ClearPoint Strategy vs. Envisio: Comparing Strategy and Performance Management Software for the Public Sector

As a current ambassador for Envisio who used to sell ClearPoint Strategy, I’d say I have unique insight into how each tool and organization works–and how they differ.

I was drawn to Envisio due to Envisio’s exclusive focus on the public sector. We strive to be public servants in the private sector, and our partnership approach, together with expert services, makes this a reality. This ethos was a big draw for me and is a clear differentiator between how both Envisio and ClearPoint approach the market, how they support customers, and how they build their software.

Why software dedicated to the public sector matters

It can be easy to overlook just how important—and impactful—it is to have companies that focus exclusively on the public sector.

Public sector work is uniquely complex, and it demands a high level of dedication, drive, and understanding. Social, economic, and political changes impact the public sector in a big way; from ever-growing budget constraints to changing regulatory requirements, to public accountability needs. These fast-changing demands and intricate dynamics often differ significantly from the challenges faced by private sector companies.

Working with a performance management software solution dedicated to addressing these unique challenges means these nuances are understood. And the solutions that are offered are designed specifically to help address them.

My favorite part of working at Envisio is having the opportunity to partner with local governments including in my home state of Texas 🤠. It’s rewarding to help inspiring leaders improve quality of life for their communities, build strong supportive cultures around strategic management, and build trust with their residents. As my lovely colleague Mark Kachmar likes to say:

We specialize in partnering with leaders to help them “Think big, start small, and show progress, no matter where they are in their journey.”

Envisio provides extensive implementation support

Envisio’s services to support plan development, cultural change, successful plan implementation and performance management processes, are another critical differentiator in how we support our customers.

Even the most powerful software tool is useless if no one uses it (or if it’s not what’s needed to solve a wider problem around process, plan development, or change management).

Through our services and solutions, Envisio truly partners with public sector organizations on navigating organizational cultural change, process change, and plan development. Whether you need help defining the right performance measures or creating achievable action steps to help your organization reach its overarching goals, we’re here to help. Your goals are our goals.

And it’s not just a one-time benefit. We call our services team “coaches” for a reason–they aren’t there to simply provide a set of answers today, but to coach public sector teams in building greater organizational capacity for this work in the future.

Envisio is easy-to-use, streamlined performance management for the public sector

My dear partner-in-crime (if the crime were tech sales) AB Siddiqi always says “if you can order a salad online, you can build an Envisio dashboard,” and it’s really true.

ClearPoint and Envisio differ as software tools as well as service partners; ClearPoint can flex to do a lot of different things and adapt to both the private and public sectors—but that adds a layer of complexity that can make software less “sticky” and harder to use.

Envisio’s software is purpose built for the public sector, and that starts with making the tool as easy to use as possible. One key area where this is very apparent is around how Envisio has designed the interface and process behind building and publishing public-facing dashboards.

Partnering with our public sector clients to help them build trust through transparency is a key part of our mission at Envisio. Public facing dashboards (whether strategic plan dashboards, performance dashboards, or project dashboards) are integral to that. So, our dashboarding tools are an area where we obsess over making the process intuitive, streamlined, and accessible for end users (accessibility being critically important for our public sector clients and the communities they serve).

We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to tell a story with their data and show off the great work they’re doing to support their communities.

Unlike ClearPoint, there are no WordPress skills or coding knowledge required to build an Envisio dashboard. Our dashboard editor mirrors what you want to share from the plan you’re already tracking in Envisio, and allows you to toggle buttons on and off to include what you want, and exclude what you don’t. Choosing options, uploading photos, and customizing colors to match your brand is easier than modifying a PowerPoint deck.

When you contrast this with the level of WordPress technical skill and support needed from the ClearPoint team—as well as ongoing fees—required to update and host a ClearPoint WordPress dashboards… Well, Envisio’s dashboards look more and more appealing.

Straightforward pricing with no hidden fees or surprises

At Envisio, transparency is key. Our pricing is straightforward, and it includes everything you’d need: guided implementation, unlimited users, data storage, analytics dashboards, and plans—it’s all part of your annual subscription.

Envisio also doesn’t charge additional fees for our public dashboards, in the same spirit that we offer unlimited users to all customers—we want to build trust and support alignment around the plan as much as possible. Providing unlimited users enables more people across the organization to have visibility and contribute to the plan. We know from experience that it’s a key piece to successful plan implementation and we want to see our public sector institutions succeed.

With Envisio, what you see is what you get.

Strategically aligned projects tracking for the public sector

The latest exciting feature of Envisio that really stands out as a value-add for local governments, and the public sector more broadly, is our project management and project dashboard tools.

Public sector projects are typically not the same as private sector ones. In the public sector, projects are often mutli-year and multi-department, with large budgets to boot. As with most things in the public sector, they also enjoy an extra level of public scrutiny.

Envisio’s projects dashboards are designed to help local government leaders visualize and easily track progress of community projects as well as how tax dollars are being put to good use. All projects are geolocated so residents can check out what projects are going on in their neighborhood and get status updates. QR codes can be used to allow residents to simply scan the code to be taken to the digital dashboard update on the project.

It’s a great way to connect the physical and the digital and to communicate community-based projects in a way that’s designed for residents and city staff rather than engineers. For council and the city/county management office, project planning and tracking is critical to ensure that project spend and project progress are staying in line and funds are being properly allocated. This allows city staff and elected officials to build trust with residents by sharing progress and spending publicly.

Projects managed in Envisio can also be linked to your strategic plans so that progress made against your projects rolls up to contribute to overall progress of your strategic plan. No more silo-ed projects managed in disparate, disconnected tools.

Envisio is tailormade public sector software

With all of that being said, Envisio is totally optimized for the public sector! Have I made that clear? 🤠

Private sector clients can check out ClearPoint, AchieveIt or Smartsheet for their needs!

Here’s a handy comparison chart on the key differentiators between Envisio and ClearPoint Strategy:

–

↓ Get Started ↓

For anyone interested in learning more about Envisio (and/or how it compares to ClearPoint), please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Abby Keeble

Abby is a people connector, book nerd and dog lover who supports the public sector in the Central U.S., including her home state of Texas. Abby loves partnering with inspiring leaders in the public sector to help them uplift their communities, get the word out about the great work they’re doing, and build trust.

Abby has 5 years of experience selling strategic management and reporting software to the public sector across her time at ClearPoint and now Envisio, where she enjoys partnering exclusively with the public sector.

Abby is passionate about helping others, sharing knowledge (don’t get her started on LinkedIn Sales Navigator or local government reporting), and continuous improvement. Outside of work, you’ll find her lost in a book, spending as much time outside as possible, and/or hanging out with her pup Ollie.

More By This Author