Demand Planning Software Development
Features, Integrations, Benefits, Costs
ScienceSoft applies 34 years of experience in AI and 11 years of experience in designing and developing supply chain management software to create effective solutions for analytics-driven demand planning.
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Demand Planning Software: The Essence
Demand planning software helps companies optimize inventory, production and distribution. It analyzes historical demand data and provides accurate, data-driven forecasts to spot optimal time for trade promotions and new product launches. Custom demand planning software is especially helpful for enterprises with a large number of product categories, complex and unique S&OP processes, multiple teams involved in demand prediction.
- Necessary integrations: ERP, CRM, an inventory management system, order management software, etc.
- Implementation time: 6–10 months for custom demand planning software.
- Development costs: $160,000–$350,000, depending on the solution’s complexity.
- ROI: 260%+.
Demand Planning Software: Key Features
Demand management solutions offer comprehensive functionality for multiple user groups – inventory specialists, product managers, supply chain planners, pricing specialists, financial analysts, the sales and marketing team, and others – to streamline their daily workflows. Below, ScienceSoft shares a sample feature set of demand planning software.
Demand analysis
- Time series analysis to compare historical demand data across user-defined periods and identify demand trends.
- Multi-dimensional sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of particular variables (e.g., product price, stock availability, season) on demand changes and identify key internal and external demand drivers.
- ML-powered analysis of the impact of non-recurring historical events (e.g., product promotions, new product introduction) on demand to identify historical data exceptions not to consider when forecasting demand.
- Calculation of price elasticity of demand to measure the impact of price changes on demand across various product and customer segments.
Demand forecasting
- Long-term demand forecasting by product or product segment, customer segment, selling channel, location, particular season, etc., based on the analysis of relevant historical and current data, such as:
- Sales data.
- Pricing data, including the timing of planned price changes.
- Demand constraints (e.g., inventory availability, production capacity).
- Planned product promotions, new product launches, and more.
- Short-term demand sensing based on AI-powered analysis of real-time sales data, pricing data, social media sentiment, available data on current competitor prices and promotional activities, case-specific high-level types of data (e.g., weather forecast for weather-sensitive products), and more.
- Demand scenario modeling and what-if analysis.
New product demand forecasting
- Forecasting demand for new products, including short-life and seasonal products, by customer segment, region, selling channel, etc.
- AI-driven reference suggestions for new products (based on the analysis of product attributes, such as category, price, brand, etc.) to use historical data of the reference products as a basis for new product demand forecasting.
- Product cannibalization analysis to predict the impact of a new product launch on customer demand changes across the existing product portfolio.
Supply chain optimization
- Rule-based demand prioritization (by product or product segment, customer segment, region, etc.).
- AI recommendations on optimal multi-location inventory levels, production volume and schedules, product distribution scenarios based on planned demand.
Demand plan management
- Template-based creation of short- and long-time demand plans, order delivery calendars.
- Configurable planning hierarchies and demand aggregation levels.
- Automated adjustment of demand plans as new relevant data appears.
Trade promotion optimization
- Promotional demand forecasting by promotional campaign, product, period, etc., based on AI-powered analysis of promotional event type and timing, planned prices and discounts, and more.
- AI recommendations on optimal trade promotion events and their timing, optimal product prices and discounts based on the analysis of their potential to increase demand and profitability.
Collaborative demand management
- Consensus-based demand planning based on the input data (planned promotions or new product launches, production or supply chain constraints, etc.) provided by relevant internal teams, such as sales, marketing, finance, production, supply chain.
- An instant messaging tool to communicate with the teams involved in planning.
- User-defined targets for department-specific demand planning KPIs (e.g., sales forecast accuracy for a sales team, inventory turn or fill rate for an inventory team).
Demand monitoring
- Configurable drill-down dashboards for real-time demand monitoring by product or product segment, selling channel, region, promotional event, etc.
- Real-time tracking of actual vs. planned demand.
- Alerts to the planners on the demand exceeding/dropping below the pre-defined thresholds.
- Real-time tracking of actual vs. targeted demand management KPIs.
Essential Integrations for Demand Planning Software
To ensure fast and precise demand planning with a view to various factors, ScienceSoft recommends that your software should integrate with the following back-office systems:
ERP
- To take into account production constraints when planning demand.
- To leverage relevant demand data at all levels of operational, financial and strategic planning.
CRM
For data-driven omnichannel demand forecasting.
Alternatively to CRM, demand management software can integrate directly with selling channels (e.g., a company’s ecommerce website or a point-of-sale system).
Inventory management software
- To analyze inventory levels across various locations, generate recommendations on optimal safety stock and reorder points.
- For accurate inventory planning and multi-echelon inventory optimization.
Promotion management software
- For promotional demand forecasting.
- To launch effective promotional campaigns for maximized profitability.
Product life cycle management software
- To forecast demand for new and existing products.
- To plan optimal product life cycle, new product launch and product retirement across product categories.
Order management software
- For accurate demand planning.
- For data-driven planning of order fulfillment location (for omnichannel selling), picking, packing and shipping while minimizing distribution costs and ensuring timely order fulfillment.
Pricing software
- To analyze price elasticity of demand and model demand for different prices.
- To plan optimal product pricing.
