By definition, strategic planning is the technique of establishing a vision for the long run and creating a method for achieving shared business goals. Strategic planning involves making decisions that allocate resources, setting performance standards, and assessing results over time. Typically, this kind of visionary planning is finished by leadership, and is communicated to groups throughout the business.
Changes in strategic planning
Over the previous few years, keeping strategic planning front-of-mind has grow to be much more critical in our recent hybrid and distant world. As businesses navigate their way through this unprecedented time of disruption, it’s now essential to develop strategies tailored to their particular needs and challenges, which is where strategic tools grow to be essential.
These changes in worker location require the usage of technology and digital tools to develop and execute plans to interchange in-person meetings and brainstorms.
What’s strategic planning?
With acronyms like KPI to ROI to CI, it will possibly be difficult to maintain up with all of the terminology and jargon that comes with strategic planning. Nevertheless, if we remove the acronyms and deal with the nuts and bolts, strategic planning is solely a process that helps organizations maximize their resources and achieve long-term goals.
Strategic planning involves:
- Analyzing a corporation’s current state.
- Setting overall objectives.
- Developing motion plans to achieve those objectives.
- Measuring progress.
This process could be simplified using strategic planning software that helps streamline the method by automating and tracking most of the manual steps related to it. It’s a magic wand for planning, tracking, and achieving your long-term business goals.
Not all strategic planning software is created equal
There are specific features that help teams ensure success when planning for the long run, but that doesn’t mean that the identical strategic planning software is true for everybody. Listed below are a number of elements that it’s best to take into consideration before committing to a strategic planning software in your team:
User-friendly interface: Search for software that is simple to navigate and understand, even for non-technical users.
Customization options: Don’t just accept the cookie-cutter option. Select a software that permits you to tailor its features to satisfy the unique needs of what you are promoting – think integrations, automations and more.
Collaboration tools: Make sure that the software you select has full ability to speak via chat, in addition to inside the project and tasks themselves.
Data visualization and reporting: Search for software that may assist you quickly and simply understand complex data and present it clearly and concisely.
Integration options: Your online business shouldn’t be inbuilt a silo and only use a single kind of software (no less than, I hope not). Make sure that that the software you select integrates with every other tools and systems you already use in what you are promoting, reminiscent of project management platforms, financial tools, and customer relationship management software.
Mobile compatibility: While this isn’t a make or break element for many teams, make sure the software could be accessed from any device, including smartphones and tablets. It’s nice to give you the option to work in your plan on the go – but keep your work-life balance manageable!
Scalability: All the time, at all times, at all times search for software that may grow and evolve with what you are promoting. Changing software to satisfy your needs could be extremely pricy and resource-draining. So pick one and keep on with it for the long haul.
Support and training: A good customer service portal (not only an AI asking/responding to arbitrary prompts) and good training are at all times essential. Pick one that gives comprehensive support and training to get probably the most out of it and maximize its advantages.
Top Strategic planning software tools
Now that we’ve reviewed the essential components of strategic planning solutions, here’s a roundup of the perfect strategic planning softwareto assist you zero in on the perfect selection for what you are promoting. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it’s going to assist you determine among the key features offered and in the event that they would compliment your workflow.
1. Hive
Hive is a strategic planning software built for teams that must plan, coordinate and track their work. Made by teams, for teams, Hive has considered all the things inside the project management pipeline.
Our unique strategic planning features help teams define objectives, set milestones, and assign tasks to whole teams. Hive Goals, a brand new goal setting and OKR software, can be utilized by teams to create, set and visualize progress, keeping everyone aligned under one large company-wide goal.
Underneath the company-wide goal, teams or individuals can set sub-goals which help route strategy across the business. Goals in Hive could be measured either by the completion of associated tasks, by team progress or with manual updates. Teams can even bring their Goals, tasks, projects and Notes into one centralized dashboard with Hive Pages – a one-stop shop for strategic tracking.
The very best part? You possibly can try Hive free for 14 days to see why hundreds of teams select Hive to plan their projects and achieve their strategic goals.
Key features:
- Hive Goals permits you to assign, review and track progress on multiple tasks
- Can centralize and automate your goal-tracking and reporting
- Automated notifications that keep teams informed of changes in a project
2. ClickUp
ClickUp is a much-loved project management platform with versatility for strategic planning. It offers a variety of third-party integrations and is well accessible on mobile devices. While it might be more involved than a few of our other selections, it has a wonderful customer support department and in-depth how-to articles in the event you ever wander off along the best way.
Key features:
- Strategic planning whiteboard templates to get your team began
- Users can set and track goals, monitor progress, and adjust plans as needed.
- Facilitates team collaboration and communication through features like comments, mentions, and real-time updates.
