10 Best Succession Planning Software of 2024 to Develop Future Leaders

MentorcliQ is a mentoring software and services provider. The platform is highly customizable and can be set up to suit the specific needs of your business. Meanwhile, the company's team of experts can support you in planning and executing a mentorship program at your business to enable your succession planning.

You can use the software to facilitate mentorship at your organization and connect mentors and mentees. Its algorithm pairs up team members with mentors who are well-matched to their professional development goals. The company also provides mentorship training to ensure mentors are well set-up to provide guidance and support their mentees in their professional development.

Analytics and reporting tools are also included in the platform. You can track and measure the success of your mentorship programs, and use this data to inform your succession planning. Automated communications can also be set up to keep both mentors and mentees in the loop on any updates or changes in the program.

The software integrates with other popular workplace tools like Workday, UKG, Slack, Microsoft Teams, SAP Success Factors, Outlook, Zoom, Cornerstone, and Google Workspace. Pricing information is available upon request, as is a free demo.

Lattice is a complete people management platform, with tools to monitor employee performance and growth, set and track goals, measure employee engagement, and manage compensation. You can craft personalized career trajectories for employees, helping them see a path forward and keep track of their own development. Goals and OKRs can be set at both an individual and company level, allowing each team member to see how they're contributing to the broader company objectives.

As for performance management, HR teams can set up customized performance review processes for all managers to follow. This ensures performance is being tracked consistently across the organization, and helps create an even playing field for growth opportunities. Managers and employees can conduct and keep records of their one-on-one meetings, helping them stay accountable for action items and follow up on their commitments.

Having performance, goals, and growth in the same platform creates clarity for employees and managers alike. Additionally, compensation can be managed with Lattice. Performance data from reviews, feedback exchanges, goal tracking, and one-on-one meetings is all available to inform decisions about pay, raises, and promotions.

The platform integrates with many commonly used human resource information systems (HRIS), including ADP, BambooHR, Namely, Personio, Rippling, Workday, and Zenefits, as well as other popular software platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Slack and others.

Pricing starts at $11 per employee per month, with additional add-ons available for Engagement, Growth and Compensation tools. A free demo is also available.

PerformYard is a performance management software that provides flexible features for HR teams to support an effective succession planning strategy. HR teams get the tools they need to identify high-performing team members for future opportunities, while employees get a streamlined experience so they can focus on development.

With PerformYard, you can customize the software to fit the strategy that’s right for your organization's succession planning needs. For example, their performance management tools, including 360-degree reviews, project-based reviews, rating scales, continuous feedback, and cascading goals can be customized to include long-term career development prompts to tap into future advancement potential and goals.

PerformYard's simplified employee experience helps facilitate useful feedback and quality conversations. They also provide dedicated customer success managers for every customer to manage their implementation from onboarding to employee training, to ongoing support.

PerformYard integrates with most major HRIS/Payroll systems including ADP, BambooHR, Gusto, Rippling, UKG, Paycom, Workday, and Paylocity.

PerformYard costs from $5-$10/user/month.

Paycor is a comprehensive Human Capital Management (HCM) system. It covers various HR functions including workforce and talent management, employee experience management, payroll and benefits administration, and more. The talent and experience modules are useful tools to facilitate succession planning at your organization.

With the system's talent management capabilities, you can not just recruit and onboard top talent for open roles but also nurture the existing talent at your company. Both talent development and compensation management and planning tools are available. This includes 1-on-1 performance conversations between employees and managers and individual goal setting, as well as the ability to outline a clear and comprehensive compensation structure for your organization.

As for the employee experience features in the product, they include learning and career management tools. You can set up custom training programs to help staff upskill in their roles. You can also develop career paths and set up employee profiles to help team members envision their future with your organization.

The software starts from $5 per employee per month, with a $99 base fee. A 90-day free trial is available.

Cornerstone is a data-driven workforce planning software that helps businesses align employees with their organizational goals. Their platform aggregates workforce data into visual formats that make it easy for key stakeholders to digest. As well, their system links details such as staff headcount, budget, performance and organizational structure together so you can make decisions quickly if your business environment changes unexpectedly.

The Cornerstone system supports succession planning through their scenario modeling feature. Using their “what if” models, you can create scenarios and run through potential changes to your organizational structure depending on a variety of factors. You can also compare past organization structures with the future, to see how your structure has evolved over time.

Cornerstone is technically an HCM (human capital management) platform. In addition to their deep workforce planning features, their platform has modules to support recruiting and onboarding, learning and development, performance management, engagement, and core HR data management.

Integrations with Cornerstone are not noted on their website, though they do have an API to support them.

Pricing details are available upon request. A free demo can be arranged via their website too.

Visualize your HR data in a whole new way with Ingentis org.manager Suite. Their software can automatically display organizational structures and HR data in a customizable way, based on any kind of data source. With no coding required, all their data visualizations are created via custom configurations, giving people management teams the opportunity to request visual dashboards that are organization-specific.

