How’s your long-range planning going? If you’re tasked with the forecasting processes for a pharma or biotech company, you may be in the midst of this annual cycle at the moment. Long-range planning (or LRP as the cool forecasters call it) provides a really important guide to company performance over five to 10 years.

Like any process that aims to forecast the long-term future, LRP has many components and complexities, and therefore a lot of challenges. It was these challenges that two of our forecasting experts sought to address in our recent webinar, The Forecaster’s Guide to Long-Range Planning. If missed the webinar, you can find the on-demand version here to review when time allows.

In the meantime, I’ve picked out a few of the key learnings from the session to give you a sense of what to expect from Andrew Ward and Amanda Randall as they share their forecasting expertise.

1. Consistent forecasting models are critical. Inconsistent and unsuitable forecast models across different countries and regions pose real challenges. You need to ensure consistency in key outputs while allowing enough flexibility in the model design to consolidate data effectively and maintain transparency. Amanda emphasized the need for robust methodologies tailored to the data availability and forecasting requirements of each market and ensuring that all stakeholders can contribute meaningfully to the long-range planning process.
2. Get your files in order. Managing a large number of forecast models can be overwhelming without a systematic approach. By implementing a cloud-based system to manage these files, you can help to reduce inefficiencies and time wasted in locating and consolidating models. Such systems enable better automation, streamline the forecasting process, and ensure that all stakeholders have access to the latest versions of the models. All of which enhances collaboration, reduces errors and can significantly reduce frustration across teams.
3. You won’t succeed without good stakeholder engagement and communication. Even when you’ve got robust models and quality data, there are still people to consider and effective stakeholder engagement is critical for LRP success. Amanda discussed the challenges of balancing stakeholder involvement and alignment, especially when dealing with varying levels of forecasting knowledge and tools across markets. It’s important to communicate clearly, regularly and to provide stakeholders with access to the right tools and systems. If stakeholders understand the benefits of the LRP process and feel empowered to contribute, you can develop more accurate and insightful forecasts.

LRP can be a tricky beast to tame but effective management and appropriate tools will go a long way towards resolving some of the main challenges. Andrew and Amanda went into much more – really actionable – detail during the webinar so I recommend checking out the recording in full. Or you can contact our team to learn more about our expertise.

You can also check out our full webinar back catalogue as well as register for upcoming events here.