The CIO's role in connected planning, revisited for the AI era
Anaplan's CIO guide argued that planning is a strategic IT concern. With AI now reading planning data, that argument is stronger than ever.
Some years ago, Anaplan published a guide on how CIOs can become strategic business executives through planning. It contrasted legacy planning with the Anaplan approach and described a single platform on which business users plan across finance, sales, supply chain, human resources, and marketing, collaborating in real time. The guide also described the Hyperblock engine, Anaplan's patented in-memory planning engine.
The core argument has aged well. What has changed is the stakes.
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From system owner to decision infrastructure
The original case was that IT should not treat planning as a finance application to be hosted and maintained. Planning connects every function, and the CIO is uniquely placed to ensure it is integrated, governed, and trusted. Today, planning platforms are also becoming the data source for AI agents that answer business questions. That turns planning from an application into decision infrastructure.
Three questions for CIOs today
- Is the data flowing into planning reliable and automated? Manual uploads and spreadsheet handoffs undermine both human and AI users.
- Is the platform architected for the next three years? Choices such as Classic versus Polaris engines, model segmentation, and integration patterns are difficult to reverse later.
- Is the logic governed and explainable? When an AI agent reports a forecast change, someone must be able to trace why.
Where we help
EliteEPM works with IT and business teams on the architecture beneath connected planning: integration design, engine selection, model governance, and AI readiness. Our aim is a planning environment that IT can support with confidence and the business can rely on.
If your organisation is reviewing its planning architecture, we are happy to share how we approach it.
Where do you want your planning to be next year?
Planning that's slower than business needs, forecasts nobody acts on, an Anaplan investment that isn't paying back. Describe it and we'll tell you honestly where we can help.
