Table of Contents
- What is OKR Software?
- What are the benefits of OKR Software?
- Typical Features of OKR Software
- The Cost of OKR Software
- Considerations when purchasing OKR Software
What is OKR software?
Objectives and key results (OKR) software is a management tool that lets organizations set business strategies and goals to be implemented over a specific period. These tools help align business strategies with goals to focus on achieving results along with improving transparency.
OKR software assists businesses in defining their key objectives, tracking progress, and communicating and receiving feedback from peers. It also helps organize employees and the work they do to achieve the set objectives.
The benefits of OKR software
- Better transparency: OKR software ensures clear communication based on transparent objectives. When you are clear about the larger business goals, you can easily define your own or your team’s goals. If any team member is not clear about the key objectives, they can easily raise questions and get answers to them.
- Centralized repository of goals: With OKR software, you can store all the information related to individual or team goals and feedback at a centralized location that can only be accessed by authorized users. The software secures the OKR data and lets you access it easily during employee evaluation.
- Seamless prioritization: OKR software helps prioritize tasks that are of utmost importance while pushing back the ones that can be scheduled for later. It provides your employees a sense of direction about where to start and what they must achieve in the end. It also helps them understand their key objectives and goals as well as how to accomplish them on time.
Typical features of OKR software
- Goal management: Define and set the goals of your business and allow employees to view and manage their work- or career-related goals.
- Progress tracking: Report how each goal or task has advanced since its initiation.
- Strategic planning: Define business goals and identify specific steps to achieve them.
- Communication management: Communicate with and reach out to employees, customers, or clients in multiple ways.
- Customizable dashboard: Access an OKR dashboard to view and track the goals your team has achieved, any unaligned objectives, key results at risk, and more.
- KPI monitoring: Track the status of previously identified performance metrics.
- Feedback management: Allow employees to request, receive, and share feedback with peers and managers via online workspaces.
- Task management: Track the progress of tasks or initiatives that drive key results or business goals (e.g., tasks that a marketing team might undertake to achieve the key result of doubling quarterly sales).
The cost of OKR software
Most products in this market are priced on a “per user per month” basis. Pricing can be divided into three tiers based on the starting prices.
Price ranges*:
The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offering found on vendor websites on Jan. 31, 2022. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.
The above list summarizes pricing for the base plans of most products. An enterprise or premium product that is priced higher may include additional features such as private coaching notes, surveys for program evaluation, HRIS integration, mass texting, and background checks.
Considerations when purchasing OKR software
- Deployment method: OKR software is either deployed on premise or in the cloud. For SMBs, a web-based solution with cloud storage is often preferred, as it generally involves no upfront costs and operates on a pay-as-you-go model. The subscription can be upgraded or downgraded based on your organizational needs.
- Level of support: While evaluating an OKR solution, consider the support options offered by the vendor. Check if the vendor has a dedicated team of consultants to help you set up the tool. Also, ask if you’ll have to pay any additional charges for chat, email, or phone support. Additionally, check if the software offers self-service learning options such as video tutorials and a knowledge base.
- Ease of integration: Check your existing technology stack and decide if you need to integrate the OKR solution with apps such as Slack, Teams, or Jira. Also, look for an OKR system that integrates with your existing HR solution to automatically transfer employee details from the HR platform. Make sure your selected OKR tool has all the integrations your product or marketing team needs.