10 Best Role Readiness Planning Software for 2025
Want to improve role readiness planning at your company? Explore the best role readiness planning software to simplify employee management and build a strong leadership bench.
Filling leadership roles has always been a challenging task. This is especially true if the resignation is unexpected or the required skills are in short supply in the market. In such situations, the key positions are more likely to remain vacant. This can negatively impact the long-term success of any company.
That is where role readiness planning comes in. Succession prepares your organization for future leadership and management planning. It involves building an internal talent pipeline and determining who has the right skills and experience for these roles. It is not something you do when a vacancy becomes available. It is an ongoing process that needs to start well in advance.
Succession helps you retain top talent, mitigate business risks, and ensure business continuity in times of change. No wonder, 86% of organizations admit role readiness planning is a top priority for their HR management efforts.
A role readiness planning software provides valuable insights into talent gaps and helps in building career paths to support leadership development and thus, succession planning. In this post, we will explore some of the best succession planning tools to discover top talent and develop future leaders.
10 Best Role Readiness Planning Software
Here are the top 10 best role and succession software available in the market today.
#1. TalentGuard
TalentGuard is the best role readiness planning software that helps you identify high-potential employees for your future leadership roles. With the help of its advanced AI-powered tools, you can proactively create structured development plans to prepare your existing workforce for stepping up for leadership vacancies.
Key Features
- Better talent pool management
- Thorough skill gap analysis
- Side-by-Side comparison
- Candidate recommendation
- Advanced career pathing tools
- Personalized career growth plans
- Real-time analytics and reporting
- Organization chart
Pricing
Free, with paid plans starting at $7 per month.
Best For
Mid-sized and large organizations looking for long-term talent development along with data-driven succession planning.
#2. SAP SuccessFactors
SAP SuccessFactors is a talent management platform that offers succession management tools templates. Although it is an all-in-one HR software, it offers tools to identify, develop, and retain your high-value employees.
Key Features
- Organizational charts and talent pools
- Intuitive talent search
- Career coaching and mentoring solutions
- Real-time analytics
Pricing
Starts from $23 per user per month with a minimum contract duration of 12 months.
Best For
Large enterprises looking for data-driven succession planning software with built-in mentoring capabilities.
#3. Deel
Deel is another all-in-one people platform that offers amazing tools to build high-performing teams. While it is popularized as a global HR and payroll management solution, it offers incredible tools to support your succession planning initiatives.
Key Features
- Global talent management
- Seamless employee transitioning – onboarding and offboarding
- AI-driven career progression frameworks
- Advanced performance management tools
Pricing
Free with paid plans (Deel Engage) starting from $20 per employee per month.
Best For
Organizations with globally distributed teams looking for seamless succession planning across various regions.
#4. Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone OnDemand offers user-friendly succession management tools to match qualified internal employees to open leadership roles. With the help of its workforce planning and learning tools, you can nurture the right talent for critical roles using personalized training resources or in-person training.
Key Features
- Internal talent pools
- Career development paths
- Data-driven succession plans
- Integrated learning management solution
Pricing
Contact the Cornerstone OnDemand team to request pricing structures.
Best For
Mid-to-large enterprise organizations that are focused on employee development and leadership continuity via succession planning.
#5. Qooper
Qooper is an employee learning platform that builds personalized learning plans for employees to enhance their skills. It offers a mentor-matching solution to connect future leaders with seniors for coaching, mentorship, and development. Thus, creating clear pathways for succession planning.
Key Features
- AI-powered mentorship matching
- Educational learning resources
- Virtual workshops and live training events
- Real-time feedback and analytics
Pricing
Connect with the Qooper team for pricing structures.
Best For
Mid-sized organizations looking to implement succession planning with a focus on mentorship and learning.
#6. PeopleFluent
PeopleFluent is another tool that provides succession planning assessment tools. It helps you identify top talent and assess their leadership potential to fill important roles in the future. It offers a built-in learning management system that helps employees acquire new skills they need to advance in their careers.
Key Features
- Talent management and organizational charts
- Career development paths and learning plans
- Actionable talent insights
Pricing
Connect with the PeopleFluent team for customized pricing.
