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Empowering a Clean Energy Revolution
How sonnen transformed financial planning, reporting, and workforce planning
The leader in intelligent energy and storage solutions, has revolutionized the energy sector with smart battery systems. sonnen’s partnership with Anaplan, guided by valantic as the trusted implementation partner, significantly enhanced its financial planning. The project delivered transparent forecasting, large-scale scenario planning, detailed product insights, and improved collaboration — creating a resilient system to support sustainable growth.
The company: sonnen
The headquarters of sonnen is located in Wildpoldsried, Bavaria – a village that has been a pioneer in renewable energy for more than two decades. From this forward-thinking environment, sonnen has grown into one of the world’s leading companies for intelligent energy and storage solutions.
Founded in 2010 by two visionaries, sonnen has pursued a clear mission from the very beginning: to fundamentally change the way people generate, store, and consume energy. As a pioneer, sonnen has revolutionized the energy landscape with its smart battery storage systems, now powering more than 150,000 homes across three continents.
But sonnen goes even further: With the sonnenVPP – the virtual power plant, the company connects thousands of home batteries into a single, intelligent energy community. These households form a large virtual battery that helps stabilize the power grid and takes on roles once reserved for conventional power plants. The result: a more reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective energy supply for everyone.
sonnen stands for a new energy culture – clean, decentralized, and digital.
Danyon Nolte
Team Lead Group Controlling at sonnen GmbH
”Having clarity in our financial planning processes is vital, but the process itself also needs a strong technical partner to unlock its full potential. It now allows us to make informed decisions that enable us to maximize resources and push the boundaries of what‘s possible in our served markets.“
Jonas Weiss
Junior Business Controller Commercial Finance at sonnen GmbH
”With Anaplan, we have not only streamlined our forecasting process but also gained a level of transparency that allows us to predict trends with greater accuracy. This is a significant leap forward for our financial operations.“
Teresa Gerung
Business Controller at sonnen GmbH
”Thanks to Anaplan‘s advanced modeling capabilities, we now have a clear view of our product economics. This insight is guiding our critical decisions regarding investments and market positioning, ensuring we meet internal and external customer needs effectively.“
Danyon Nolte
Team Lead Group Controlling at sonnen GmbH
”valantic has been more than just a consultant; they are our trusted and valued sparring partners. Together, we are shaping the future of energy, with the insights and systems we need to drive growth and resilience.“
Danyon Nolte
Team Lead Group Controlling at sonnen GmbH
”Our partnership with valantic on the workforce planning project has been incredibly impactful. The model allows us to seamlessly align our human resources with broader financial planning, providing clarity and agility as we scale our operations.“
Project overview
Forecasting the future
As sonnen scaled its impact globally, its financial planning systems needed to evolve. After ensuring that all relevant planning processes are in place and the planning depth is aligned, the team sought a platform that could grow alongside their ambitions — one that enabled dynamic scenario building, cross-functional digital collaboration, and real-time visibility into complex financial data.
After evaluating several platforms, sonnen selected Anaplan — a cloud-native connected planning solution — as the foundation for their financial planning transformation.
sonnen partnered with valantic, a trusted consulting leader headquartered in Zurich, to deliver a solution that would serve as the backbone of their financial decision-making and financial planning processes.
From silos to solar systems
The project kicked off with a focus on simplifying and centralizing the forecasting process. With valantic’s expert guidance, the sonnen team mapped out financial planning touchpoints across the business — identifying how and where forecast values were generated, and how they could be adjusted in real-time based on new events or insights.
This initiative culminated in the implementation of a new steering logic, offering transparency into every forecasted number and unlocking financial planning flexibility on multiple versions with scenario capabilities.
Engineering confidence
As part of the first phase, sonnen also implemented workflow logic and a product model calendar, ensuring planning data was aligned to active time periods and that contributions could be tracked across teams. This structural clarity increased confidence in both the numbers and the financial planning process itself.
Unit economics, unlocked
The second project phase tackled a more complex challenge: understanding product-level costs across international entities from group perspective. Anaplan’s multi-dimensional modeling capabilities enabled sonnen to untangle a web of cost calculations and surface true unit economics — revealing which products were driving profit and which needed re-evaluation. It also allows sonnen to tailor the financials from all implemented dimensions and adjust the output to the current needs of the global management team.
The resulting insights didn’t just support better cost allocation; they enhanced the accuracy of forecasts, enabling sonnen to align its financial strategies more closely with product performance and market dynamics.
Project results
The sonnen x Anaplan project marked a turning point in financial planning maturity for the company. By integrating the globally aligned planning processes into a centralized, flexible platform, sonnen achieved:
- End-to-end forecast transparency, empowering business users to understand, trust, and act on financial data.
- Scenario planning at scale, enabling teams to model multiple business outcomes and respond faster to market dynamics.
- Detailed product-level insights, helping leadership make smarter decisions on pricing, investment, and go-to-market strategies.
- Improved collaboration and ownership, with planners from across the business contributing directly to forecast cycles.
Behind this transformation stood valantic, whose strategic leadership, deep Anaplan expertise, and collaborative approach made the difference. Together, valantic and sonnen created more than just a planning tool — they built a financial planning system that supports growth, resilience, and purpose.
Christian Sommer, Senior Manager at valantic
Christian is an expert in shaping workforce planning solutions for large international companies. He understands the day-to-day needs of HR professionals as well as the management expectations regarding realizing strategic initiatives and making cost drivers transparent.
„It‘s inspiring to see how sonnen embraces innovation across various functions. Our role in this project has been to help them harness Anaplan’s capabilities to build a robust planning system that supports not only their financial strategies but also critical areas like Workforce Planning, reinforcing their mission in clean energy.“
Connected planning in action
Expanding the planning landscape from finance to human resources
Following the successful implementation of the financial planning model, sonnen advanced to the next stage of its transformation: building a dedicated workforce planning model. Developed using a proven valantic template, the model was tailored to accelerate deployment while maintaining the high standards already set across the planning ecosystem.
A dynamic approach to workforce data
The workforce planning model introduced dynamic capabilities that went far beyond static headcount forecasts. It allowed planners to capture detailed attributes such as role hierarchies, cost centers, and organizational changes. The model offered a flexible structure that enabled HR and business leaders to adapt plans in real time based on evolving needs — from recruitment to restructuring.
Data-driven accuracy
To elevate the quality of workforce plans, the model integrated actual HR data directly into planning cycles. This connection between past performance and future outlooks brought new accuracy to forecasts and provided users with deeper insights into trends and staffing dynamics.
Connecting human resources and finance
Once workforce plans were finalized, the data seamlessly flowed into the finance model. This ensured financial planners always had the latest updates from HR — unifying both departments under a single planning framework. By aligning workforce and financial data in one connected ecosystem, sonnen created the foundation for truly integrated planning processes.
Security and access by design
Given the sensitivity of HR data, the model was built with strict privacy protocols. Personal data remained securely stored within the workforce planning environment, and user permissions were carefully managed to ensure that only authorized users could access confidential information. This balance of transparency and control safeguarded both employee data and compliance standards.
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Discover how sonnen, the leader in intelligent energy and storage solutions, significantly enhanced its financial planning by creating a resilient system to support sustainable growth.
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valantic XPA AG