Are you looking for the best strategic planning software in 2024? In the present, your business strategy is essential and will decide your future. Surprisingly enough, it can also change depending on the scenario. Planning, strategizing, managing, and executing is your staircase to success. However, given the current circumstances, it’s not as simple as it sounds.
On the other hand, strategic work management software solutions help businesses and organizations such as yours plan and simplify business strategy for more optimized execution. However that’s not all, it also helps you forecast and even edit plans based on what-if scenarios and a lot more.
So, in today’s blog, we will try to wrap our heads around strategic planning software and what they do. Furthermore, we will also discuss why you need it, how to choose the best strategy software, and much more. That said, we have a lot to cover, so let’s get right into it.
What is Strategic Planning?
Before we can understand strategic plan software, it’s essential to wrap our heads around strategic planning. So what is it? First of all, let’s keep KPIs, CIs, and ROIs aside. Focusing on our topic, what we are doing here is a process that helps us maximize our resources and achieve our goals. Planning strategically involves.
- Analyzing your business’s current state
- Setting objectives
- Action plans development
- Progress measurement
Strategic planning software helps simplify all of the above and much more.
What Can Strategic Planning Software Do in 2024?
Platforms for planning strategically can do more than just simplify what’s involved in strategic planning. Such software solutions provide you with a plethora of features to effectively manage planning, forecasting, and executing to perfection.
1. Drive Strategy
Strategic planning software helps you build the best top down plans based on your business requirements. Plus, it lets you align the right people, resources, projects, programs, applications, and technology with the right blueprints. In short, the right people for the right job.
2. Strategic Funding Management
Using the right business strategy software enables you to maximize return on investment from a financial point of view. What it does is let you create accurate capital plans that align with your strategies.
3. Model Trade-Offs
Another capability of strategic planning software is to help you optimize funding and resource planning as per your initiatives. Plus it lets you prioritize, evaluate alternatives, and compare trade-offs for the best outcome.
4. Measure Performance
Measuring the performance of your progress against your KPIs is also simplified with the use of software for planning strategically. The software gives you real-time executive-level visibility into the work and KPI performance, which makes creating and adapting changes easy.
5. Collaborate On Plans
As we all know not only our teams are diverse but also scattered across multiple time zones and locations. That is, the teams are more virtual than ever. Thus, the right strategic planning software can help bring your teams together to collaborate on plans.
6. Adapt Plans
As we all know changes in businesses are quite often and the conditions are never rigid. With the right tools for planning strategically, we can dynamically plan informed changes and shifts in strategies.
Why Do You Need Strategic Planning Software in 2024?
So, what are the benefits of using strategic planning software? Why do you need it in 2024? Here’s a fact.
50% of businesses state having too many spreadsheets to manage. However, only a few know how to reduce them. As we all know, it’s possible with the right strategy software. But the advantages are not just limited to that.
1. Information centralization
Information is the pillar of efficiency, it is the most essential to keep it centralized
With the right tool for planning strategically, you can keep all your data in one place, making it easily accessible to stakeholders.
2. Collaboration and Communication
As we mentioned before, strategic planning software helps us bring our teams together, and we will repeat it again. The software provides a plethora of collaboration and communication tools, which simplify working on the plans and optimizing execution.
3. Data Analysis
With the right strategic management software, you can analyze and report huge data without any complexities and get accurate information outcomes. This helps you work faster on making current strategies and also forecast the right planning for the future.
4. Scenario Planning
In businesses, scenarios can change and anything unexpected can happen at any time for which you must be prepared. Your strategic planning software is also great for planning scenarios with the ‘what if’ planning feature.
5. Performance Monitoring
Planning and making strategies is one thing. However, we can’t stop at that and hope for success. We must also know whether we are getting any outcome against our KPIs or not. So, the right strategic plan employee monitors software the performances against our plans and generates reports that help you optimally execute.
6. Risk Management
Risk is a part of every business. Thus, predicting, managing, and solving it is the most crucial part. Your strategic planning software will predict the risk associated with each strategy using the tons of past and present data you provide, helping you make the best data-driven decisions.
How to Choose the Best Strategic Planning Software in 2024?
So, now you know all about it and how the right platform for planning strategically can benefit your business, it’s time to choose the best-fit strategy software option for your business. With that being said, here’s what you need to look for.
1. User-Friendly Interface
Firstly, the user interface of the strategic planning software you are choosing must be intuitive and easy to use. It’s essential to avoid software with steep learning curves as they are only a waste of your time and money.
