Strategic planning software is a valuable tool for businesses seeking to develop and define organization-wide strategic goals. Strategic plan software walks business professionals through the strategic planning process and provides templates for developing a thoughtful and comprehensive strategic plan.

Strategic planning software applications help businesses assess their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (often called a SWOT analysis), determine critical business issues, identify company goals and create strategies to meet those goals. Before purchasing strategic planning software programs for your business, consider the pricing and costs of strategic planning software, including:

1. What is a competitive price for strategic plan software, and which providers of strategic planning software offer the best deals?

2. How will software for strategic corporate planning maximize your business profitability?

3. What are the hidden costs of strategic plan software solutions, and what factors determine total cost of ownership?

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Compare prices between several strategic planning software providers

Prices for corporate strategy software vary widely from open source downloads available for free to comprehensive strategic planning software programs selling for more than $2,000. Before purchasing software, compare strategic planning software solution prices and read user reviews. Consider bundled software packages for good deals on strategic plan software programs.

I recommend: Compare product information for various business planning templates, prices, and get volume licensing for unlimited users at Systems2win. PlanWare offers competitive strategic plan software prices and provides user reviews from reputable companies.

Determine how corporate planning software impacts business revenue

Sometimes not purchasing a product can cost your business money in the long run--as in the case of strategic plan software. The ultimate goal of any strategic planning process is to maximize financial productivity. Look for a strategic planning tool that helps your business increase revenue and profits through forecasting and financial models.

I recommend: Learn how strategic planning software applications track anticipated business unit revenue contributions at Gryphon Systems. Get information about using strategic planning software to improve operational and financial structure at MoneySoft.

Evaluate the total costs of ownership for strategic planning software solutions

Low-cost strategic business planning software options are widely available online. However, before downloading free applications or purchasing inexpensive software, calculate the total cost of ownership. While open source software for strategic planning may provide flexibility, consider the employee hours your business will spend in customizing the software, in addition to ownership cost factors like installation, upgrades, technical support and training.

I recommend: Learn about the hidden costs associated with free software for small businesses at Free Software Magazine, offered through EchoSpan. Read more about understanding the true costs of free and open-source software at TechSoup. 180 Systems provides helpful information about assessing total cost of ownership which can be applied to all software platforms, including strategic planning software.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Save on shipping fees by purchasing strategic plan software downloads online.

You don’t have to kill a tree or shut down the office for a week to create a successful strategic plan. In fact, you can create a successful plan for your business in just one day. It doesn’t have to be an overwhelming or a monumental task. It doesn’t have to be perfect or fancy. Just grab a few key people in your organization, turn off the phones and let’s get started.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Step One – Be the best.

The result of a well-developed and executed strategic plan is to develop a competitive advantage. Just what is a competitive advantage? Business lingo aside, it is simply the answer to: What can your company potentially do better than any other company?Understanding your competitive advantage is critical. It is the reason you are in business. It is what you do best that draws customers to buy your product/service instead of your competitor’s. Extremely successful companies deliberately make choices to be unique and different in activities that they are really, really good at and they focus all of their energy in these areas. You may decide to incorporate your competitive advantage into your mission and/or vision statements.

I recommend: Competitive Advantage Model

Step Two – State your purpose.

A mission statement is a statement of the company’s purpose. It is useful for putting the spotlight on what business a company is presently in and the customer needs it is presently endeavoring to serve. It also serves as a guide for day-to-day operations and as the foundation for future decision-making. To write a mission statement, answer the questions: What is our business? What are we trying to accomplish for our customers? What is our company’s reason for existing?

I recommend: Help writing a mission statement

Step Three – Visualize the future.

A strategic vision is the image of a company’s future – the direction it is headed, the customer focus it should have, the market position it should try to occupy, the business activities to be pursued, and the capabilities it plans to develop. Forming a strategic vision should delineate what kind of enterprise the company is trying to become and infuse the organization with a sense of purposeful action. Think big! To write a vision statement, answer this question: What will our business look like in 5 to ten years from now?

