S&OP is one of the few processes in supply chain that almost every organisation has, and almost every leader privately admits isn't working the way it's meant to. The meetings happen. The calendar invites go out. And still, decisions that should get made in that room don't get made, or get made and then quietly unravel a few weeks later. This session starts from the assumption that the mechanics are rarely the real problem. Something upstream, how the organisation is structured, who's actually accountable, what gets rewarded, is usually doing the damage.
This meeting is designed for people working through real operational and innovation decisions, rather than those seeking presentations or general inspiration.
Supply chain and planning leaders, Director to VP, who own or sit close to S&OP and feel the gap between what the process is meant to do and what it's actually producing. Useful if S&OP runs but doesn't decide, or if decisions get made and then dissolve once the meeting ends.
Vendors and consultants selling S&OP tooling or process redesign. Practitioners without visibility into why decisions stall, who'd get more from a different session. Anyone looking for a specific software recommendation rather than a look at what's underneath the process.
Each session is designed as an online equivalent of a small, in-room roundtable discussion — not a passive, webinar-style presentation.
The format adapts to the topic and the experience in the room:
To support productive dialogue, we often invite a subject-matter expert to join the session. This may be someone from a vendor, consultancy, or independent background — sometimes from within the community, sometimes external.
Their role is not to pitch or present a solution. Instead, they listen carefully to the discussion and reflect back:
This balance is deliberate. Without it, sessions can drift into abstract debate or problem-sharing. With it, discussions stay grounded and participants leave with tangible ideas they can apply in their own context.
The emphasis throughout is on shared learning, practical insight, and forward progress, rather than polished presentations or predetermined answers.
