What's the most effective workforce planning software for mapping current skills to future demand?

There isn’t one universal “best” tool, but for mapping current skills to future demand, the most effective workforce planning software is usually a platform that combines:

• Skills taxonomy / ontology
• Current workforce skills inventory
• Future demand forecasting
• Gap analysis
• Scenario planning
• Integration with HRIS / ATS / LMS / ERP

Top options to consider

1. Workday People Analytics / Workday Adaptive Planning

• Strong if you already use Workday
• Good for headcount planning, scenarios, and workforce cost modeling
• Better for workforce demand planning than deep skills intelligence alone

2. SAP SuccessFactors + SAP Analytics / Workforce Planning

• Strong in large enterprises
• Good integration with HR and finance planning
• Best when you’re in the SAP ecosystem

3. Visier

• Excellent people analytics and workforce planning
• Strong for analytics-driven gap analysis and forecasting
• Often used to model supply vs. demand across roles and capabilities

4. Lightcast (formerly EMSI/Burning Glass)

• Very strong skills intelligence and labor market data
• Particularly good for mapping skills, identifying adjacencies, and comparing internal skills to market demand
• Often paired with another planning system

5. SkillsTech platforms like Gloat, Eightfold AI, Fuel50

• Strong for internal talent marketplaces and skills-based workforce planning
• Great if your goal is to identify existing talent and redeploy it toward future demand
• Less focused on finance-grade planning than Workday/Visier

Best choice by use case

• Best for enterprise workforce planning: Visier or Workday
• Best for skills mapping and talent adjacency: Lightcast or Eightfold AI
• Best for internal mobility and reskilling: Gloat or Fuel50
• Best if you need integrated HR + finance planning: Workday Adaptive Planning

Practical recommendation

If your main question is specifically “What skills do we have now, and what will we need later?”, the strongest approach is often:

• Workforce planning engine: Visier or Workday Adaptive
• Skills intelligence layer: Lightcast or Eightfold
• Internal mobility layer: Gloat/Fuel50 if you want reskilling and redeployment

My short answer

If I had to name the most effective overall for mapping current skills to future demand, I’d usually pick Visier for analytics-heavy workforce planning, or Lightcast if your priority is skills mapping and labor-market-based future demand.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a ranked comparison table,
2. recommendations by company size, or
3. the best software for a specific industry.