1.
Owner of Demand for Category Leaders
• Serve as the demand lead within the IBP Demand Review step, representing rolling projections of demand (Consumption, Billings, Shipments) and investment intent, that serve as the basis for AOP, Strategic Planning, and for tracking projections vs Plan in year
• Surface risks and opportunities, including gaps vs. financial commitments, and recommendations to close
• Use knowledge of past performance and trends to improve forecasts and guide future planning decisions
• Enable fact-based tradeoff discussions across demand, supply, and finance
• Ensure IBP decisions reflect where the business is choosing to invest to grow
2.
Own the Integration of Commercial Investments into Category Commercial Demand Plans
• Own the integration of commercial investments (marketing spend, trade, pricing, innovation, assortment) into category commercial plans
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Growth Management to ensure investment assumptions are explicit, modeled, and tracked
• Ensure new initiatives and reinvestments are reflected as incremental demand, not embedded bias
• Enable a shift from “did we spend?” to “did it drive demand?”
3.
Collaboration across Functional Teams
• Act as the single point of Demand integration across Commercial Sales, Marketing, and Finance
• Coordinate with Finance to understand the financial implications of business forecasts
• Collaborates with Data Science to tune forecast models
• Directs Demand Analysts with a focus on item/location mix forecasting and ensures Supply Chain’s ability to balance cost, service, and inventory goals
• Influence senior leaders through clear narratives connecting strategy, spend, and demand outcomes. Clear narrative needed of both historical performance and future expectations
4.
Drive Continuous Improvement and Enhance Forecast Accuracy
• Leverage metrics to evaluate and improve forecast performance, drive accountability, and remove BIAS
• Ensure a consistent, standardized process that deliver improved forecast accuracy, with all data and inputs flowing through the tool
• Partner with Demand Product Owner, Data Science, and Demand Analysts to enhance process and tools, including how to improve forecast models to reflect pricing, promotion, innovation, and marketing signals