Planning: what management levers are available to consulting firms?

In consulting firms, planning is still too often fragmented between finance, HR, and operations. Connected planning changes the game: it enables the management of margins, capacities, and priorities based on a shared, common set of data. At Beyond Plans, this approach serves as an operational performance lever, supported by Anaplan technology.

Consulting firms operate in an unstable balance: pressure on daily rates, tight margins, and constant trade-offs between staffing and business development. In this context, the ability to plan, adjust, and anticipate becomes a factor of resilience.

Connected planning consists precisely in transforming data into a common foundation to manage performance and resources in real time.

As a multi-certified Anaplan partner, Beyond Plans supports many consulting players in this approach, with a clear goal: making planning smoother, more reliable, and truly useful for decision-making.

What is connected planning?

Connected planning is a management approach that links finance, HR, operations, and sales within a single planning environment.

Its objective is not limited to centralizing information. It is about establishing a common management language, based on a single, up-to-date, and contextualized data set, usable by all decision-makers.

For a consulting firm, this concretely translates into:

• continuously adjusting project capacities based on the real sales pipeline;

• a unified view of profitability, integrating daily rates, subcontracting, promotions, and utilization rates;

• dynamic scenario simulations (growth, inflation, turnover);

• smooth information flow between HR, finance, and business managers.

This shift from a reporting logic to a continuous simulation logic represents a cultural break in how performance is managed.

Key takeaway: Connected planning replaces a fragmented view with a shared and actionable performance perspective.

A primarily managerial change

Adopting connected planning involves transforming decision-making processes even before deploying a technological solution.

Consulting firm management teams often face scattered data: divergent Excel files, multiple assumptions, silos between HR and finance. The consequence is well known: inconsistent trade-offs and a loss of trust in the numbers.

Beyond Plans approaches each project as an organizational alignment exercise before a technological one. The challenge is to structure a common management framework that is understandable and accepted.

In practice, interventions focus on:

• translating business needs into readable and scalable models;

• simplifying validation processes;

• enabling team adoption of tools, a key factor for sustainability.

Technology—here Anaplan—only makes possible what proper data governance makes viable.

Key takeaway: Without managerial alignment and clear governance, connected planning cannot deliver its benefits.

When data becomes a strategic decision-making lever

The value of data lies in its ability to inform decisions, not to multiply indicators.

Anaplan stands out for its ability to connect in real time to existing systems (ERP, HRIS, CRM). Management thus gains an instantaneous view of activity rates, billing, and margin forecasts.

The CoPlanner module, Anaplan’s integrated AI, enhances this approach by providing:

• automatic detection of deviations and early warning signals;

• suggestions for plan adjustments;

• continuous improvement of forecasts through machine learning.

For Beyond Plans, the goal is not to produce more data, but to make impacts understandable and actionable for decision-makers.

Key takeaway: Data becomes strategic when it allows faster decisions with a clearer understanding of operational consequences.

Concrete benefits for consulting firms

Connected planning delivers measurable results when properly implemented.

Feedback observed on projects supported by Beyond Plans is tangible:

• reduction of budget consolidation time from several days to a few hours;

• more accurate anticipation of staffing needs;

• ability to respond quickly to client contingencies;

• rigorous management of profitability on a per-project basis.

Beyond productivity gains, this approach establishes a shared data culture. Numbers cease to be a matter of debate and become a common language.

Key takeaway: Connected planning secures performance while streamlining internal collaboration.

An evolution that has become essential

The growing complexity of consulting business models requires cross-functional, responsive, and documented management.

Connected planning is no longer a one-off competitive advantage, but a condition for sustainability. By combining Anaplan technology with Beyond Plans’ business expertise, consulting firms gain a durable lever to secure margins, strengthen internal collaboration, and ensure reliable decision-making.