I recommend: A few tips on creating vision.

Step Four – Take an inventory.

The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis helps you look critically at your organization. It is a tool to help produce a good fit between a company’s strengths and its opportunities.Assess your strengths and weaknesses by answering these questions: What do we do best? What do we not do best? What are our company resources – assets, intellectual property, and people? What are our company capabilities (functions)?Assess your opportunities and threats by answering these questions: What is happening externally that will affect our company? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor? What are the driving forces behind sales trends? What are important and potentially important markets? What is happening in the world that might affect our company?

I recommend: Free online SWOT tool

Step Five – Profile your customers.

If you want to move your company from being successful to wildly profitable, you need to meet your customers’ needs and wants better than your competitors do. Develop a customer profile by answering: What are our customers needs, motivations, and characteristics? How do we uniquely provide value to our customers? What should we improve to grow our customer base?

I recommend: Articles, newsletters and blogs from Creating Customer Evangelists.

Step Six – Write your goals and objectives.

Goals and objectives are like stair steps to your mission and vision. Realistic goals and objectives are developed from the SWOT analysis and customer profile. Objectives set the agenda, are broad, and global in nature. Write two to five objectives that give action to your mission/vision and will take a few years to achieve. Then, develop goals to achieve each objective. Goals should be measurable, quantifiable, and support your objectives. Think about achieving them in a one-year timeframe. Effective goals must state how much of what kind of performance by when is to be accomplished and by whom. Make sure both your goals and objectives build on your strengths; shore up your weaknesses; capitalize on your opportunities; and recognize your threats.

I recommend: More about defining your goals.
Simple free goal tracking.

Step Seven – Assess your resources.

Now that you have completed your goals and objectives, it is time to do a resource assessment. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to all well laid strategic plans is time and money. As with every business, budgets are never big enough to do everything you want to do. Prioritize key goals by asking: Do implementing the goals make financial sense? Do you have the human resources to achieve your plan?

I recommend: For additional information about the complicated world of financing: www.businessfinancing.com and www.vfinance.com

Step Eight – Take action.

Tactics set specific actions/action plans that lead to implementing your goals and objectives. Basically write a to-do list for each goal. A quick way to develop your tactics is to answer this question: What roadblocks exist to achieving my goal? Use the answer to develop action items for each goal. Assign responsibilities and deadlines to ensure implementation. A great method to get buy-in from your staff is to assign a goal to each employee. Ask him/her to write the action plan and be responsible for making sure each task is accomplished.

I recommend: This great model for structuring your action plan.

Step Nine – Keep score.

In step six, you wrote goals that were measurable. Put these measurements and targets on a scorecard (in Excel), which acts as an instrument panel guiding your company towards achieving your vision. With the scorecard, you can actively track your progress on a monthly basis.

I recommend: Resources, examples and training to make the balanced scorecard work for you.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Step Ten – Make strategy a habit.
  A leader devoted to the successful implementation of the strategy and plan is key. The plan needs to be supported with people, money, time, systems, and above all communication. Communicate the plan to everyone in your organization. Hold a monthly or quarterly strategy meeting to report on the progress toward achieving the goal. Don’t forget to take corrective actions when needed and adapt as the environment changes.
• •  Conclusion
  My last word of advice is that a plan is a living document. It does not have to be perfect or 100 percent complete to start using your strategic plan. A business without a plan is like a car without a steering wheel. A rough draft is better than no plan at all. Put your plan on paper so you can look back on 2007 and celebrate your well-earned success. Happy Planning!

Strategic planning software is a valuable tool for businesses seeking to develop and define organization-wide strategic goals. Strategic plan software walks business professionals through the strategic planning process and provides templates for developing a thoughtful and comprehensive strategic plan.

