As a fundamental initial step in strategic planning, Environmental Scanning involves a comprehensive data collection effort, the goal of which is to arrive at a strong understanding of the external, competitive market environment in which the company operates as well as its internal strengths and weaknesses. Analyzing and triangulating the various sources of data enables the organization to engage in a data-driven planning process to ultimately identify and determine its strategic priorities and initiatives. Defining an organization’s core competencies, its customers’ needs and desires, as well as the threats it faces externally puts the organization in a good position to accurately identify what opportunities it can pursue to ensure growth and sustainability.

Environmental Scanning tools and templates vary and can be used in conjunction with other strategic planning analytic tools, such as core competence analysis, competitive analysis, SWOT and SOAR analyses.

Unlike most traditional Environmental Scanning techniques, Praxie’s online Environmental Scanning collaboration tools allow any team or organization to instantly begin working with our web templates and input forms. Our digital platform goes far beyond other software tools by including progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other SaaS software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.