Executive Breakfast Recap: AI-Driven Integrated Planning, Cape Town 2026
Last week, Venn Cubed hosted an exclusive Executive Breakfast at the stunning Meerendal Wine Estate in Cape Town, bringing together finance, planning and business leaders for a morning focused on one big question: what does the future of integrated planning look like in an AI-driven world?
As a long-standing IBM Planning Analytics partner, Venn Cubed was proud to welcome David V Albert, Global Business Partner Lead for IBM Business Analytics, who flew in from Canada to share his perspective on where AI is taking integrated planning, and what it means for organisations still relying on disconnected, manual processes.
Key reflections from the event
1. AI is changing the planning conversation, not just the planning tool
David’s keynote made it clear that AI in planning is no longer a future capability, it is already reshaping how forward-thinking organisations forecast, model scenarios and make decisions. The conversation has shifted from “should we adopt AI” to “how quickly can we operationalise it” — and the organisations moving fastest are the ones gaining real agility advantages over their peers.
2. From theory to practice: a live look at AI-driven planning
Following the keynote, Francois Kritzinger, Director at Venn Cubed, took attendees through a live demonstration of AI-driven planning in action. Rather than talking in abstractions, the session grounded the conversation in a practical, real-world view of how intelligent planning environments unlock faster forecasting, smarter scenario modelling, and better decision-making across the business.
3. Connection matters as much as content
Beyond the keynote and demo, the morning created space for something equally valuable: conversation. Clients, prospects and planning professionals from across industries had the chance to engage directly with David, compare notes with peers facing similar planning challenges, and explore how a more connected, AI-enabled approach to planning could apply to their own organisations.
Venn Cubed’s commitment to the future of planning
As a 21-year-old planning consultancy based in Cape Town, Venn Cubed has spent two decades helping South African organisations get more value out of their planning environments, from implementation and support through to ongoing optimisation of IBM Planning Analytics.
Events like this Executive Breakfast reflect what we care about most: bringing global expertise to the local market, and giving our clients direct access to the people and ideas shaping the future of planning.
A huge thank you to David V Albert for making the trip, to Francois Kritzinger for bringing the demo to life, and to everyone who joined us for what was a morning full of insight, energy and great conversation. We are already looking forward to the next one.
