Best succession planning software for growing companies

80%* of organizations operate without formal succession plans, putting their projects and client relationships at risk of disruption. 

But maintaining a separate succession planning platform can be overkill for growing companies that don’t yet need board-level governance. It may just add manual work to your already overloaded HR team. 

This guide goes over succession planning software that fits the priorities of growing companies, allowing HR to surface successor readiness based on data that you’re already collecting. We highlight what to look for at this stage, how leading platforms compare for successor-related tracking, and why Leapsome is a good choice to effortlessly build your leadership pipeline. 

* SHRM, 2024

Why growing companies need visibility (not governance) for succession planning

"Look for one platform that covers your key needs and integrates with your stack. Don't scatter data across 10 or 20 disconnected tools.”

— Katerina Arsova, Head of People & Talent Operations & Partnerships, Leapsome

For growing companies, maintaining yet another platform for succession planning takes up too much HR time. Tool spread is already a known problem for HR teams, which use an average of 26 pieces of tech, according to a SHRM report. 

While succession planning software may be overkill for growing companies, these organizations still need visibility into their successor readiness. As an alternative route, HR can track key data points to inform succession planning, including:

• Competency ratings over time: Is an employee consistently rated strong on the skills that a target role actually requires (not just their current one)?
  
• Review history and trajectory: Does an employee show a pattern of top performance reviews across cycles?
  
• Development plan progress: Is an employee actively closing specific skill gaps between their current role and a future one?

What to look for in succession planning software solutions at this stage

“Start with a clear why. Do forward-looking economics. Show what growth will cost you without the right system.”

— Siddharth Dhanuka, Head of Finance & Operations, SQUAKE

The decision to use succession planning software hinges primarily on the strength of the current leadership pipeline and performance data ecosystem. 

In the growth stage, it’s especially important for HR to be able to cut out manual cross-referencing and data entry. Succession planning software should make related tasks easier and actionable. It shouldn’t add extra steps for HR teams that become unscalable as headcount rises. 

Specifically, HR leaders should identify whether their succession planning tools enable:

• Unified HR systems: Can competency and performance data be reviewed together when assessing potential successors, instead of HR manually cross-referencing separate spreadsheets or systems?
  
• Actionable learning plans: Can the tool turn an identified skill gap into an individual development plan and learning path?
  
• Synced with performance management: Is the tool built into the same system managers already use for reviews and feedback so succession data stays current instead of going stale between annual updates?

Tracking the data behind succession planning should be near-effortless, so HR can focus on customizing learning plans, documenting knowledge transfer, and monitoring performance progress over time. 

"Competency frameworks are not just checklists. They're roadmaps for growth and accountability. They help managers coach more effectively and give employees a clear picture of how to succeed at every level." — Monica Sarkar-McGarry, Co-Founder, Purple Umbrella

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🔍 Scope out potential successors 

Leapsome centralizes your competency and performance data into a single ecosystem so you can assess development needs and prepare high-performers for future roles. 

👉 Explore Competency Frameworks + Performance Reviews

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Comparing the best succession planning software for growing companies

"Tool fatigue is real. The tech should run in the background, supporting work, not making employees wonder where to go next." — Luck Dookchitra, VP People & Culture, Leapsome

When HR leaders research succession planning software, they often come across enterprise suites, such as SAP SuccessFactors, Cornerstone Ondemand, and Sumtotal, that offer deep governance and scoring capabilities. 

Ultimately, growing companies may not need that layer of complexity in their succession planning decisions, especially if this data lives in a standalone platform that requires maintenance. 

Here are some HR software solutions that better fit the priorities of growing companies, providing interconnected performance and competency features for succession development — and forgoing all the enterprise bells and whistles. 

Leapsome: Deep development pipelines

Leapsome is an all-in-one HR people platform that unifies performance and competency data under a single, digital headquarters. Instead of maintaining separate succession systems, HR can assess potential successors and create employee development paths directly in the same platform, allowing for interconnected workforce planning. 

