The answer is quite simple: "Yes". S&OP helps companies take fact-based decisions with the ability it provides to support Scenario based Opportunity and Risk Assessments as part of the supply chain process.

More than ever, the physical and financial supply chains need to be tightly integrated, hence S&OP is evolving from the operational realm to include financial planning. With an effective S&OP in place decisions around new product introductions, portfolio management, promotions, inventory policies and outsourcing are taken with a clear view of cause & effect throughout the organization including the impact on the bottom line.

The key element to understanding the cause & effect is the right system of KPIs; Operational and Financial KPIs need to be merged into a single set of metrics that not only allow for an integrated view on company performance, but compare scenarios that are developed as part of the Opportunity and Risk assessment. In fact a recent Aberdeen study shows that the top planned capability among survey participants was the enhanced ability of systems to enable the feedback from S&OP process to the financial planning and budgeting process (51%); followed closely by the ability to create downside risk assessment scenarios to analyze S&OP plan (46%).

Technology plays a key role in supporting excellence in S&OP providing the platform for effective collaboration, advanced workflow and scenario development, as well as correlated metrics helping decision-making and progress monitoring for continuous improvement. Aberdeen data shows that specialized S&OP solutions are set to grow by 20% over the next 12-24 months.