With visual modeling at its core–including workforce modeling and what if scenarios–it’s easy to see the value in using Ingentis org.manager Suite as a tool for succession planning. Using their system, you can create fully automated organizational charts to share with all employees, plus more detailed versions including an effectiveness analysis option for management teams only. The tool is also able to handle big data visualization, so you can feed it your HR analytics data in whatever format it exists in, and it will simulate models for you to help with scenario planning and making informed business decisions.

Special integrations exist for SAP SuccessFactors HCM and Oracle HCM systems, as well as Microsoft products including Microsoft Teams, and 15 other HR software solutions. Their software support webinar schedule is posted on their website and sessions are free to attend so you can learn more about how their system could work for you before committing.

Pricing details are not available on their website, but other sources suggest it has a one-time fee of $1,750 USD per license. A free demo and free trial can also be requested via their website.

Built for businesses of all sizes, PeopleFluent helps companies hire, develop, engage and upskill their employees through a combination of key tools. In addition to succession planning tools, their system also has features for recruitment, performance, compensation, learning, talent mobility, and organizational charting.

Their succession dashboard is designed to help HR teams identify their top talent, and make data-driven decisions to guide their development towards fulfilling the next generation of leadership roles. You can develop talent pools for specific key positions, and map out career pathing options to ensure your next-in-line staff will be ready when a vacancy arises. The system includes tools to facilitate mentoring and create career development plans as well. Plus, their incorporated Learning Experience Platform makes it simple for HR managers to develop key staff and help them acquire the new skills they’ll need to advance.

PeopleFluent integrates with 20+ common HR software solutions including Affirmity, Breezy HR, CognosOnline, CourseWare, e-learnmedia, Gomo Learning, Hit Point, Open Sesame, Stratagile, VectorVMS, Watershed and others.

Pricing details are available upon request. A free demo is also available, and a free 30-day trial is available for their Learning Experience Platform module only.

SAP SuccessFactors supports succession planning at the enterprise level with their Succession & Development software. Their system helps to ensure you place the right people in the right roles with a built-in tool to uncover hidden talent through a company-wide search of employee talent profiles. Tools to streamline competency and skill assessments, as well as a nine-box matrix rating grid, also help human resources teams identify the top and bottom performers in any team.

The system goes beyond just matching employees with roles and offers more features in the area of strategic succession management. This includes functions like assessing the risk and impact of a key talent loss, identifying employees who are flight risks, and tools for assessing your bench strength. Their “what if” scenario function also helps users plot the domino effect of proposed succession plans by generating different outcomes in a visually digestible way. Another rich feature I haven’t seen with other platforms is how SAP’s system creates mentoring programs and automatically matches mentors with mentees.

SAP can be set up to integrate with other software, either through their API or via pre-packaged integrations. They also have a full-feature mobile app for iOS and Android users too.

Pricing information is only available upon request after receiving a free demo.

Empxtrack is an HRMS (human resources management system) that has modules for recruitment, performance appraisals, 360-degree feedback, exit management, payroll (India-specific), and strategic HR functions. Their succession planning software—included in their strategic HR package—ensures business continuity by helping organizations identify key leadership roles and giving them the tools to build talent pipelines of potential successors to fill those roles in the long term.

You can get a sense of their detailed process in the screenshot above. Their system helps management teams identify their high potential employees (which they call HIPOs), and evaluate them thoroughly. Performance evaluations for succession planning are completed through a combination of surveys to get feedback from senior staff, and ratings on a 9-point or 12-point performance potential matrix, as shown above. You can also assign a mentor to help coach each future leader into their long-term position.

Empxtrack integrates with many HR tools through their API, but specific software providers are not listed on their website. One nice feature is that they offer online customer support 24x7.

Pricing details for the strategic HR solutions package are available upon request. However, other modules within their system, such as their Employee Portal and HRIS, Performance Appraisals, 360-Degree Feedback, Payroll (India-specific), Leave Management, Attendance, and Exit Management can be used for free with some limitations on users and reports.

Formerly called UltiPro Succession Management, UKG Pro Succession helps organizations create flexible, comprehensive and executable succession plans to prepare for a successful future. Using their software you can create personal development plans to highlight the skills and competencies your future leaders need to address to achieve their career development goals.

The system includes useful features like unbiased predictive analytics to help identify high performers, and tools to identify employees who may be a flight-risk. Both of these features are useful for managing employee retention and highlighting key areas that need to be addressed first. An Employee Retention Scores Report is also included within their overall HCM (human capital management) platform too.

Specific software integrations are not listed on their website. However, they do have an open API called Connector Hub, which can be used to customize connections to other software platforms.

Pricing details are available upon request and a free demo is also available. You must provide your contact info in order to watch their product tour video.