2. Customization
Every business has different needs. So, does yours. Thus, the level of customization is the next essential thing to look for in your business strategy software. Here, we can say, the higher the better, which will allow the software to easily adapt to your needs.
3. Collaboration Tools
The next thing you want in your strategic planning software is multiple tools for collaboration. Especially, if you have global teams spread across multiple locations and time zones. Overall, this feature helps improve teamwork, efficiency, and productivity.
4. Data Visualization
How your chosen software for planning strategically visualizes data will determine how easily you can understand the report. The idea here is to get software that dynamically shows you what you want and how you want it.
5. Integrations
What will you do if you want more than simplifying plans and strategies? Buy more software?! Nope, it’s too expensive. A better alternative is to choose strategic planning software that can easily integrate with the other tools and apps you are using.
6. Mobile Compatibility
We can’t imagine our lives without smartphones. Can we? They have taken over every field including strategic planning. Thus choosing tools for planning strategically that are compatible with mobile in any way possible gives you the freedom to alter a strategy while on your way to the office. Imagine how much time it will save you.
7. Scalability
Ideal strategic planning software will grow with your business. Scalable strategy software can easily adapt to your business needs as it scales up and reaches more success. To identify this feature, what can be a better way than to read the reviews of the ones who are already using it?
8. Support and Training
Since the tool for planning strategically works slightly differently, remember that even the best software will come with a little learning curve. However, it will provide you with adequate support and training material to compensate for that.
Top 10 Strategic Planning Software in 2024
Even after you know how it works, the process of selecting the best strategic planning software for your business can still be overwhelming. Plus, you also have other essential tasks to attend to as well.
So, researching the different business strategy software will only waste more of your time. Moreover, hiring a team for this job will incur unnecessary expenses. Thus, to give you a head start, we have below the 10 best software solutions for the same.
- DeskTrack
- Deel
- AchieveIt
- Phocas
- Quantive Results
- Lightcast
- Jedox
- Workday Adaptive Planning
- Adobe Workfront
- Knovos Cascade Strategy
1. DeskTrack
DeskTrack is the best strategic planning software in the industry. What we love about it is that not only does it help you make strategic plans but also monitors its execution through its comprehensive real-time tracking and activity monitoring features. Plus, the customizable detailed reporting helps you visualize your progress the way you want.
Pros:
- Seamless integrations
- Customizable detailed reporting
- Project management and simplification
- Real-time tracking
- Real-time activity monitoring
Cons:
- None
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Best overall | $5.99/user/month |
5/5 |
2. Deel
If you want the best business strategy software for compliance management, then, Deel is the software solution for you. Especially, if you are operating in multiple countries, its international employee compliance features are great for you.
Pros:
- Strong focus on compliance management
- International payroll automation
- In-house visa and work permit support
Cons:
- Lacks some features for visual planning
- Limited customization
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Employment compliance | Quote on contact |
4.8/5 |
3. AchieveIt
We picked AchieveIt because of its clean interface and easy-to-use functionality. This strategic planning software is one of the best for multi-way data visualization, which helps you address pressing issues simply and easily.
Pros:
-
- Templates for organizing strategies
- Real-time updates
- Automation
Cons:
- Complex goals and milestones setup
- Lacks portfolio management
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Data visualization | $70/user/month |
4.4/5 |
4. Phocas
Phocas is the strategic plan software you need if the objective is to connect all business units on a single platform. With features such as sales forecasting, scenario planning, and customer demand predictions, Phocas helps you effectively plan strategically.
Pros:
- Multi-department planning
- Strong forecasting
- Customizable dashboards and reports
Cons:
- Overwhelming data generation
- Steep learning curve
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Connecting all business units | Quote on contact |
4.6/5 |
5. Quantive Results
With this strategic planning software, it is easy to bring your teams together on a single platform via the set of comprehensive collaboration and communication features. What we like about this one is the KPI tracking feature, which also allows commenting to raise questions, provide context, and ultimately jot down the best ideas.
Pros:
- Account management and custom onboarding (enterprise plan)
- Unlimited users (free plan)
- Ready-made templates
Cons:
- Scale plan limited to 249 users
- All integrations not included in all plans
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Collaboration | Free |
4.6/5 |
6. Lightcast
What makes this software for planning strategically stand out from the others is the workforce scenario modeling functionality. It effectively gives you the most comprehensive view of your projected business future with accurate data analytics and insights for optimizing data-driven decision-making.
