StrategyBlocks 6 Launches, Simplifying Ideation for Strategic Planning

New component, StrategyBlocks Ideas, provides enterprises intuitive integration of ideas into strategy

AUCKLAND, New Zealand–(BUSINESS WIRE)–StrategyBlocks, the leading cloud-based solution for strategic planning, portfolio management and execution, today announced the latest release of its enterprise strategic management platform, StrategyBlocks 6 (SB6). In addition to an overhaul of its interface and a redesigned homepage that offers greater clarity and ease of use, SB6 includes a new, proprietary ideation feature. StrategyBlocks Ideas helps organizations facilitate greater engagement across the team, making it easier to harness recommendations, proposals and opportunities at every level. As the premier solution in strategic software, StrategyBlocks 6 has been purposefully designed to address the common concerns facing organizations of every size, including how best to communicate, execute and track strategy, how to effectively generate reports for the executive team and board, and how to navigate changes within the organization through the lens of strategic planning and execution.

�Creating and evaluating a company’s strategy is no longer just an annual process, it requires ongoing effort,” said Craig Catley, managing director, StrategyBlocks. “Organizations require an evolution in the way they manage strategic planning, and SB6 was thoughtfully designed to provide real-time insights into strategic performance. With a host of new capabilities, SB6 effectively engages users and offers a highly visual, easily digestible look at how strategic goals are being met. It is the only all-in-one solution that tracks work and risk management, metric analysis and innovation, reflecting our vision of making strategic planning and execution seamless and successful.”

Effectively communicating strategy throughout the organization and translating that communication into action has long been problematic for organizations. Less than one-third of leaders responsible for executing strategy within the organization could list three of their company’s strategic priorities, and only 14% of employees understand their company’s strategy. To address this, StrategyBlocks integrates all facets of strategic planning into one, highly visual platform, empowering companies to have better communication, easier reporting and more agility in strategic planning.

SB6’s newest feature, StrategyBlocks Ideas, empowers users to easily share their thoughts for strategic improvements with the entire team, review others’ Ideas and follow progress, compare different Ideas and approve Ideas for integration into the overall strategic plan. Ideas integrates with StrategyBlocks’ block scheduling features, allowing users to efficiently estimate project duration, allocate workload based on availability and manage the delivery schedule in an intuitive, visually compelling way.

“Strategic planning has become more essential than ever given the rapidly-changing global economic situation. StrategyBlocks provides us with the ability to respond and quickly adjust our plan, and the new Ideas feature will allow our entire team to contribute, provide feedback and seamlessly integrate changes,” said Angie Thiessen, Project Portfolio Manager, City of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. “We continue to be impressed with the intuitive nature of the platform, further enhanced by this redesign, and are glad we’ve incorporated StrategyBlocks into our organization.”

In addition to StrategyBlocks Ideas, the StrategyBlocks interface has undergone a visual redesign to enhance the overall experience. This includes a reorganization of the main menu to provide a clear path for users to follow as well as the addition of a new Homepage. The homepage displays a user’s most frequently used assets, divided into several key panes:

• Object Pane: displays items owned or managed by the user
• Actions Pane: shows items that may require a user’s attention
• Previews Pane: displays more information about a selected object
• News Pane: provides updates to any recent changes to objects owned, followed or managed by the user.

Additional panes can be configured, including:

• Blocks Pane: shows work to be done
• Metrics Pane: focuses on outcomes to monitor
• Risks Pane: for hazard assessment
• Dashboards: for reports to be compiled
• Bookmarks: shows favorited items

The new soft blue interface and color palette, taken in conjunction with the reorganized navigation menu, keeps users’ attention focused on the center of the screen instead of being lost in a complex interface. Users can then interact more quickly with StrategyBlocks to share updates on delivery progress, monitor metrics or risks and check the status of their Ideas.

About StrategyBlocks

StrategyBlocks is the leading online strategic management and strategy planning software for enterprise communication, collaboration and reporting. Its SaaS-based platform, now in Version 6, is highly adaptable, visually creative and seamlessly integrates with other business software. StrategyBlocks allows businesses to quickly implement a fully integrated solution that delivers strategic planning, improved communication, seamless ideation and real-time execution capabilities across the entire organization.

Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, with additional offices in Wellington and London, StrategyBlocks is a privately held company. To stay up to date with the latest in Strategic Execution Management, read our blog, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contacts

Natalee Gibson

Songue PR for StrategyBlocks

natalee@songuepr.com