Close the Strategy Execution Gap with Software

Turning strategy into reality is hard for most companies:

• 94% report a gap in alignment between product development and growth strategies¹
• 82% cannot tell whether their portfolio is aligned with strategic targets¹
• Only 56% of strategic initiatives are considered successful²
• 70% of the workforce doesn't understand the strategy²

New tools and processes are needed to respond with agility to digital, hyper-connected world

Many companies are implementing transformational change to be more adaptive in fast-changing markets. Even through strategy execution processes are complex, they must be repeatable. It is not enough to implement change on an ad hoc basis. The high failure rates of these ad hoc initiatives point to a strategy-execution ‘gap'.

To bridge this gap, leading analyst firm Gartner^® advocates managing and measuring strategy execution separately from operational activities, as there is a tendency for quarterly revenue objectives to take precedence over execution of strategy, and strategic initiatives are not adequately resourced as a result. The firm recommends that enterprise leaders invest in Strategy Execution Software to prevent this from happening.³

What is Strategy Execution Software?

Contrary to popular perception, strategy execution is not a “linear process” and Strategy Execution Software is not a project management system. According to Gartner, Strategy Execution Software helps organizations manage top-down initiatives and investments, including:

• Transformation plans
• Strategy agendas
• Merger and acquisition activity
• Resource investments

Closing the persistent strategy-execution gap in large organizations and enterprises requires business unit alignment with corporate strategy, heavily enabled by software.

Strategy Execution Software Features

Gartner outlines the features that Strategy Execution Software tools should offer.

Flexible

• Data for investment and related strategic projects is rarely straightforward. The tool must capture a wide variety of data in a variety of formats.
• Investments come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Where project-based software fails is where Strategy Execution Software thrives; it allows different units of investment to be viewed through different lenses for optimization.
• The system must demonstrate and model an assortment of portfolio mixes based on adjustments in an organization's assumptions, e.g. market change, technology capabilities, and corporate direction.

Intuitive and Robust

• A user-friendly interface is imperative for adoption, especially at the executive level.
• To keep up with the inherent change that complements new decisions and drives investment planning, bidirectional communication capabilities is critical.
• Taking portfolio balance to the next level, the software should help organizations to look forward at resource investments. The tool should model a variety of alternative scenarios and dynamically shift data to see what the future can unveil if different scenarios are modeled.

Sopheon Recognized by Gartner

Sopheon is the only vendor named in both Gartner's Market Guide for Strategy Execution Software ³ and its Magic Quadrant for Project Portfolio Management. ⁴ In Sopheon's view, the inclusion in both reports validates the versatility of the Accolade software solution to enable strategic and operational decision making in support of agility and cross-functional alignment for companies wishing to remain competitive and deliver on organic growth targets.  

For more than 15 years, Sopheon has offered the market a world-class, end-to-end solution for aligning execution activities with corporate strategy. Accolade software improves the coordination of executive decisions with day-to-day functional activities, synchronizing company direction, people, resources, and investments.

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Related Resources

Infographic: Transformational Change Requires New Processes and Tools

• • • Resource Hub: Strategy Execution
    • Buyer's Guide: How to Evaluate an EIM Software Solution

SOURCES

¹“ New Product Development – Product Launches Hindered by Major Challenges”, CGT Research, September 2011.

²“ Why Good Strategies Fail: Lessons for the C-suite,” The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2013.

³Gartner "Market Guide for Strategy Execution Software”by Donna Fitzgerald, Teresa Jones. 21 September 2016.

⁴Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Project Portfolio Management, Worldwide” by Daniel B. Stang, Matt Light, Teresa Jones. 25 May 2017.