ROI Factors for Demand Management Software
Relying on 11 years of experience in creating supply chain solutions, ScienceSoft’s consultants have defined important factors that bring additional value across demand planning processes.
The use of the maximum of data sources
including social media, competitors’ websites, relevant governmental and legal portals. To forecast demand taking into consideration all available internal and external factors.
AI-powered prescriptive analytics
to get AI recommendations, for example, on optimal product pricing, production scenarios, omnichannel stock levels for maximized demand and profitability.
Demand sensing functionality
to create precise short-term customer behavior predictions based on the current realities of the supply chain and the product market.
Automated demand plan adjustment
as new relevant data appears. To eliminate low-value manual tasks of planners and speed up the planning cycle.
Role-based access control
to adjust the right to create, edit, view, and share demand plans based on a user role (a sales rep, an inventory specialist, a category manager, etc.) and protect sensitive demand data.
Demand Management Software Development: Success Story by ScienceSoft
Supply chain e-collaboration network for 1,700-store retailer
- Advanced analytics for demand planning.
- Real-time monitoring of inventory levels across warehouses and stores.
- Template-based creation of purchase orders.
- Role-based access control for category managers, store managers, suppliers, accountants, etc.
How to Build Demand Planning Software
Below, ScienceSoft shares a sample roadmap to the demand management software development:
1
Business needs analysis and eliciting requirements for the demand planning system.
2
Designing the functionality, architecture, and tech stack for the solution.
3
Planning the implementation project: scope, deliverables, team, duration, budget, etc.
4
Demand planning software development.
5
Quality assurance.
6
Integration with the required corporate systems and third-party data sources.
7
User training.
8
Support and evolution of the demand planning solution (optional).
Demand Planning Software Costs and ROI
Demand planning software development costs vary from $160,000 to $350,000, depending on the solution complexity.
Custom demand planning software may bring 260%+ ROI.
Benefits of Demand Management Software
Off-the-Shelf Demand Management Software ScienceSoft Recommends
Infor Demand Planning
Best for
Collaborative demand planning.
Features
- Seamless integration with Infor Ming.le for facilitated collaboration on demand planning with remote teams, suppliers, contractors, and customers.
- Configurable demand planning dashboards and KPIs for different user roles.
- Automated generation of aggregated demand forecasts for integrated business planning.
- ML-powered demand forecasting across the product life cycle.
- Demand scenario modeling and what-if analysis.
- AI recommendations on optimal safety stock across multiple locations based on the planned demand.
- Alerts on user-defined events, such as rapid demand spikes.
Pricing
Upon request to a vendor.
Logility Demand Planning and Optimization
Best for
Comprehensive demand analytics.
Features
- AI/ML-based demand analysis and forecasting.
- AI-powered analysis of social media sentiment for various brands, products, product segments.
- AI recommendations on optimal product pricing, production levels, multi-echelon inventory optimization.
- Demand forecasting for new, short-life, seasonal, end-of-life products.
- Promotional demand forecasting.
- Real-time demand tracking and sensing.
- Configurable demand plan templates for different teams (e.g., sales, marketing, logistics, finance).
Pricing
Upon request to a vendor.
Kinaxis Demand Planning
Best for
Promotional demand planning.
Features
- Native integration with Rubikloud for end-to-end demand-driven promotion planning and optimization.
- Automated analysis of promotional demand forecast accuracy using Volume Error, MAE/Mean, Bias, and other methods.
- Modeling and analyzing the impact of promotions, holidays and new product introductions on demand.
- Real-time demand tracking and sensing.
- Consensus-based demand planning.
- Real-time monitoring of actual vs. targeted demand planning KPIs for supply chain, S&OP, marketing and finance teams.
Pricing
Upon request to a vendor.
When to Choose Custom Demand Planning Software
ScienceSoft recommends building a custom demand planning solution in the following cases:
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You have large teams involved in demand management and want to avoid a considerable subscription amount for platform-based demand forecasting software, which scales with the number of users. |
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You need a flexible demand planning system that is easy to evolve with advanced analytical capabilities, e.g., for real-time demand sensing, when required. |
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You need demand management software providing case-specific functionality, for example, dynamic sales forecasting for companies that rely on a dynamic pricing model or demand forecasting for products with no sales history for startup businesses. |
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You need to integrate demand planning software with legacy internal systems (ERP, CRM, inventory management software, an order management system, a pricing solution, etc.). |
Build Demand Planning Software with Professionals
In supply chain management software development since 2012, ScienceSoft helps companies build reliable demand planning solutions.
Consulting on software implementation
- Analysis of your demand management needs.
- Suggesting optimal demand planning features, solution architecture, and tech stack.
- Preparing a plan for integration with ERP, CRM, an inventory management system, pricing software, etc.
- Implementation cost & time estimates, expected ROI calculation.
Software development
- Demand planning solution conceptualization.
- Architecture design.
- Demand management software development.
- Integrating the solution with the required systems.
- Quality assurance.
- User training.
- Continuous support and evolution (if required).
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 2012, we help organizations build effective demand planning software tailored to their unique needs. An ISO 9001- and ISO 27001-certified company, we apply a mature quality management system and guarantee that cooperation with us does not pose any risks to our customers’ data security.