Corporate development means to grow, adapt, and remain competitive. It involves strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and various other initiatives that shape a company's long-term success. To navigate efficiently, businesses are turning to technology solutions that help to optimize their processes. 

‍

What is corporate development software?

‍

Corporate development software refers to a suite of digital tools designed to assist organizations in managing, executing, and analyzing various aspects of their strategic initiatives. In this article, we will delve deeper into the key applications of corporate development software and see how it can help to reach strategic objectives.

 

Benefits of using corporate development software

‍

The software can support management in various processes. Software can support every stage of the corporate development lifecycle. It is designed for decision-making efficiency and risk minimization.

‍

There are software solutions for planning next steps in growth and optimizing operations. Some tools help in M&A activities; to identify potential acquisition targets and evaluate partnership opportunities, conduct due diligence, and track post-deal integration. Some tools can help to improve collaboration among different teams involved in corporate development activities to help build competitive edge.

‍

  • Increased efficiency: the software accelerates strategic initiatives, optimizes resource allocation, and enables better coordination among teams.
  • Improved decision-making: Provides a data-driven, holistic view of the company. Data into market trends, financials, and competitive landscapes, and scenario modeling help to visualize potential outcomes and their impacts. 
  • Increased visibility into your business: Real-time analytics and reporting tools provide actionable insights.
  • Reduced risk: Automates due diligence processes and ensures thorough assessments of decisions or strategic moves. Data analysis can identify potential risks and minimize the chances of overlooking critical factors.

‍

Types of corporate development software

‍

Corporate development software can help organizations in reaching their strategic goals. They can be divided into M&A software, strategy software, and portfolio management software. They support daily task tracking, pipeline management, communication with teams, and performance management. 

‍

M&A software

‍
M&A software is designed to facilitate and streamline the entire process. It offers a range of tools to support the stages of the M&A lifecycle.

‍

At the pre-deal stage, M&A software helps corporations identify potential targets by providing access to databases of companies, market trends, and financial data. It can also help to evaluate the strategic fit of the targets through data analysis and scenario modeling.

‍

During due diligence, M&A software centralizes the collection of critical information, streamlining the process of reviewing legal, financial, and operational documents. Virtual data rooms offer a digital platform where organizations can upload, organize, and share confidential documents in a secure environment. 

‍

The negotiation phase benefits from M&A software's collaborative tools, which help teams to share information, and communicate with external parties securely. 

‍

Inven

Inven simplifies the process of finding strategic add-on targets. M&A professionals can input search parameters and filters. An AI model scans millions of data points from various sources and combines all relevant companies in one place. Inven can identify companies with the highest potential anywhere in the world. 

‍

Inven also identifies the right people at the target company and provides the contact data of 430M+ professionals. It can also be used to save time and effort in monitoring the competitors across various markets. 

‍

EthosData

EthosData is a virtual data room (VDR) provider that specializes in secure document sharing and due diligence solutions for M&A, fundraising, and other corporate transactions. EthosData's platform is designed to facilitate the secure exchange of sensitive documents and information among parties involved in these transactions, such as buyers, sellers, legal teams, and financial advisors.

‍

Merril

Merrill is a global provider of technology-enabled services for various industries, including finance, legal, and corporate communication. Merrill offers access to a wide array of investments that can diversify their clients’ portfolio. For financial institutions they offer solutions for regulatory reporting, disclosure management, and investor communications. Merrill also provides technology-driven solutions to manage legal and compliance workflows. 

‍

Midaxo

Midaxo is a SaaS solution for finding, evaluating, and managing M&A deals. Their software provides tools and features to streamline the entire M&A lifecycle, from deal sourcing and due diligence to integration and post-deal analysis. The software allows users to centralize information, automate workflows, track tasks, and gain real-time insights.

‍

Strategy software

‍
Strategy software helps with strategic planning, risk management, and performance measurement. It provides a digital framework to plan, execute, and optimize strategic initiatives. It facilitates the creation and alignment of long-term goals, helping organizations define their vision, mission, and objectives. Through scenario modeling and data-driven insights, it assists in evaluating strategic moves. 

‍

Perdoo

Perdoo is a performance management software designed to help organizations align their strategic goals and track progress. It helps companies to set and track OKRs and KPIs, and give feedback. Perdoo's platform provides a centralized space for goal setting, ongoing tracking, and collaborative communication. With data-driven insights, Perdoo aims to enhance performance by streamlining goal management and promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

‍

Rhythm

Rhythm Systems is a strategic execution software, coaching, and methodology built for companies to execute strategic plans. The platform enables organizations to visualize and follow up their goals and KPIs. Rhythm helps collaboration among teams, providing a comprehensive view of progress by offering tools for tracking metrics, project management, and performance reviews.

