With the rising global trend of digital transformation comes the increasing necessity of implementing a digital solution to assist organizations in meeting emerging customer demands and executing business objectives. Embracing business agility and driving digital transformation initiatives toward successful execution has prompted many companies to use SPM software tools.
This article discusses the basic features of SPM software solutions, the benefits they bring to companies, and a list of 9 powerful tools to consider.
What Is Strategic Portfolio Management Software?
Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) software helps organizations manage portfolios of projects, programs, and initiatives while ensuring alignment with overall business strategy. These tools offer powerful features for organizing, tracking, and optimizing project performance, enabling companies to make data-driven decisions. A core function of SPM software is to bridge the gap between strategy and execution, ensuring enterprise-wide alignment and the ability to adapt to changing priorities.
Key Benefits of Strategic Portfolio Management Software
Strategy management software helps organizations streamline execution and ensure alignment between strategy and operations. Some of the key benefits include:
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Centralized Strategy Hub: Align business goals with projects for improved strategic execution.
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Project Prioritization and Resource Allocation: Focus on high-impact initiatives and optimize resource distribution across portfolios.
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Capacity Planning and Demand Management: Balance workloads and support top priorities.
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Integrated Portfolio Analysis and Tracking: Enable business leaders to connect and cross-reference elements across portfolios for a holistic view of progress.
Recommended Features of SPM Software
A scalable and flexible architecture is a critical feature of SPM software, ensuring strategic alignment across company-wide initiatives while providing a high-level overview of portfolios and top priorities.
Beyond this, effective SPM solutions should include the following capabilities:
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Goal-Tracking: Facilitate the clear definition of business outcomes, OKRs, and key initiatives, ensuring that high-level strategic goals are effectively linked to execution for better alignment and focus.
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Roadmapping Capabilities: Visualize and prioritize strategic objectives for clear planning.
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Portfolio & Program Management: Organize and oversee multiple projects, programs, and initiatives within a structured portfolio.
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Real-Time Reporting: Use AI-powered analytics for real-time insights into portfolio health.
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Executive Dashboards: Gain real-time insights into project performance and overall progress.
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Demand Management: Optimize resource allocation based on urgent needs and business priorities.
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Risk Analysis and Forecasting: Use data-driven insights to assess risks and predict outcomes accurately.
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Seamless Integrations: Connect with external tools to streamline workflows and enhance collaboration.
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Workflow Automation: Use custom automation to reduce manual effort and enhance operational efficiency.
What Are the 9 Best Software Tools for Strategic Portfolio Management?
Here is a brief overview of some of the top strategic portfolio management tools available today:
- Businessmap (formerly Kanbanize)
- ServiceNow
- Planview
- Apptio Targetprocess
- Smartsheet
- Strategic Portfolio Manager by UMT360
- Planisware
- i-nexus
- OnePlan
1. Businessmap (formerly Kanbanize)
Businessmap is an end-to-end project portfolio management platform that helps companies connect strategy with execution by aligning goals, project portfolios, and work activities in a central place. The solution offers a flexible architecture that you can tailor to any existing organizational structure.
The software gives companies bird's-eye visibility across all projects and activities through Management and Team workspaces. With integrated goal-setting capabilities, managers can set up their outcomes and easily connect them to projects across different parts of the organization.
To gain a central view of what's happening across the company, the platform offers Executive Dashboards where you can detect risks, compare goal vs. work progress, and assess whether what you're working on brings you the results you're after.
Combined with customizable dashboards to visualize various sets of data for the performance of your projects, the software provides a single solution for managing all moving parts of the organization.
Connecting strategic objectives and execution activities across the enterprise
Key Features
- Executive Dashboards
- Goal-Setting and Visualization through OKRs (Businessmap Outcomes)
- Project Performance Reporting
- Enterprise-Grade Security
- AI-Powered Work Analysis
- Workflow Automation
- Advanced Analytics Module & Lean/Agile metrics
- Dependency Management
- Integrations with Power BI, Microsoft Teams, Tableau, Google Data Studio, Google Drive, Github, Zapier, etc.
If you want to learn more, you can try Businessmap for free.
How Two of The Largest Organizations in the World Save Time & Money with OKRs?
2. ServiceNow (SPM)
ServiceNow’s SPM solution helps you bridge the gap between strategy and delivery by aligning work with strategic outcomes and continuously building organizational agility. The software supports connecting strategy with investments through planner workspaces that create roadmaps based on the company’s demands, epics, and projects.
This integrated platform allows teams to apply a management approach (such as Agile project management), organize and structure their work, and empower teams to deliver more value. With Project Workspaces, you get a central view of the key initiatives and track the dependencies across different teams and workspaces. This feature also ensures that everything is aligned with the strategic goals.
