In today’s companies the bulk of forecasting activities
is conducted by the marketing department. But often different stakeholders within marketing (e.g. portfolio manager, product management, therapeutic area head etc.) are conducting independent forecasts for the same product or product line. Other departments might also work on forecasts for that product, employing their respective techniques and level of detail (e.g. sales department and finance on product line level, production on SKU level and logistics looking at SKUL.
A decentralized organization proves to be ineffective due to several reasons:
On the one hand forecasts with the same goals are produced more then once leading to multiple spending and decreased overall efficiency. On the other hand the harmonization of goals and assumptions (e.g. market size, competitive environment, compliance, price development etc.) as well as methods and tools across forecasts is neglected or only partially achieved. The latter aspect leads confusion in forecast users due to multiple forecasts that produce different results and poses a barrier of higher level consolidation.