Best For
Organizations of all sizes looking for streamlined succession planning and leadership development.
#7. SumTotal
SumTotal is another talent management software that enables you to understand your employees’ skills and discover competency gaps for streamlined succession planning. It enables you to identify at-risk positions and evaluate your talent readiness to better plan your organization’s future.
Key Features
- Dynamic talent pools
- Intelligent talent explorer
- Learning management programs
- Performance management and tracking
Pricing
Connect with the SumTotal team for customized pricing.
Best For
Businesses of all sizes looking to build a comprehensive succession planning strategy.
#8. Paycor
Paycor is the best succession planning software for small businesses. It is an all-in-one talent management platform that offers useful tools for your succession planning initiatives. It offers valuable data-driven insights to help you identify high-potential employees for ensuring leadership continuity at your organization.
Key Features
- Talent management and development tools
- Learning management
- Payroll
Pricing
Connect with the Paycor team for customized pricing.
Best For
Small and medium-sized businesses looking for cost-effective succession planning tools.
#9. Empxtrack
Empxtrack is an HR software that manages the entire employee lifecycle including performance appraisals, 360-degree feedback, and succession planning. It helps you identify the important leadership roles and builds talent pipelines of potential successors for business continuity.
Key Features
- Talent pipelines
- Performance management
- Personalized employee development plans
Pricing
Connect with the Empxtrack team for customized pricing.
Best For
Businesses of all sizes looking for affordable succession planning solutions.
#10. PerformYard
PerformYard is a performance management software that is ideal for conducting annual reviews, tracking goals, and sharing continuous feedback with employees. It offers a variety of flexible features to support your organization’s succession planning requirements.
Key Features
- Performance management
- Employee development plans
- Customizable dashboards for employee tracking
- Goal setting and tracking
- Reporting and analytics
Pricing
Starts from $5 per person per month.
Best For
Small and medium-sized businesses looking for affordable solutions for performance management and succession planning.
Simplify Role Readiness Planning with TalentGuard Software
With the help of the right talent pipeline software, you can identify skill gaps, find potential leadership successors, and make the best decision between hiring internal employees or external candidates.
TalentGuard organizes your entire succession process and makes sure these plans are put into action. It helps you identify top talent, build internal talent pools of future leaders, and evaluate their competencies for taking on leadership roles.
- Talent management – Build numerous talent pools based on your employees’ core competencies and identify the right talent for your leadership roles with an AI-powered workforce intelligence engine.
- Talent assessment and development – Conduct talent assessments to identify skill gaps and develop personalized growth plans to prepare them for future roles.
- Integrated learning – Provide tailored learning programs to support employees with skill enhancements.
- Performance management – Monitor their performance and understand how it aligns with your organizational goals to build a high-performing workforce.
To sum up, TalentGuard is designed to support every aspect of talent development.
Book a demo today to see how TalentGuard can help you kickstart your succession initiatives.
FAQs
- What are the best role readiness planning examples?
Some of the best succession examples include globally recognized companies that built customized succession plan models to ensure business continuity.- PepsiCo developed a formal succession planning process with a mentorship initiative named ‘No Fear Club’ to identify and train financial professionals with the required knowledge and necessary confidence for career advancements.
- Unilever introduced a new program – the Unilever Future Leaders Program (UFLP) to provide talent with comprehensive training, formal mentorship, leadership access, and exposure to diverse roles.
- How can I set up a talent development plan?
Here are the four basic steps to creating a succession plan.- Identify critical positions in your organization that require succession planning. Outline the required skills and experiences for each of these key positions and build a guide for candidate selection.
- Evaluate your existing employees’ skills and performance. Conduct regular assessments and reviews to learn more about their potential.
- Build personalized career development and growth plans for these shortlisted employees. This includes stretch assignments, training, and mentorship opportunities.
- Track their progress regularly and make revisions to your succession plans whenever required.
- Are there any risks in succession management?
Yes, there are a few risks associated with succession planning. Some of them include –- Workplace favoritism and bias
- Skills gap
- Knowledge loss
- Insufficient development resources
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