Key Features
- Scenario Planning
- Demand Management Dashboard
- KPIs and Project Performance Analytics
- Resource Allocation Workbench
- Unified Backlogs to manage Agile or Waterfall development
3. Planview Portfolios (formerly Planview Enterprise One)
Planview Portfolios is one of the four solutions for enterprises, part of the Planview Portfolios (formerly Planview Enterprise One) arsenal.
Its primary purpose is to help business leaders drive success in strategy execution and empower business agility while keeping up with market changes. The platform helps reduce the barrier between strategy and delivery by making the right tradeoffs across people and financial resources. As a result, the end-customer value delivery is improved, and processes are optimized to address any changes.
Key Features
- Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
- Investment Prioritization
- Demand Management
- Scenario Planning
- Process Automation and Workflows
- Dashboard Analytics
- Portfolio Reporting and Visualizations
4. Apptio Targetprocess
Apptio Targetprocess is a SaaS platform for strategic management and enterprise agile planning. It allows managers throughout all organizational levels to organize and manage their projects and portfolios, investments, and financial resources while keeping them aligned with corporate strategic goals.
The platform offers various in-built solutions that support organizations during Agile transformation and help them create value across all business levels. These solutions assist teams in creating an end-to-end visualization and alignment of work and keeping track of project progress.
Key Features
5. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a cloud solution for project and portfolio management. The platform primarily aims to align the right resources, people, and operational tasks to projects and portfolios to deliver better results and greater efficiency. The software lets managers connect business strategy with execution and make data- and value-driven decisions based on real-time work performance and end-to-end visibility across project and portfolio status.
Key Features
- Strategic Planning
- Demand Intake
- Portfolio Prioritization
- Resource and Capacity Planning
- Project and Work Delivery
- Project and Portfolio Reporting
- Integrations with applications like Slack, Google Workspace, Jira, ServiceNow, and Microsoft 365
6. UMT360 (now North Highland)
Equipped with advanced strategic portfolio management accelerators, the solution by UMT360 helps companies deliver an advanced approach to managing portfolios and achieving true business agility. It allows companies to align and connect their investment with strategies to drive business performance and agility more effectively.
Key Features
- Road mapping and Release Management
- "What If" Scenario Modelling
- Performance Management Tools
- Dynamic Financial Management
- Business and Enterprise Workflow Architecture
- Portfolio Rationalization
- Capacity Management
7. Planisware Enterprise
Planisware Enterprise is a cloud, end-to-end solution that combines Strategy and Financial Planning, Project Portfolio Management, and Business Asset Management in a single platform. With powerful features like objectives, target dashboards, roadmaps, and strategic buckets, teams can align and measure the project’s contribution to the strategic goals and visualize activities and events crucial for the strategy execution.
The software also provides teams with various communication tools where staff at every level can insert ideas like customer or work requests, keep track of personal action items, and more.
An extensive list of analytics and reporting toolsets helps teams track team KPIs and provides visual insights better to forecast the financial benefits and cost of projects.
Key Features
- Strategic Buckets
- Road mapping
- Investment Scenarios and Portfolio Simulations
- Agile at the team level and Agile across the Enterprise with SAFe
- Document Management
8. i-nexus
i-nexus strategy execution and planning software is a complete solution to deliver value and achieve desired results. The tool helps to embrace the approach of Hoshin Kanri planning, translate strategy into action with a balanced scorecard, or apply a custom business system.
Key Features
- X-matrix Planning
- Workflow Management
- KPI Metric Bowling Charts
- Metric Journals
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A3 Root Cause Analysis
- Automated Strategic and Operational Reports
- Hoshin Kanri
- Balanced Scorecard
9. OnePlan
OnePlan is a provider of an AI-enabled Strategic Portfolio and Work Management platform. It offers various solutions to help business and executive leaders adapt to the rapidly changing work environment. Equipped with multiple tools, the platform supports the SPM approach, enables digital transformation, and adopts scaling Agile practices.
Using this solution, you can connect your key business objectives to company-wide execution activities. It allows leaders to implement the OKR framework across different levels and easily update progress against OKRs. The software also allows portfolio prioritization, optimization of financial investment, and resource capacity.
Key Features
- Strategic Roadmaps
- Financial and Resource Plans
- Supporting Agile and Waterfall Practices
- Integrations with Microsoft Planner, Microsoft Project for the web, Microsoft Project Desktop, Azure DevOps, and more.
- Sofia GPT, an AI-powered tool
Businessmap is the most flexible software
that helps you align on company strategy
In Summary
Going for SPM software will bring plenty of positive effects when adopting a strategic portfolio management approach. It is a trusted partner for organizations undergoing the inevitable digital transformation. Investing in this solution helps close the gap between strategy and delivery and allows organizations to flourish in today's volatile business world.
Connecting strategic objectives and execution activities across the enterprise