In addition to a 9-box grid succession template and a live feedback heatmap, Leapsome provides deeply layered Competency Frameworks, Performance Reviews, Continuous Feedback, and Learning tools. As a result, Leapsome lets organizations create custom career paths and learning milestones that prepare talent for next steps. 

Lattice: Dedicated Succession Planning layer

Lattice is a comprehensive HR people management platform with built-in succession planning. It has a dedicated dashboard so HR can evaluate employee impact to the business, track readiness and risks, and create development plans based on real performance data. As a bonus, HR teams can set up specific permissions for stakeholders to collaborate on succession readiness assessments. 

As an all-in-one option, Lattice connects succession planning to your larger ecosystem, including data points from Performance Reviews, Development Plans, Continuous Feedback, and Goals & OKRs without leaving the platform. 

PerformYard: Core performance tracking

PerformYard is another performance management platform that integrates succession into your core performance cycles. It offers a suite of features, including Performance Reviews, Goal Management, Continuous Feedback, and Talent Development so you can assess potential successors and align individual career paths. 

PerformYard is a solid choice for making data-driven succession decisions and custom career paths within a lightweight interface that’s not overly sophisticated. 

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🎯 Sharpen employee skills 

Between review cycles, refine every individual’s skills through ongoing, constructive feedback and personalized learning — and then sync it all with your full performance data in Leapsome. 

👉 Discover Continuous Feedback + Learning 

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Build your succession planning strategy based on the data you already track in Leapsome

"We're imagining a human-centric company operating system. It goes beyond the employee and takes care of the entire organization." — Ankit Saigal, Head of Product, Leapsome

When your HR team is asked to identify potential successors, you shouldn’t have to scramble across scattered spreadsheets or rely on institutional memory. Instead, successor readiness should be tracked as part of everyday performance data.

With Leapsome, you can bring together a thorough performance and development ecosystem to evaluate potential successors and guarantee business continuity. 

Here’s how you can get a complete outlook into employee potential: 

• Break down skill growth into doable milestones: Competency Frameworks helps you track individual and team-based competencies for ongoing upskilling.
  
• Run meaningful reviews that feed into succession decisions: Performance Reviews automates your review cycles for tailored, bias-free insights backed by data.
  
• Share constructive feedback: Continuous Feedback highlights areas for growth and ties them to development milestones.
  
• Set up learning paths that prepare your professionals for the next stage: Learning enables personalized learning and leadership assessments to equip high-potential talent. 

Although organizations who need formal succession planning governance and role-critical scoring may need a specialized solution, growing companies can get core succession-related visibility using Leapsome to track key performance data points without toggling to another tool. 

"There is no more fighting with the review process for managers, and the administrative work for HR is reduced by about 90%. It makes all our lives that much easier and the entire review process more transparent, efficient, and valuable." — Amanda Heeg, Senior HR Manager, JUNIQE

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📲 Track succession alongside your performance data

Leapsome consolidates relevant performance, competencies, feedback, and learning data into a single HR system, giving you a complete picture into successor potential. 

👉 Request a demo

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Succession planning software FAQs

What should HR leaders look for in succession planning software?

Ideally, succession planning software should nest into your current performance management tooling, so you can draw on real-time HRIS data and avoid manual cross-referencing. 

The right software should help you identify individuals with critical impacts to your business, as well as track competencies and readiness milestones. Most importantly, it should strengthen your talent management lifecycle, helping you set up custom learning paths, goal-setting, and feedback cycles to nurture new successors. 

What are leading enterprise succession planning software solutions?

Enterprise-grade succession planning software, such as Workday, Oracle HCM Cloud, and Ultipro, focuses on formal governance and workforce planning, while other options, such as Cornerstone OnDemand and SumTotal, enable dedicated upskilling programs for top talent. 

For small-to-mid-sized organizations, succession planning tools like ADP Workforce, Bamboo HR, and Arcoro are more approachable and feature individual-level competency and performance mapping.