metrics:

Increase in forecast accuracy (up to 25%).
Reduction in resources required for existing consensus forecasting (5-20%)
Reduction in inventory costs and waste (5-10%)
Reduction in lost revenue (5-10%)
Increase in service quality/customer satisfaction (10-30%).

Data scientist performing a rigorous trend analysis.

Key components and data driven solution

At the beginning, we work together with the process stakeholders involved to develop a uniform understanding of the demand signals relevant in your business area, across process steps and departments. Derived from the most important drivers, a data corpus is defined, which becomes both the basis for the joint exchange and directly forms the input for the Unified Demand Forecasts (UDFs). For the calculation of the forecasts, we use the latest methods of machine learning and econometrics, which are also enriched with a variety of external data depending on the planning horizon.

How are cognify and shisolabs supporting your project?

Assessment

Potential analysis of current planning processes. Identification of available data and elaboration of a detailed specification.
Consulting

Identification of key drivers of customer demand with focus on available information, as well as its sources and timing in the planning process. Integration of external signals supporting e.g. 'demand sensing'.
Proof of Value

We test and evaluate the complete process in the course of prototyping. This provides the customer with evidence-based indicators of forecast quality and expected efficiency gains in the individual planning processes.
Unified Demand Planning Service

Delivers cyclical, fully automated forecasts for all relevant planning horizons in the form of accurate order or sales forecasts that can be directly integrated into downstream decision-making processes.

How our customers benefit

Each phase of the setup process already provides the company with important information and learnings for the future: Does the company have all the data it needs to answer the relevant questions and is it available? Which additional data sources should be collected? Is the quality of the in-house data sufficient and how can the collection be optimized in the future? Through this process, the Unified Demand Forecasting assessment and setup provide the ideal foundation or support for developing and aligning the company's digitization and data strategy. Based on the data basis created for Unified Demand Forecasts, further analyses and algorithms such as dynamic pricing, logistics optimization, etc. can be operated. The time horizon for implementing unified demand forecasting is usually between 3 and 12 months, depending on the degree of digital maturity of the company.

In Cooperation with shisolabs!

We offer our Unified View of Demand Forecasting service together with shisolabs GmbH, which is based on the latest academic research at the intersection of data-driven economics and statistics, a perfect complement to the data-driven methods and machine learning know-how of cognify GmbH. Contact us to receive more information for your roadmap to a Unified View on Demand Forecasting service!