Beyond the Feature List: A Bedford Perspective on Anaplan’s 2025 Platform Advances

Anaplan recently published a roundup of the Top 25 platform features released in 2025, and it shows how quickly the platform continues to mature.

From meaningful UX improvements to powerful advances in data orchestration, workflow, and modelling transparency, the pace of innovation across the Anaplan platform continues to accelerate. For customers and partners alike, it’s a strong signal of where connected planning is heading.

This article isn’t a repeat of Anaplan’s list. It’s a Bedford perspective on which features are already making a difference in practice, and why our decision to be Anaplan-only continues to matter.

Why Bedford Is Anaplan-only

We work exclusively with Anaplan because it remains the strongest platform for enterprise-grade connected planning.

Not because of any single feature, but because it uniquely combines:

• A scalable calculation engine
• Flexible modelling for cross-functional planning
• Increasingly mature workflow and governance
• Enterprise-ready data orchestration across large model estates

Being Anaplan-only allows our consultants to go deeper than generalist partners. Our teams understand how Anaplan behaves when models are large, heavily used, and business-critical – not just during pilots, but across years of live operation.

That depth matters when planning processes directly support financial decisions, incentives, and executive decision-making.

The strength of Bedford’s Master Anaplanner bench

A key Bedford differentiator is the size and strength of our Master Anaplanner community.

In practice, this means:

• Strong modelling judgement, not just technical skill
• First-hand experience of what works – and what breaks 0 in live environments
• The ability to turn new features into repeatable design patterns, not demos

When Anaplan releases new capabilities, our focus is simple: where does this materially improve outcomes for customers?

The insights below come directly from Bedford Master Anaplanners working on live programmes today.

Features already delivering value

Combined Grids: A UX upgrade that matter

One of the most impactful releases of 2025 has been Combined Grids, particularly for complex, time-based planning.

“Combined Grids significantly improve the planning user experience by bringing multiple views into a single, consistent grid with shared filters. This is especially powerful for CAPEX, OPEX, Workforce or Sales planning.” — Romain Regnier, Master Anaplanner, Bedford Consulting

This is more than a UX tweak. Combined Grids reduce context-switching, improve comparability, and make trade-offs easier to understand – directly supporting better planning conversations.

We’re already implementing this across multiple live programmes where usability was the limiting factor to adoption.

Calc Effort %: better decisions for Model Builders

For experienced teams, Calc Effort % in Classic is a quietly powerful addition.

“Calc Effort % helps model builders see how much calculation effort a formula requires. It’s especially useful when troubleshooting slow models and identifying heavy formulas early. This directly improves scalability as models grow.” — Valeria Sicuro, Master Anaplanner, Bedford Consulting

For customers operating large, long-lived models, this is a step forward in model governance and sustainability, not just performance tuning.

Workflow enhancements: less friction, more context

Workflow challenges are often about context, not logic. That’s why seemingly small enhancements – like extra line items in workflow emails – matter far more than they appear.

“Including additional line items in workflow emails means users and approvers understand the task without opening Anaplan just to get context. It’s a small change that significantly improves efficiency and adoption.” — Prem Chettier, Master Anaplanner, Bedford Consulting

We’re increasingly seeing customers use Workflow as a communication layer as much as a control mechanism – and these enhancements support that shift.

UX refinements that support everyday use

Seemingly small features like custom button styling play a real role in adoption.

“Custom button styling elevates the user experience by enabling cleaner, more cohesive dashboards. Visual consistency helps create a smoother, more intuitive user journey – especially for non-technical users.” — Oumaima Ajarif, Master Anaplanner, Bedford Consulting

Adoption isn’t driven by power users alone. These refinements make Anaplan easier to use day-to-day.

Anaplan Data Orchestrator: Enabling scale with control

Where we’ve seen the biggest step-change is Anaplan Data Orchestrator (ADO).

Used properly, ADO becomes a foundation for scalable, governed planning across complex model landscapes.

“Anaplan Data Orchestrator automates and manages data flows, schedules, and dependencies across all their planning models, ensuring data always timely, consistent, and ready for decision-making.” — Philipp Ekinger, Master Anaplanner, Bedford Consulting

A real-world example: Scaling incentive planning 7× faster

A global pharmaceutical organisation partnered with Bedford to scale a successful incentive planning pilot into 30+ production models, each aligned to quarterly cycles and fed by multiple source systems.

Before ADO:

• Hub-to-model integration took ~7 days per model
• Hierarchy mismatches caused recurring issues
• Administration was fragmented and risky at scale

Using ADO, Bedford implemented:

• Push-based, orchestrated integrations
• One-click workflows and scheduled runs
• Early detection of hierarchy conflicts

The result:

• Rollout time reduced from seven days to one
• ~190 days of deployment effort saved
• Improved data quality and governance

“Distributing data to more than 30 production models using traditional approaches is extremely challenging at this scale. ADO fundamentally changed what was possible.” — Irene Ortiz Molina, Master Anaplanner, Bedford Consulting

Features matter. Experience matters more.

Anaplan’s 2025 releases represent real progress. But features alone don’t deliver outcomes.

What matters is knowing when to use them, how they behave as models and users scale, and how to design solutions that still work years after go-live.

That’s where Bedford’s Anaplan-only focus and Master Anaplanner bench make the difference.

We don’t just implement features. We help customers see what others can’t – and turn platform capability into sustained performance.