There are so many benefits of project management software that I’m always surprised when I find out that some business doesn’t utilize a project management solution.
Whether it’s email, spreadsheets, or sticky notes, there is nothing that can even come close to competing with project management software.
There are project management solutions for businesses regardless of their size and field, from startups to international corporations. So yes, even Startups should use it, and you can check the best Project Management Software for Startups.
Some of the benefits of project management software include better organization of tasks, saving time & money, reducing waste, improving visibility, increasing accountability, and more.
Let’s discuss what is project management, and some of the benefits you will get with project management software, and how they can drive your business forward.
What is Project Management?
Project management improves teams organize, track, and complete work within a project. Think of a project as a combination of tasks to achieve a specific goal. Project management can benefit your team plan, managing, and executing your work to meet your project’s requirements on time. With a project management tool, your team can adjust all of the details of your work in one place, share feedback and progress, and, sequentially, collaborate more productively.
Benefits of Project Management Software
1- Easier & More Effective Team Collaboration
One of the main advantages of a project management solution is that it will better connect your team. It will allow them to use features like instant massaging, notifications, and activity stream.
The real-time nature of project management software offers collaboration and communication much more effective and valuable. No two team members will ever work on the same task again, and the workflow will naturally improve as the communication between your team improve.
You will be able to assign employees specific tasks, and they will all be able to see the whole picture and how their tasks tie into the more massive project.
2- Budget Management
Keeping projects on their assigned budget can be challenging at times, especially when controlling the project is already as hard. A Project management solution will help you deliver projects within the provided budget.
Project management tools will also help the project manager more accurately determine the work project accordingly.
By tracking project spending and continuously comparing it versus your estimates, you can make sure your spending stays on track and minimizes the chances of going off-road.
3- Timeline Monitoring and Management
Missing a deadline is just as costly, if not more so, to your organization as going over budget. In addition, there could be penalties for everyone involved in the project if a deadline is missed.
Luckily, a project management system can help you deliver projects on time and reduce your delays.
When all your team members consistently update their statuses in the solution, you will be able to see the timelines, identify delays before they happen and make edits and adjustments to avoid these delays.
Your team members will appreciate eliminating the 24-hour working days and fire drills at the end of projects.
4- Visibility
Using a Project Management tool can not only help visibility by allowing everyone on your team to see the whole picture, but it also allows you as a manager to see the progress being made in real-time.
A project management tool acts as a central hub where your team can find out what they’re responsible for and how their tasks affect other tasks and the project at large.
That means they can do their best work and do their tasks meaningfully, contributing to the project’s overall success.
The visibility offered by project management software also makes sure that nothing falls through the cracks, meaning no tasks will go undone or unreviewed.
5- Prioritization
How do you determine what is most important to your business? Then, whatever these priorities are, you can set up your projects to correspond to these with the help of project management solutions.
Since you will see everything going on, you can easily adjust your priorities when needed so your projects can stay on track.
Project management software will allow you to focus on things that make a difference and help you stay on track even with all the changes that are taking place.
SEE AlSO: Why is Project Management Important?
6- Centralized Reporting
Status reports can be time-consuming and challenging when everyone on your team uses different methods to manage projects and tasks.
However, data can roll up to project offices and reporting portfolios if everyone uses the same project management platform. Most Project management tools come with a robust reporting engine that will enable you to organize the information any way you want and cut and dice it for different audiences.
This engine will give you great reports since it will have all the information stored in one place, and this way, you will be able to drill down into every detail of your project if necessary.
7- Optimized Resource Allocation
Do you currently know what each one of your employees is working on? Do you see the work that is not assigned to anyone right now? Why is it not given to anyone? Maybe these tasks should be set to currently have so much on their plate that they can’t afford to take on another task right now.
Managers are constantly struggling with these questions because their job is to ensure that the business’s resources are being utilized in the best way possible to ensure that the critical work is being done. It is given the time and effort required to be done the way it’s supposed to be done.
A Project Management tool will allow you to know who is working on what and what tasks need attention. This way, you can always make sure that the right people are working on the right jobs.
8- Scheduling
Keeping track of every single team member and their tasks can be pretty challenging. However, a project management software can help you a lot in this aspect by employing the easy-to-follow and clear-to-understand Gantt charts/
That allows virtual managers to implement instructions in a prominent and easily accessible way to instantly let everyone know where they stand with a simple click of a button.
That will help a great deal in ensuring the project stays on track and is delivered before the deadline.
9- Better Communication with Customers & Clients
Communication with your customers and clients is essential for the success of your business. You want your clients to be satisfied after the ending of each meeting, and this can be hard to achieve if you don’t have a clear line of communication.
A project management solution gives you a comfortable and transparent way to communicate with your clients and allows them to access your assignment board and easily see your progress. They can provide feedback and make edits to some areas if they have access to do so.
This makes them feel more involved, which helps build trust as well.
10- Easy Onboarding
Getting a new employee up to speed when a project is in progress can be more tricky than it seems at first. First, you need to spend time and energy understanding what was done, what is being done, and what they will be working on in the future.
This can take a lot of time and money, and even worse, you may not have the luxury to afford these resources while the projects are in progress.
A Project management solution can help new team members view the project progress from start to finish and any edits or direction changes that happened along the way.
This makes integrating new team members into your business easier wherever you are on the project and helps them contribute to the project more quickly and start being productive as soon as they become part of your team.
We hope you enjoyed this article. If so, you might enjoy these resources:
- Project Management Tools for Startups
- 11 Best Project Management Software for Freelancers
- Best Online Training Courses for Project Management
- 11 Best Project Management Software for Nonprofits
- 13 Best Marketing Project Management Software Tools
So now, you know the benefits of project management software to manage your projects.