‍

Cascade

Cascade is a strategy software for planning and execution. It helps organizations to build strategic plans, tasks, and achieve those goals. Cascade connects metrics, initiatives, and investments to your business performance. It translates strategic objectives into actionable tasks at the team level, ensuring everyone is working towards the goals.

‍

Achievelt

AchieveIt offers strategic planning and execution software solutions for every industry. It is a purpose-built integrated plan management solution which helps manage key plans and initiatives. AchieveIt gives the ability to track and report on all interconnected plans in a single, automated strategy execution platform. It combines parts of multiple tools in one single platform. 

‍

Jile

Jile enables organizations to align strategy to team execution by providing a unified view from portfolios and programs to teams, helps business stakeholders and teams to collaborate effectively, thereby delivering software faster to the market. Through its lean budgeting and allocation, Jile further helps the business stakeholders make wise investment decisions in response to business outcomes to achieve targeted business goals.

‍

Portfolio management software

‍

Portfolio management software is a tool used to streamline, organize, and optimize an organization's collection of projects, initiatives, and resources. It facilitates effective project planning by providing a centralized platform for creating and managing project portfolios. The software helps organizations to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately to initiatives that contribute the most value. 

‍

With portfolio management software, businesses can monitor project progress, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and make data-driven decisions to reallocate resources. It allows for evaluating projects based on factors such as potential returns, risks, and resource availability. 

‍

Planisware Enterprise

Planisware Enterprise is an integrated solution that brings together strategic objectives and the tools to manage their project pipeline. Their solutions help with roadmapping and budget prioritization, business case scenario comparison and optimization, as well as resource planning. Planisware Enterprise helps to consolidate milestones and deliverables and to achieve a comprehensive view of progress. 

‍

ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management

ServiceNow helps organizations to align their strategy to work tasks. It supports planning, delivering, and tracking value across different methodologies. ServiceNow supports building clearly defined and adaptable plans, visualizing strategies and targets, and tracking meeting the objectives. It also supports data-driven decision-making.

‍

Planview Portfolios

Planview Portfolios enables enterprises to accelerate strategic execution. It integrates business and technology planning, resource optimization, and delivery of products, services, and customer experiences. Planview offers tools for strategic portfolio management to drive business outcomes across multiple functions, to optimize program, product and project portfolios, and to implement agile planning and delivery.

‍

OnePlan

OnePlan is an Office 365 add-in that simplifies portfolio planning, provides top-down resource, financial visibility, and improves tracking of investment performance across programs & portfolios. OnePlan is comprised of three modules: Portfolio and strategic planning, resource capacity planning, and financial planner. They help to make execution predictable, make data-driven decisions and transform a portfolio into business results.

‍

UMT 360 Strategic Portfolio Manager

UMT360 provides a robust strategic portfolio management solution. They have strategy execution, portfolio management & PPM software. They help their clients develop adaptive strategy, project and work management capabilities and drive business agility. Their products also include Portfolio Insights and Enterprise Connect, business and enterprise architecture.

‍

How to choose the right corporate development software for your business

‍

Selecting the appropriate corporate development software for your business benefits from a thoughtful evaluation process. Begin by listing essential requirements of your organization. Consider factors such as your company's size, business type, and organizational culture. This initial step ensures that the chosen software aligns with your business goals and operational context. 

‍

Next, compare the features and pricing across different software options. Evaluate their functionalities to determine which suite offers the tools that resonate with your strategic needs. To add to that, the user interface of the service provider plays a big role in how well users are able to adopt the tool. 

‍

Take advantage of the free demos often provided by service providers, as they offer hands-on experience and insights into the software's usability and interface design. This firsthand interaction enables making an informed decision about the software. At best the tool not only meets your corporate development demands, but also enhances the user experience for your teams.

‍

Conclusion: Why you need corporate development software

‍

A suite of digital tools streamline strategic planning and execution. The solutions have diverse functionalities and capabilities. M&A software, strategy software, and portfolio management software each cater to specific needs within the corporate development lifecycle. 

‍

Corporate development software can act as a valuable resource when reaching for strategic excellence and sustainable growth. It helps businesses achieve strategic targets, growth, and long-term competitiveness.

‍