Strategic planning software applications help businesses asses their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (often called a SWOT analysis), determine critical business issues, identify company goals and create strategies to meet those goals. Before purchasing strategic planning software programs for your business, consider these strategic planning software basics:

1. Find strategic business planning software that is easy to use and presented in a user-friendly interface.

2. Seek out software for strategic corporate planning that explains each step of the strategic planning process.

3. Look for corporate strategy software that is collaborative and incorporates employee participation in the strategic planning process.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose user-friendly strategic planning software solutions

Software is a strategic planning tool designed to facilitate the strategic planning process--not make it more complicated. The more difficult the software is to operate, the less likely it will actually be utilized. Look for easy to use strategic planning software solutions with straightforward user interfaces that simplify strategic planning for your business.

I recommend: Palo Alto Software offers user-friendly strategic planning software applications, and provides resources like "how to" online articles to simplify the strategic planning process. Learn about a simple, easy to use and systematic strategic planning software program at Instant Strategist.

Buy informative and educational corporate planning software

Strategic planning software can be a valuable tool for you business, but generally requires a basic understanding of the strategic planning process. Look for software programs that include detailed descriptions of each step in the strategic planning process to properly guide your business planning. Some strategic planning software applications include books or manuals to help guide you through the process.

I recommend: Learn more about pairing technology tools with coaching and education, and get an open source software for strategic planning checklist at Performance Solutions Technology. Business Resource Software offers strategic planning software solutions that include helpful wizards, step by step instructions and examples.

Purchase a collaborative strategic planning software solution

Strategic planning for a business is not a one-person job, but an organization-wide effort. Be sure to find strategic plan software that allows for employee collaboration. The most effective strategic planning software products allow several employees to contribute to the strategic planning process simultaneously.

I recommend: Learn more about using employee collaboration with your strategic plan software at Vanguard. M3 Planning's MyStrategicPlan offers easy collaboration and applications for individual action planning.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  There is a fundamental difference between a business plan and a strategic plan. A business plan outlines how your company will carry out the mission, goals and objectives in its strategic plan, and may include detailed departmental information. Before purchasing a strategic plan software for strategic corporate planning, be sure the software package is focused on strategic planning, not simply business planning.

Strategic planning software can play an integral role in the long-term success of a company. This platform allows you to review business sector conditions and investigate the microeconomic aspects of your company. If you can learn how to interpret the data from the strategic planning software correctly, it can help you improve the way management runs your company. Strategic planning software key terms can help you get started by providing you with a solid knowledge base on which you can build your strategic planning software skill set.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is the process by which you plan for future events and plan how to reach your goals in the most successful and efficient manner possible. Strategic planning also allows you to measure your progress against benchmarks.

I recommend: Examine the strategic planning tutorial available from Blackerby Associates for more information.

SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is one of the primary features of any strategic planning software package. SWOT analysis is the process of assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within an industry given current business conditions.

I recommend: Use the SWOT analysis primer from QuickMBA for more information.

Total cost of ownership

Total cost of ownership refers to all the expenses related to purchase of the strategic planning software package. For instance, you'll need to pay someone to install and manage the software if you purchase it without a service agreement.

I recommend: Review the total cost of ownership information from Solution Matrix.

Business strategic planning templates

Business strategic planning templates are pre-formatted reports that are frequently used within the industry. This saves time and effort because you don't have to assemble the strategic planning software forms from scratch.

I recommend: Strategic Plan Builder has a template that combines market research, strategic planning and implementation, and results measurement.

Performance management

Strategic planning software makes performance management a much easier process. Performance management is a way of aligning your goals with resources to create the best business outcomes.

I recommend: Free Management Library has an in-depth tutorial on the basics of performance management.

Strategic planning manager

A strategic planning manager is the person in charge of data input, implementation and management of the software output. In other words, the strategic planning manager's responsibility is the entire strategic planning process, which includes all aspects running the the software platform.

I recommend: EFinancialCareers has a detailed job description for a strategic planning manager. The description also details what type of education and experience are necessary.