Top 12 Succession Planning Tools and Software
A rapidly aging workforce and a growing need to upskill people make succession planning – and therefore the use of succession planning tools – increasingly important.
In the US, no less than 10 000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, a phenomenon that is expected to last for another decade. Europe is experiencing a silver tsunami of its own; workers aged 55+ currently make up for 16% of the total workforce in the European Union. In countries like Germany, Finland, and Sweden (among others) the number of mature workers is already close to 1 in five.
So on the one hand, we’ve got an aging workforce. On the other, we’ve got a serious need to reskill and upskill about one in every two employees; data from the 2018 Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum show that an estimated 54% of all workers will have to update or change their competencies within the next two years.
As a result of these changes, succession planning – and the tools that go with it – become more and more important for companies. In this article, we’ll focus on 12 providers of succession planning tools. We’ll highlight their main features, tell you what’s unique about them, who’s using them, and – when that information is available – how their pricing works.
Top 12 succession planning tools (in no particular order):
- SAP
- Succession Wizard
- Cornerstone OnDemand
- Plum
- UltiPro
- TalentGuard
- PeopleFluent
- Empxtrack
- SumTotal
- BirdDogHR
- Saba
- PageUp Succession Planning
1. SAP
About
SAP is a leader in Human Capital Management (HCM) software for enterprises with more than 1000 employees. They’re one of the biggest players in the global market for succession and leadership planning applications.
What’s unique
SAP’s succession planning software has heaps of interesting features. Some that particularly caught our attention are the “good fit” role recommendations to find positions that match employees’ skills and interests, and the option to inform recruiting plans and proactively identify potential open roles.
Used by (among others)
AGCO, Terex, Kibar
Pricing
Available on request.
2. Succession Wizard
About
The primary purpose of Succession Wizard is to simplify the whole succession planning process. It identifies potential succession gaps and assists in planning future staffing needs within your organization. It does this by using a powerful, yet user-friendly, interface making it a simple program to use and enabling you to easily and effectively undertake workforce planning.
What’s unique
A key benefit of using Succession Wizard is that you can expect to be fully operational and producing effective succession plans within hours of implementing the solution. There is no need for consultants to configure the succession planning software, or to purchase additional hardware, as the application is designed for standard Windows desktop PCs and can be set up within minutes of downloading.
Used by (among others)
Barclays, Vodafone, Siemens
Pricing
Prices vary depending on the number of entries (between 50 up to an unlimited amount). It’s also possible to choose their Enterprise plan.
3. Cornerstone OnDemand
About
Cornerstone OnDemand is a cloud-based learning, talent management and talent experience software provider headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Their succession planning tool is designed to help you ensure you have the right people for key-role continuity and avoid talent vacancy costs by increasing bench strength.
What’s unique
Upskilling the entire workforce made simple, that’s Cornerstone’s succession planning promise. As such, the entire user experience is set up with intuitive visualizations. You can, for instance, easily visualize your bench strength across the organization.
Used by (among others)
Canon, the Commonwealth Bank
Pricing
Available on request.
4. Plum
About
At Plum, they’re on a mission that’s always been the same – to empower organizations to be successful by getting the right people in the right roles. Their solution offers scalable strategic workforce planning and upskilling that prioritizes an amazing experience for every employee.
What’s unique
Plum distinguishes itself by emphasizing the fact that their software is powered by Industrial/Organizational Psychology and AI. Their solution intelligently matches every employee’s talents to job behavioral needs across the organization. At the same time, it provides your employees with individualized and transparent career pathing.
Used by (among others)
R.S. Hughes, SureCall, Homes by WestBay
Pricing
Available on request.
5. UltiPro
About
UltiPro is a software provider of solutions that cover all aspects of HR, payroll, and HR talent management. With their succession planning tool, you can create flexible, comprehensive, and executable succession planning strategies at all levels to help your organization prepare for the future.
What’s unique
UltiPro’s succession management software has an interesting feature called Leadership Actions – a library of suggested activities to help managers coach and engage employees. The idea behind this is to proactively impact your employees’ success and retention.
