BARC Planning Survey 26: AI use in corporate planning more than doubles within a year
The share of companies using AI for predictive planning and forecasting has risen from 11 to 27 percent within twelve months. A further 66 percent intend to integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning, GenAI or Agentic AI into their planning processes in the future. These results come from “The Planning Survey 26”, the 12th edition of BARC’s annual study of the planning software market. 804 survey participants answer questions on the use of planning software in general and provide detailed evaluations of 20 software products for corporate planning.
“High market volatility is shifting the focus of planning activities from one-off annual budgets to continuous, data-driven forecasts. AI is a decisive factor for incorporating a broader range of data, accelerating processes and reducing workload. Companies that invest now in their data foundation for planning and AI will benefit from it in the future. The use of specialized planning software is essential in this context. This year will decide, in many companies, whether AI remains a pilot project or sustainably transforms planning processes,” says Dr. Christian Fuchs, Senior Analyst and Head of Data & Analytics Research at BARC.
Further findings
- The cloud share in planning has risen over the past ten years from 8 percent (2016) to 50 percent (2026). 80 percent of new implementations today are deployed in the cloud.
- 75 percent name relieving planners of manual work as the most important expected benefit of AI, followed by the validation of manual planning (52 percent) and higher forecast accuracy (51 percent).
- Specialized planning software delivers significantly higher business value than spreadsheet-based planning. On the Business Benefits Index, planning software reaches a score of 8.4 for transparency and traceability, while spreadsheet-based planning only reaches 4.7.
About the survey
“The Planning Survey 26: The Results” is the 12th annual edition of BARC’s study of the corporate planning software market. The findings are based on 804 responses from a worldwide online survey, including 578 users of specialized planning software. 20 planning products from leading vendors are evaluated. The study analyzes how companies use planning software, what business benefits they achieve, where they encounter problems, and which trends shape the market. The lead author is Dr. Christian Fuchs, Senior Analyst and Head of Data & Analytics Research at BARC.
Availability
The full study “The Planning Survey 26” is available here