3. Airtable
Airtable is a cloud-based platform allowing users to create, organize and store data for his or her projects. It isn’t only a strategic planning software, because it is commonly used for reporting and customer relationship management and may easily align with strategic planning. With Airtable, you may create custom boards in minutes to trace goals, monitor progress and assign tasks efficiently. While we love a superb customized option, in the event you’re unsure where to start out, the strategy planning templates are excellent and straightforward to follow and understand.
Key features:
- Create custom fields as needed to trace specific data points
- Designed for distant teams – access from any device.
- Real-time collaboration allows for seamless communication between team members.
4. Adobe Workfront
For those enterprise clients, Adobe Workfront is an enormous centralized hub for all of your work activities and processes. It integrates with lots of Adobe’s products, including Creative Cloud and Acrobat, to make it easier for teams in larger organizations to collaborate on complex projects.
So far as your strategic planning goes, Adobe Workfront offers various strategic planning features that allow teams to set goals, track progress, and analyze results. This is perhaps the perfect program for you in the event you are a creative business and use Adobe projects religiously.
Key features:
- Customized reports that tie in from all adobe platforms
- Real-time reporting capabilities so you usually know where you stand
- Advanced analytics tools that permit you measure success over time
5. Any.do
Any.do is a strategic planning software that provides a free planner and customised managed workflows — ideal for any business trying to keep track of its strategic planning. You possibly can easily access and share your plans across teams and with clients. Any.do also allows you to assign tasks, chat in real-time, and onboard a whole team. Plus, Any.do could be accessed online from multiple devices, making it an excellent solution for distant and hybrid teams.
Key features:
- Multiple views dashboard — try personal space, workspace and my day views
6. Trello
From quick access (mobile app and web-based) to flexible dashboard views (kanban-style, calendar, list views), Trello is a strategic planning software with several capabilities to trace strategic planning.
It permits you to invite recent members to collaborate in your workspace, track tasks, and use color-coded labels to prepare your data. Its no-code automation features assist you optimize the time spent on repetitive tasks, keeping your team on the right track. Trello has a free version; its paid plans start at $5 per user/month.
Key features:
- See your work from multiple angles: Kanban board, timeline, table, calendar, and more
- Automate repetitive tasks and enhance workflow
- Integrate with over 100 of your favorite tools
- Dozens of premade templates
7. Unito
Unito Strategic Planning Software is an modern and intuitive tool that helps organizations develop and manage their business and project plans. Its powerful features provide users with a streamlined and results-driven framework. Unito’s unique methodology is on open-source software to make sure flexibility, scalability, and security. With an intuitive interface, users can quickly and simply access the features they should create and maintain strategic plans.
Key features:
- Team management
- Mission statement builder
- Integrations
- Analytics
- Portfolio tracking
- Quick start templates – use a custom-made workflow from personal to industry-related templates.
- Protect your privacy – limit boards to a personal viewing for you alone or a particular group of users.
8. Monday.com
Monday.com is a project management software with highly customizable features, making it adaptable to your specific strategic planning needs. It offers robust collaboration capabilities, powerful automations, timeline and Gantt chart views for project planning, and a mess of integrations to seamlessly connect together with your other tools. With the flexibility to create dashboards for high-level insights, Monday.com is capable of provide a comprehensive overview of your plans, helping ensure everyone in your team stays aligned with the general objectives. You possibly can start with Monday.com without cost and plans start at $8/user/month.
Key Features:
- Time tracking
- Document management
- Task dependencies
- Distant collaboration tools.
Try some alternatives to Monday.com and compare them to seek out the perfect strategic planning platform in your organization.
9. Planview AdaptiveWork
Key Features:
- Resource Planning
- Portfolio Management
- Request Intake
- Dynamic Reports and Dashboards
- Automated PowerPoint Reports
- Budget Tracking.
10. Wrike
Wrike is a project management platform with robust features tailored for strategic project monitoring. Wrike has built-in time tracking, advanced reporting, and resource management features that make it more suitable for larger teams working with complex, multi-stage projects. Wrike also offers a wide range of integrations with other tools, reminiscent of CRM systems, ERP systems, and BI tools. This can assist teams to streamline their workflow and automate tasks while targeting their strategic goals and projects. Wrike has a free plan with limited capabilities. Their hottest plan starts at $24.80 per thirty days/user, but you may get great features under a lower tier called “Team” for $9.80 per thirty days/user.
Key Features:
- Integrates with various applications like Google Drive, Slack, Salesforce, and Adobe Creative Cloud
- Personalized dashboards for essential tasks, updates, and project overviews
- Built-in proofing and approval tools
- Workflow automation to eliminate manual tasks
- Safety features including role-based access, two-factor authentication, and data encryption
What’s next in your team’s strategic planning?
Ultimately, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution when selecting a strategic planning software platform. From small business to enterprise-level, you’ll want to determine what specifics you wish for what you are promoting after which check out a number of tools to see if it matches the mold. Hopefully, this roundup will give you a wonderful place to begin as you explore your options.
Have a strategic planning software platform you like? Tell us within the comments below.
