Budget season: a contest of appetites, competing priorities, and shifting rules. Lessons for Manufacturers and Distributors Entering Planning Do you ever get the feeling annual planning is like a pie-eating contest?Only the rules keep changing. One year it’s find efficiencies.Next year it’s prove ROI.This year? Do more with AI. The Fiscal Year Budget Fight Every function has a claim on the pie: Marketing wants more media dollars and support to keep up Sales wants more field support, program incentives, and better leads CEO/CFO want SG&A down and productivity up IT asks [...]

The difference between chasing growth and capturing it: knowing where you can win. AI in the Boardroom for Strategic Growth Planning If AI handed you a perfect roadmap for doubling your business, would you follow it? That’s the question manufacturers and distributors face as they enter annual planning cycles. Forecasts are built. Investments are debated. Last year’s numbers are scrutinized. But AI isn’t looking backward—it’s pointing ahead. The real challenge isn’t whether AI can generate the roadmap. It’s whether leadership teams can envision it clearly enough—and trust it enough—to execute. The [...]