Used by (among others)
Subway, Aetna, Texas Roadhouse
Price
Available on request.
6. TalentGuard
About
TalentGuard offers a talent management system that focuses on areas such as performance management, career pathing, succession planning, and 360-degree feedback. Their succession planning tool enables you to determine key roles, identify high-potential employees who can fill those roles, create dedicated talent pools, and accelerate the development of skills required to be successful.
What’s unique
TalentGuard specifically mentions the option to create an unlimited number of dedicated talent pools as one of their tool’s key features. Not only does this help you keep an overview of your current talent situation, it also enables you to keep track of their development and progression.
Used by (among others)
Caroline Herrera, Campbell’s, Sophos
Price
Available on request.
7. PeopleFluent
About
PeopleFluent is a talent management and learning solutions provider that helps companies hire, develop and advance their workforce. Their succession planning software equips you with a complete, flexible, and functional toolset that gives you what you need to make the right decisions about your organization’s future.
What’s unique
PeopleFluent’s flexible toolset caters to both large-sized and mid-sized enterprises, giving each type of organization exactly what they need most to make the right decisions for the future. In a large company, for instance, this could mean a focus on leadership vulnerabilities while in the mid-enterprise segment this could mean a focus on mentoring and career pathing.
Price
Available on request.
8. Empxtrack
About
Empxtrack is a comprehensive HR product that covers the entire employee life cycle of the people in your organization. Their succession planning tool offers a systematic process to identify key leadership positions in the organization and it identifies high potential employees using a 9 or 12 grid matrix.
What’s unique
Empxtrack’s software enables you to make not one, but several succession plans for people. This means you can create a short, medium, and long-term succession plan for each key role. You can also involve multiple stakeholders in the process.
Used by (among others)
HR departments in a wide range of industries (IT, consulting, energy).
Price
Available on request.
9. SumTotal
About
SumTotal is a talent management and learning software provider. Their succession planning tool makes it possible for organizations to understand skills and competency gaps across their workforce, develop talent pools, and align succession planning management needs to the goals and strategic objectives of the organization.
What’s unique
SumTotal’s succession planning software has a feature called the Drag and Drop 9 Box, a functionality that makes it easy for you to evaluate employees against performance and potential.
Used by (among others)
SumTotal customers come from various industries (financial services, healthcare, airlines, retail).
Price
Available on request.
10. Saba
About
Saba provides talent management software solutions including a succession planning tool. With their succession planning software, you can build competency-based talent pools for every critical area of your business.
What’s unique
When it comes to their succession planning tool, Saba insists on the importance of helping your employees develop themselves – hence keeping them engaged and equipped with the necessary skills – while at the same time giving HR the information and insights they need to build strategic succession plans.
Used by (among others)
HR departments across the world, from every industry.
Price
Available on request.
11. BirdDogHR
About
BirdDogHR offers an integrated talent management system. Their succession planning software is a cloud-based solution that allows companies to accurately review employee performance and readiness with scorecards, comparative ratings and 9-box talent matrices.
What’s unique
BirdDog specifically mentions Millennials and Generation Z on its page stating that succession planning software can give these employee segments accelerated development opportunities – perhaps they emphasize this as these two generations will make up the biggest part of the workforce within the next few years.
Used by (among others)
Companies from various industries.
Pricing
Available on request.
12. PageUp Succession Planning
About
Like many other succession planning software providers, PageUp offers a complete talent management solution. Their succession planning tool helps you get to know your people (conduct a skills gap analysis) so you can reduce vacancy risk and plan ahead.
What’s unique
PageUp’s succession planning software allows you to regularly review talent and calibrate live using the 9-box tool. You can use this information to inform the conversation and to identify and develop people who have the potential and desire to fill roles required now and in the future.
Used by (among others)
Lindt, the University of Alabama, Rollins
Pricing
Available on request.
Before You Go
Well, there you have it, 12 top succession planning tools to help you improve your succession planning and prepare for the future. This list is by no means exhaustive though, so if you know about a tool that deserves a spot in our list, drop us an email or leave a comment below!
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