Get inspired — Community Bosses share their 2024 goals!

GingerAnderson

It’s the first week of the new year, and if you’re not yet in goal-setting mode, we’re here to inspire you with a few ideas from our Anaplan Community Bosses! We asked a few of our Bosses to share their perspective on any or all of the following questions:

• What are your Anaplan-related goals for 2024?
  
• What do you hope to achieve this year in your professional career?
  
• What is your Connected Planning outlook for 2024?
  
• What are you excited about in 2024?

Five outstanding Community members offered up their thoughts below.

Tiffany Rice (@Tiffany.Rice), Lead - Anaplan CoE, Prudential Financial:

What’s that ole saying “New Year, New M…odel”? One of my absolute favorite things is proof of concept work so I really hope that hold true! It seems like the New Year always brings a slew of new asks and I can’t wait to see what fun and exciting challenges I will use Anaplan to solve this year! That might be in the form of new processes, new products being deployed, new corporate initiatives… the possibilities are limitless. I’m crossing my fingers that the right use case will present itself so that I can roll up my sleeves on either Workflow or Polaris — those were huge releases in 2023!

Timmy Thomas (@TimothyThomas), Finance Manager at Groupon:

In 2024 I am excited to continue to dive even deeper into Anaplan, and to continue exploring improved Connected Planning. Personally, I am setting a goal to become a Certified Master Anaplanner. Through doing this, I want to continue to master all aspects of Anaplan as a tool so that I can be the best possible model builder/solutions architect for my day-to-day job. I also hope that through accomplishing this, I am able to be a better resource for the Anaplan Community in providing the best possible solutions for questions that community members run into. I'm excited to see all of the new product releases and updates that Anaplan has in store for 2024, and can't wait to be part of an exciting new year for the platform!

Jared Dolich (@JaredDolich), Retail Planning Expert at Retailitix:

My 2024 Anaplan goal is to DOUBLE (yeah, I said it) the number of top 100 US retailers that use Anaplan. Professionally nothing would make me happier than to finally build an add-on to Anaplan’s calculation engine, particularly the Directed Acyclic Graph, the DAG, that allows planners to edit both sides of an equation. I’m inconceivably close — call me if you want to join me — you’ll learn all about graph theory, the basis for all artificial intelligence! One Anaplan feature that would make me smile — like a swift kick in the pants — would be to finally get the TODAY() function without having to import it every day. The future is full of possibilities for retail companies because, finally, there’s a planning platform that can conform to their respective planning processes. To retailers I say: move on from Oracle and Blue Yonder (they’re old like me), and tired, boring, and inflexible (unlike me, haha). My message to all Anaplan Champions for 2024 is: Take it easy, and if it comes easy, take it twice! Let’s do this.

Puneeth Kumar HP (@Puneeth H P), Lead EPM Consultant at Relanto Global Pvt Ltd.:

• My goals for 2024: As a Certified Anaplan Model builder, having experience in more than six real-time projects and experience in giving solutions to complicated scenarios, I would like to acquire the Solution Architect Certification as well as apply for Master Anaplanner Certification.
• What I plan to achieve this year, professionally: I am planning to improve my management skill sets which helps in my future projects, and soon I will be put under senior roles where I would be managing the whole project all by myself. I want to be ready for these challenges and show my fellow colleagues and managers that I’m capable of carrying the weight of any tough situation as always.
• My Connected Planning outlook for 2024: As a technical engineering background, I always had the missing piece of getting the complete knowledge of the domain I’m working in. I have managed all the projects, POCs which I have worked on by learning their business, and implementing Connected Planning in an efficient way. So, in the coming days, I would like to get the certifications of a few domain learnings as well.
• What I am most excited about for 2024: I have been seeing tremendous growth in how Anaplan handles business requirements, and also customers' various requirements. We have been very much glad that we are able to give optimum solutions to all our customers using these updated Anaplan features and modeling techniques. We all know that there are other niche players in these types of businesses. I’m very excited about how Anaplan deals with customer’s requirements, finding new ways of solving those requirements and more features coming our way.

Anirudh Nayak (@anirudh), co-founder of Elite EPM:

• My goals for 2024: My focus is on elevating the skills and capabilities of our consulting team to ensure excellence in project delivery. I want to systematically identify skill gaps within the team, providing tailored training programs to enhance our consultants' expertise in Anaplan. Emphasizing the importance of staying up to date with the latest platform updates, I will actively encourage Anaplan certifications among team members to validate their skills.
  As we look toward revenue growth, we are particularly enthusiastic about leveraging advanced Anaplan features such as DMS, Polaris, and Workflow. Our revenue growth strategy involves developing comprehensive plans to increase revenue from Anaplan projects, whether through upselling additional services to existing clients or expanding our client base by showcasing the unique benefits of these advanced features. Additionally, I want to explore opportunities for forging long-term partnerships with key clients, ensuring a steady stream of Anaplan-related projects and fostering mutually beneficial relationships.
• What I plan to achieve this year, professionally:
  
  • Thought leadership: Publish articles or case studies showcasing successful Anaplan implementations, establishing Elite EPM as a thought leader in the field. And engage in conferences or webinars to share insights and best practices.
    
  • Client acquisition: Work on acquiring new clients by showcasing the benefits of Anaplan over traditional planning tools like Excel. Also, develop targeted marketing strategies to reach organizations that could benefit from Anaplan's capabilities.
    
  • Innovation in service offerings: Explore opportunities to innovate in service offerings, potentially by incorporating artificial intelligence, or other technologies into Anaplan solutions.
• My Connected Planning outlook for 2024: In the coming years, I anticipate a transformative integration of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence into planning tools, marking a significant shift in how organizations approach decision-making. This evolution is expected to empower businesses to harness predictive and prescriptive insights, facilitating more informed and strategic decision-making processes. Platforms such as Anaplan are likely to adapt and incorporate machine learning capabilities, enhancing forecasting accuracy and enabling more robust scenario analysis.
  Simultaneously, there is a heightened awareness of the critical role data governance and security features play within planning tools. Acknowledging this, I’m expecting organizations to prioritize solutions that provide robust data protection, adhere to regulatory standards, and ensure secure sharing of sensitive financial and operational information.
  Furthermore, there is a notable surge in interest surrounding the integration of sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into the planning landscape. This growing awareness reflects a broader societal shift towards corporate responsibility and sustainability. As a response to this trend, planning tools are likely to evolve by incorporating features that assist organizations in tracking, analyzing, and planning for sustainability goals.
• What I am most excited about for 2024: Looking ahead to 2024, there is a palpable sense of excitement surrounding the forthcoming platform updates that Anaplan is poised to roll out! Anticipating Anaplan's sustained growth and heightened recognition in the market fuels my optimism for the coming year. This broader market reach not only bodes well for the platform's success but also opens doors to a more varied landscape of consulting opportunities, affirming our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our clients.
  In tandem with enthusiasm for Anaplan's advancements, I am dedicated to fostering continued engagement with the vibrant Anaplan community. This community serves as an invaluable platform for knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and staying informed about best practices.

Thank you to Tiffany, Timmy, Jared, Puneeth, and Anirudh for taking time to inspire and share with the Anaplan Community. I have no doubt you'll accomplish what you set out to do!

What are your Anaplan-related goals for the year? Leave a comment!

JaredDolich

Thank you everyone!