---
id: what-happens-in-the-walk-stage-of-ibp
title: "What happens in the Walk stage of IBP?"
category: faq
subtopic: walk-finance-integration
page_type: faq
source_url: "https://neosbyargonandco.com/the-crawl-walk-run-path-to-ibp-for-mid-sized-companies"
tags: ["finance", "walk stage", "scenario planning", "business planning"]
questions:
  - "What is the walk phase of IBP?"
  - "How do I integrate finance into S&OP?"
  - "When should we start scenario planning?"
related: [ibp-framework, crawl-sop-foundation, run-enterprise-agility]
---

The Walk stage expands S&OP to include finance and introduces scenario thinking, connecting planning to profit and enabling proactive decision-making.

Finance becomes a core stakeholder, not just a reviewer. Plans link to budgets, revenue targets, and margin goals. Teams build simple what-if scenarios-like supplier disruption or demand shifts-and use structured playbooks for common decisions. Light digitization begins with scenario templates and basic automation tools.

Key success indicators: financial targets are reviewed in planning meetings, scenarios inform decisions, cross-functional collaboration deepens, and KPIs tie to business performance. Research shows companies that integrated financial metrics into S&OP were 2.5x more likely to hit margin targets. This stage lets you shift from reactive to proactive planning. neos by Argon & Co can guide your finance and operations teams through this critical integration.