Report Reveals Blueprint for Mastering the Balance of Speed, Agility, and Governance in Times of Change

Planview, the leading end-to-end platform for Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) and Digital Product Development (DPD), today released “The 2025 State of Strategy Execution: Balancing Speed, Adaptation, and Control,” a global benchmark report that examines how strategy execution has evolved and what distinguishes today’s high-performing organizations. Building on the findings of the 2021 Global Benchmark research, the latest survey findings uncover a growing tension prevalent in today’s complex business environment. While companies are executing their strategic priorities faster compared to 2021, and achieving better outcomes, their confidence in the ability to keep pace with the increasingly changing environment has dropped — from 40% in 2021 to 28% in 2025.

"The data reveals a concerning disconnect in an era where seismic change is the norm," said Louise K. Allen, chief product officer at Planview. “Market shifts are more frequent, competitive pressures are higher, and investments are more closely scrutinized. The risks and rewards are much greater, and top performing organizations know that speed alone isn't enough to drive value; to thrive, organizations need to be able to systematically navigate change by connecting strategy to execution using data, technology, and processes."

Striking the Balance: Speed, Responsiveness, and Governance

Key findings show the accelerating pace of transformation and increasing competitive pressure organizations face globally:

• Pressure to accelerate and perceived risks have intensified. Nearly half (45%) of organizations strongly agree that expediting decision-making and execution is critical to success (up from 35% in 2021). All perceived risks are higher, with major profit loss (47%) showing the biggest increase (up from 37% in 2021).
• Data access and usability remain a challenge, contributing to misalignment and slow decision-making. Investments in tech stacks have likely improved data access, but so far, only marginally. Sixty percent of organizations lack access to timely, accurate, and meaningful data (compared to 67% in 2021), with data not being captured in real-time as a more significant barrier now (37%) than in 2021 (21%). This likely contributes to the top three obstacles to effective strategy execution: complex approvals (39%), misalignment (33%), and slow decision-making (32%).

Faced with ever-changing priorities, organizations must trade-off between speed, adaptability, and governance. With survey respondents categorized into Leaders, Challengers, and Laggards, a clear picture emerged of what successful companies are doing to drive business outcomes.

• Leaders achieved 1.5x more of their strategic goals and exceeded revenue goals by 12% (compared to -0.1% for Laggards).
• More than half of Leaders (55%) strongly agree they have the right technology in place, compared to 3% of Laggards, with higher ratings on visibility and alignment, governance, and data access.
• Leaders are 9.5x more likely than Laggards to adapt to change faster and see better quality outcomes.
• The AI Advantage: Leaders are 8x more likely to use AI in multiple ways across the organization to identify and mitigate risks, allocate resources, and generate reports.

Survey results also show strong correlations between the use of strategic, project, or product portfolio management software and higher ratings on strategy execution competencies, visibility, and alignment (2x more likely to very easily analyze and share information), and improved business outcomes (exceeded revenue 1.6x more than non-users).

"Our research clearly shows that high-performing organizations systematically address the fundamentals across technology, process, and people with centralized coordination, frequent strategy reviews, effective technology and data access, and aligned execution," Allen continued. "These are integrated capabilities that work together to enable the organization to thrive through change and disruption."

To read the full report and its detailed set of recommendations, visit: The State of Strategy Execution: Balancing Speed, Adaptation, and Control.

Methodology

This blind study was commissioned by Planview and conducted by Lawless Research from July 2-31, 2025. The 800 individual participants identified as full-time managers and decision-makers involved in strategy and planning across functions at organizations meeting the following criteria: (1) 500 or more employees, (2) annual revenue of at least $100 million, and (3) located in Australia and New Zealand; Canada; France; Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; Singapore; the United Kingdom; or the United States.

About Planview

Planview is the leading end-to-end platform for Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) and Digital Product Development (DPD), powered by advanced AI capabilities that give business and technology leaders the strategic foresight to prioritize investments and initiatives, make plans real within constraints, and pivot with certainty when things change. Our AI-driven connected platform of solutions underpins the business and digital transformations of more than 3,000 customers and 3.1 million users globally. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Planview has over 1,500 employees worldwide. Learn more at www.planview.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112746158/en/