Pros:
- Integrated benchmarking data for staying competitive in the global talent market
- Additional consulting services
- Analyze employment trends worldwide
Cons:
- No free trial
- Non-transparent pricing
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Workforce scenario modeling | Quote on contact |
4.7/5 |
Read more: Top 10 Best Jira Alternatives for 2024
7. Jedox
Jedox on our list is one of the best strategic planning software for retailers. What we like about it is that it helps you connect your sales, HR, and business performance data to create scenario models that help you plan for the future.
Pros:
- Can analyze huge data sets
- Dynamic reports
- Easy-to-follow flexible dashboards
Cons:
- The user interface is not good
- The report builder is buggy at times
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Retailers | Quote on contact |
4.4/5 |
8. Workday Adaptive Planning
Gain a thorough understanding of your workforce dynamics with this business strategy software. One of the best for workforce planning, it connects your HR, finance, and operations data. Plus, role-based reporting also helps you understand individual strengths and weaknesses.
Pros:
- Multiple account creations
- Good forecasting features
- Role-based reporting
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- The user interface is not good
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Workforce Planning | Quote on contact |
4.4/5 |
9. Adobe Workfront
One of the best strategic planning software for enterprise-level businesses, Adobe Workfront provides you with comprehensive features for easy cross-department task creation and management. What makes it our pick is the capability to create connections between tasks and high-level goals.
Pros:
- Easy cross-department task creation and management
- Encourages user participation
- Excellent project management capabilities
Cons:
- Advanced features are complex to understand
- Difficult navigation
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Enterprises | Quote on contact |
4.1/5 |
10. Knovos Cascade Strategy
Knovos Cascade Strategy is one of the best tools for planning strategically for startups. With its comprehensive features, it becomes simple to plan, manage, and track goals. Plus, it also provides you with seamless integrations that save time and money while adding more functionality.
Pros:
- Helpful progress reports
- Multiple project templates
- Customizable and flexible
Cons:
- Large data reports update slowly
- You cannot customize some reporting features
|
Best For |
Initial Pricing | User Rating |
| Startups | Free |
2.9/5 |
Why is DeskTrack the Best Strategic Planning Software?
DeskTrack is the best strategic planning software used across 100+ nations, 100K+ users, and 8K+ businesses worldwide. However, what makes it stand out is that it provides businesses with more than features for planning strategically.
Overall, this time tracking, productivity monitoring, employee monitoring, and project management integration provide you with:
- The most user-friendly interface.
- Seamless integrations with other tools and apps you use.
- Intuitive dashboards for visualizing team and employee performance.
- Detailed reporting for effective performance evaluation.
- Real-time tracking and activity monitoring for accruing data-driven decision-making and much more on a single feature-rich and resource-intensive platform.
Conclusion
We hope that now you are clear about strategic planning software and why you need it. Planning strategies and strategically is your foundational pillar to success and growth. It involves analyzing your business’s current state, setting objectives, developing action plans, and measuring your progress. However, in the current data-driven scenario with a diverse workforce, using spreadsheets won’t be enough. Plus, its complexities will also waste your time and money due to inaccuracies. Especially, when handling large amounts of data. Thus, you need to know, identify, and implement the right tool for this task, which fits all your business requirements including forecasting, workforce planning, and scenario modeling. In short, with the right software, you will execute your plans to success. However, what if you need more than just a strategy software for your business? DeskTrack is your best all-in-one software application solution for all things employee activity monitoring and time tracking.
Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ)
Q. What are the 5 Stages of Making a Business Strategy?
Ans. Making a strategy plan for the success of your business involves rigorous brainstorming and meetings. Moreover, regardless of your business type and size, these are the mandatory steps.
- Access your business.
- Identify goals and objectives.
- Develop the plan and determine KPIs.
- Implement and share your plan.
- Revise and restructure if and when required.
Q. Can AI write a Strategic Plan?
Ans. In short, yes, using artificial intelligence can make the process of writing strategic plans effortless. With the power of AI plan generators, you can input crucial details including business goals and market analysis to simplify the entire process.
Q. What is Software for Planning Strategically?
Ans. Business strategy software solutions are feature-rich tool packages that simplify analyzing your business’s current state, setting objectives, developing action plans, and measuring your progress. These tools let your stakeholders decide on strategies, and investments and make adjustments. In short, it can work as a command central for organization-wide strategy implementation.
Q. Which are the Best Business Strategy Software Solutions?
Ans. To help you pick the best strategizing software for your organization, we shortlisted the top 10 software solutions for this task.
- DeskTrack
- Deel
- AchieveIt
- Phocas
- Quantive Results
- Lightcast
- Jedox
- Workday Adaptive Planning
- Adobe Workfront
- Knovos Cascade Strategy
