Buying Software For Strategic Planning: 5 Key Considerations

If you’re researching strategic planning software, you likely want a tool that makes your job easier. At ClearPoint, we support that goal. We’ve seen organizations’ strategic planning efforts buckle under the administrative work of strategy planning and execution. That’s why process simplification is a key objective of our software.

There’s an even stronger reason to invest in software for strategic planning. Strategy software leads to better reporting, which produces better business outcomes. That makes it a win-win for you and your organization’s leadership team.

This buying guide helps you check that the solution you choose delivers in both areas. If the strategic planning software you choose checks all the boxes below, you’ve made a solid choice.

Vet potential software vendors with our 29-question guide - know if they're the right fit for you.

Software For Strategic Planning: 5 Things To Consider

If software shopping feels overwhelming, start by ruling out tools that focus only on data analysis, data visualization, or project management. Too often, organizations pick these one-dimensional tools and try to adapt them for strategy reporting. Many are excellent at their intended purpose, but they aren’t strategy-focused. Pulling strategic data from them to cobble together an insightful strategy report will not produce the results you want. Skip any product that doesn’t claim to be strategy software, and focus on the much smaller pool of real contenders.

1. It should support your strategy framework.

There are many strategic planning models: Balanced Scorecard, OKRs, goal-based strategic planning, Baldrige (for governments), etc. Look for a solution that doesn’t force you to adopt a certain methodology. It should adapt to what you’re doing, not the other way around.

Strategy frameworks are fluid. Organizations often combine them and change their approach over the years. You may use the OKR framework today, but that could change as you grow, and you don’t want to buy new strategy software to fit your new model. Make sure the tool you choose works with nearly any approach, with minimal effort.

ClearPoint works with any strategy framework, so wherever you plan to go, we can go with you. We even have scripts that let you switch easily from one framework to another.

“ClearPoint Strategy is a ‘your size’ program, providing solutions and tools that fit your immediate needs, but can grow with you as you continue to grow your plan and metrics, with a price point that can fit practically any budget.” —G2 reviewer

2. It should make it easy to align organizational goals and activities.

Organizations often set ambitious, high-level goals but fail to make sure every department is working toward them. It’s a common weak point in strategy planning. When business plans aren’t aligned with organizational strategy, you end up with separate groups working on their own priorities. One department might make strides, but that does little to move the organization ahead.

Good strategic planning software fixes this by letting you link departmental objectives and activities to organizational ones, so you can see when teams are not aligned. When every business unit works toward the organization’s goals, you have a much better chance of succeeding.

ClearPoint is the only strategic planning software tool that lets you quickly and easily see which objectives, measures (KPIs), and initiatives (projects) are aligned and which ones are not, so you can address gaps.

3. It should help you generate insightful strategy reports.

Strategy reports need context. An Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation made up of data copied and pasted from various sources rarely clarifies anything for decision-makers. They need to see how the strategic data points and elements fit together, and what the “big picture” looks like.

Only strategic planning software can provide that view. Make sure the software you choose produces attractive reports that visualize department goals, measures, and initiatives, and lets you show as much or as little detail as you like. It should also offer several report types: PDFs, online dashboards, briefing books, and more. Strategy software gets leaders the most relevant information in the least time, so they can analyze progress, make decisions, and execute on time.

ClearPoint shows quantitative information in charts and time-based activities in Gantt Charts. You can add qualitative analysis for context, and color status indicators show the state of any strategic element at a glance. Together, these let you create different reports for different audiences, so leaders have what they need to make better strategic decisions. (See how the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has used it to improve its strategic outcomes and save millions of dollars through increased efficiencies!)

“Clearpoint is very easy to use and understand. The analytics that are produced are great. The dashboards are easy to make. I can't say enough good things about this product and the ClearPoint team. Our finished product looked amazing.”

—Darcy B. (G2 reviewer)

4. It should make the reporting process easy.

Organizations tend to overlook the management side of strategic planning. Most of the time, everyone goes back to their silos and does their own thing. Continuous tracking and reporting is essential to reaching your goals. But complex reporting processes can overwhelm organizations. Either they can’t keep up and abandon the effort, or they get stuck in a permanent state of inefficiency that threatens their competitiveness.

Strategy planning software should end this problem. Some solutions, like ClearPoint, use automation to make reporting easy. Team members no longer need to chase down quarterly update data, generate reports, or distribute them. Much of your reporting process should run on its own and give decision-makers what they need, when they need it.

ClearPoint was built from the ground up for the challenges of strategy reporting. For over 10 years, ClearPoint has worked with leading private and public sector organizations to make their strategy reporting more effective and efficient. One ClearPoint customer reduced the cost of its monthly management board reporting by 70%, and another reduced its reporting time by 90%.

5. The vendor should be dedicated to helping you succeed with your strategy, not just your software.

Contact with your vendor shouldn’t end after your initial training. The best vendors see themselves as partners in your strategy, not only as software providers. Check that the vendor you’re looking at meets customers’ expectations and goes further to keep them happy.

The ClearPoint support team is the best in the business. We’ll help your team get up and running with the software and keep using it well as your organization grows. Your own account manager will help you start with a custom implementation plan based on your team’s needs and goals. Our support team helps you get the most out of your software investment for as long as you use it.

ClearPoint has been awarded a “Best Support” badge by G2, and our customers give us a 9.7 rating for quality of support. Our team members have a passion for performance management and strong technical skills. We solve problems quickly so you can focus on executing your strategy, not fighting a software tool to create your reports.

“The ClearPoint Strategy Team is outstanding in supporting your business needs, assisting you with various reports, walking you through processes to implement your business's strategies, goals, initiatives, and outcomes…The customer service is outstanding and they continuously check in on their clients to ensure your success.”

—G2 reviewer

Must-Have Strategic Planning Software Features

Here’s a short list to keep handy for your final selection.

To get the most value out of your software for strategic planning, it should have:

✔ Advanced reporting customization options—Can you customize nearly all parts of the tool (fields, layouts, frameworks, dashboards, etc.) to make it your own?

✔ Automation—Can you schedule data update reminders, data uploads, and report generation? Can you automatically get alerts when things are off track or projects are due?

✔ Organizational alignment—Can you link goals, metrics, and projects at all levels?

✔ Project management capability—Can you link projects to strategy, and manage the various tasks, timelines, and budgets?

✔ Easy integrations—Can you integrate it with the tools you already use so you can easily import data?

✔ A variety of report types—Can you create and share progress reports in multiple ways?

✔ Quantitative & qualitative data—Can you input both types of data to provide context?

✔ Ease of use—Have you tried it out yourself and read user reviews?

Make your reporting system—and your outcomes—better with ClearPoint.

You’ve taken great care with your strategy playbook. Now you need a tool that helps you run the plays. ClearPoint is the only strategic planning software you’ll ever need. It gives you the insights to keep improving the key strategic drivers of your business, and it makes strategy execution easier and faster. See the system in action and schedule a demo today!

See how ClearPoint would run your plan — book a demo