AI is at the top of every supply chain leader’s agenda, but for most, the challenge lies in figuring out how to make it work in practice. As we shared in our previous blog post, real progress starts with strong data foundations, good governance, and the right tool to turn insights into action. That’s where Anaplan comes in: a platform designed for planners, combining speed, transparency, and control to make AI genuinely useful.
That vision is now taking shape. With a $500 million investment in innovation, Anaplan is rolling out an ambitious AI roadmap that brings intelligence directly into the planning process. Rather than adding complexity, the focus is on AI that supports people, helping planners make better, faster decisions while they remain in the driving seat.
Leading this next wave of innovation is Anaplan Forecaster, part of the first phase in Anaplan’s AI roadmap. Forecaster marks the start of a new generation of planning tools built directly on Anaplan’s platform, focused on machine learning–based forecasting and optimization.
Building on the foundations of PlanIQ, Anaplan’s first-generation AI forecast tool, Forecaster takes speed, transparency, and usability to the next level. Forecaster builds on what PlanIQ started, but takes it much further. Moving away from the earlier third-party engine, it now runs on native Anaplan technology, offering up to 10x faster processing through direct API integration. The result is a faster, smarter, and more intuitive experience that makes forecasting simpler and more collaborative for every planner.
Some of the key improvements include:
Forecaster has 8 algorithms in total, two of which are new – LightGBM, which works efficiently with big datasets and can support a wide variety of features like weather, holidays or special events, and TimesFM, which excels at forecasting on unseen datasets, as mentioned above. With these algorithms, Anaplan is building the foundation for what’s next – a future where AI becomes a natural extension of everyday planning.
The impact of this new approach is already visible. Straumann, a global leader in dental technology, adopted Anaplan’s AI-based forecasting as part of their broader supply chain transformation.
By introducing a standardized planning process supported by Anaplan’s machine learning forecasting engine, within 6 months of implementation, Straumann achieved a 15% improvement in baseline forecast accuracy across its medical device portfolio, aligned across regions and brands. The company also created a global analytics center of excellence, aligning regional planning and freeing up planners to focus on strategy instead of data corrections.
Straumann’s story shows what happens when strong process design meets AI that’s easy to trust: the technology becomes an enabler of better planning, not an extra layer of complexity.
Curious to know more about Straumann’s story?
Forecaster is one of the latest AI/ML revolutions of Phase I of Anaplan’s rapidly evolving AI Roadmap. The next stages will bring intelligent and autonomous agents that help planners analyse the data, detect issues early, and act according to the industry-best standards.
At Bluecrux, we’re proud to work alongside Anaplan in turning this vision into reality. By combining our supply chain experience with Anaplan’s growing AI capabilities, we help organizations make the shift from planning with hindsight to planning with foresight. With Forecaster, that shift has already started.
True innovation happens when technology meets real-world expertise. As a two-time Anaplan Innovator of the Year, Bluecrux does more than implement Anaplan – we co-innovate. Working hand in hand with Anaplan’s product team, we test and refine new features using real industry insights. Our deep supply chain expertise turns Anaplan’s vision into practical solutions and keeps us close to the platform’s evolution.
At Bluecrux, we can help you to go beyond the buzz to design a fit-for-purpose AI roadmap that matches your maturity and ambition. It starts with strengthening the foundation – data, processes, organization – and continues with choosing a future-proof planning tool like Anaplan that sees AI as a tool to make planning simpler, smarter and more transparent.
Let’s have a chat and explore what’s next.
