Every finance leader knows the frustration: you spend months developing a great strategy, secure board approval, communicate it across the company – and half a year later the numbers don’t match the vision. This is the “strategy–execution gap,” and it’s one of the toughest challenges CFOs and FP&A teams face today.

Why the gap exists?

The reasons aren’t new:

  • Misaligned goals across departments
  • Data scattered across disconnected systems
  • Planning processes stuck in spreadsheets

The result? Finance is under pressure to deliver sharper, faster insights, but often lacks the tools or capacity. Forecasts can take weeks to finalize – far too slow for today’s environment. Gartner even calls this the “insight deficit”: business leaders want guidance, but Finance can’t keep up.

Operational planning as a connector

Operational planning is more than tracking budgets or hitting quarterly targets. Done well, it’s the missing link between vision and execution.

The key is alignment. When operational KPIs tie directly to financial goals, departments stop working at cross purposes. A production target links to revenue forecasts. Marketing spend connects to customer lifetime value. Everyone rows in the same direction.

The payoff is clear:

  • Faster, better decisions
  • More accurate forecasts
  • Shorter planning cycles
  • Greater agility to seize opportunities

What modern planning looks like

Leading companies treat operational planning as an ongoing, collaborative process. Common traits include:

  • Cross-functional teamwork: Finance and Operations plan together on shared platforms.
  • Scenario modeling: Teams test “what if” options before committing resources.
  • Rolling forecasts: Projections update continuously as conditions change.
  • Real-time data: Insights flow instantly from ERP, CRM, and other systems into one source of truth.
  • Analytics and AI: Not as buzzwords, but as tools to highlight risks and suggest options.

This approach replaces rigid, siloed budgeting with something far more dynamic and useful.

Where Jedox fits in

Platforms like Jedox are designed with this shift in mind. Instead of being just another analytics tool, Jedox acts as a digital business partner that helps Finance and Operations work from the same real-time data, test “what if” scenarios instantly, and connect day-to-day drivers with financial outcomes.

For many organizations, this has meant cutting planning times dramatically and freeing Finance teams to focus less on data wrangling and more on delivering insights. In other words, technology becomes an enabler, not a distraction.

Steps to start transforming planning

Finance leaders can begin with:

  • Focusing on the few metrics that really drive business outcomes
  • Involving operational teams early and consistently
  • Automating data flows to reduce manual work
  • Moving from annual budgets to rolling forecasts
  • Creating a single platform where all teams see the same numbers

These aren’t just technical changes; they reshape how strategy turns into action.

Summary

Operational planning may sound routine, but in practice it’s one of the most powerful levers Finance has. It turns strategy from a slide deck into daily decision-making. And when planning is fast, collaborative, and grounded in real-time data, the “strategy–execution gap” shrinks dramatically.

In today’s volatile world, that alignment can be the difference between merely surviving and staying ahead – and with the right digital partner, it’s more achievable than ever.

(source: https://www.jedox.com/en/blog/operational-planning/)