With the growing need to monitor projects handled within organizations, many of these organizations have developed a new or renewed need interest in project management. By May 2015, companies worldwide were planning to spend as much on new software projects as they did maintaining existing systems.
As a result, skills related to project management have gone from support to full time professions with Project Managers earning an annual salary of between USD 42,180.00 to USD 135,220.00 (U.S BLS – 2020) in May 2020 and between USD 49,750.00 to USD 159,140.00 (U.S BLS – 2021).
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), as much as 80% of development costs are spent on identifying and correcting defects with companies spending between USD 1.1 trillion to 1.76 trillion in 2018 and USD 2.08 trillion to 2.34 trillion in 2020.
Managing projects like these requires robust systems with features that provide easy communication, team collaboration, project planning and scheduling, time management, analytics and reporting, budgeting and dashboards and workflows. Project Management Software provide these features with a goal to assist organizations approach projects in measurable and distinct stages to better meet deadlines, expectations and budgets, with the lowest risks possible. A Project Management Software is not primarily used for managing and monitoring software development, they can be used for other projects such as medical supplies distribution, creating and managing marketing and advertising campaigns, construction of mega projects, meeting management, company mergers.
Some real world case studies for some real world success stories where Project Management Software were, and continue to be, used to increase efficiency by connecting strategy with execution are as below:
- American Airlines Merger with US airways – Click Here
- The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) needed to centralize – Click here
- Cengage Learning wanted to integrate the planning and execution stages of product delivery – Click here
- Flowserve wanted to monitor their products – Click here
- Israeli government created a synchronized COVID-19 control center – Click here
All the above case studies are real world implementations of some of the best scenarios where a Project Management Software system was used to efficiently manage diverse challenges by connecting strategy with execution to increasing efficiency, increase revenue, monitor budget and data management.
ADVANTAGES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARES
1. RISK IDENITIFICATION AND MITIGATION
Project Management Software aid in forecasting by showing you the bigger picture and allowing project managers to think two steps ahead. Risk management is multifaceted and as a result of the same, data analytics and reporting features provide an easier way to spot threats and opportunities and take the appropriate or necessary action required.
Project managers who use Project Management Software have been able to improve their risk mitigation strategies and leverage all the resources at their disposal to effectively anticipate risks, provide accurate risk assessments (both qualitative and quantitative risk analysis) and create effective contingency plans for best to worst case scenarios and effectively communicate the same to all the relevant stakeholders.
2. BALANCED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Resources are the assets required to carry out a task or project and are categorized into three main branches;
- Work resources – These resources are the staff and equipment such as designers, programmers, engineers, drivers, computers, cranes, vehicles and cameras
- Cost resources – This focuses on the capital associated with running the project and include salaries, equipment expenses, travel expenses, food expenses and any other expense incurred in a particular project
- Material resources – These are consumables used in a project such as paint and cement used in a construction project, raw materials in a manufacturing plant, software licenses and rented/hired property or equipment.
All these resources are dependent on each other if you want your project to successfully move in the right direction. Project Management Software combine features that make it easier to have all these resources managed under one roof and allow for the different teams in the different departments to effectively collaborate and allocate resources accurately and on-time.
3. PROJECT CENTRALIZATION AND STANDARDIZATION
With time and continuous improvements, the processes and workflows will get more sophisticated especially for those team members who join a project team. Project Management Software will ensure that everyone is on the same page in terms of how things are done through standardized core workflows processes and data collection and processing requirements. Sure workflows, views and forms (in some cases) can include customization features but Project Management Software will ensure that the core requirements are met and updating dependent tasks and informing all the relevant team members. All this is achieved under one roof thereby eliminating the need to purchase a variety of tools, and incur extra integration tools if needed and if possible. This effectively reduces the time taken to switch between applications and spend more time on their project tasks.
4. COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION
Communication is effectively the most important aspect of project management owing to the fact that it requires all team members to always be on the same page on a real-time basis and eliminate and reduce any unnecessary problems and delays. Project Management Software communication and collaboration features are designed to provide continuous and timely collaboration amongst all the necessary stakeholders. Team members, through Project Management Software, can also work remotely as long as one has an active internet connection because most Project Management Software are offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This was evident during the Covid-19 pandemic where many had to work from home and as a result, this has quickly been adopted as a working model as it has improved efficiency, proper resource management and reduction in operational expenses incurred in having an on-premise team.
5. BUDGET MANAGEMENT
The budget is one of the most important items in the Triple Constraint of project management (Scope, Time and Cost). Project delivery is only as effective if the team is able to meet the customers’ requirements and deliver the project on time within the provided budget. Budgets are able to give project managers an overview of budgeted expenditure against actual expenditure allowing for proper reallocation, readjustments and strategy. Project Management Software provides a facility for budgeting and allocation allowing project managers to create detailed breakdowns of the project resources structure and track all expenses in real-time. Project Management Software also offer budget forecasting facilities which analyze data from previous projects and provide accurate estimates for current and upcoming projects. The forecast is also able to give one an overview of expenditure of each project across key financial metrics which helps project managers identify where they are burning and earning money.
6. ANALYTICS AND REPORTING
Data is one of the most valuable resources in the technology industry and with all the data the team collects and shares when working on their projects, the team can learn from this data. Project reporting, using insights, targets useful data, plots and compares it against other metrics and present the findings to the project team to help them strategize their tasks, reduce slack by improving current workflows and processes and effectively communicate information to the stakeholders. Project Management Software systems make all this possible as most, if not all, are equipped with business intelligence features that are available through the reports and analytics module. Project managers and other stakeholders are also able to make more accurate and correlated decisions that aim for a positive impact for all team members across the board.
7. CENTRALIZED DATA MANAGEMENT
Project Management Software acts as a secure central hub for data storage and sharing amongst all stakeholders using the system no matter the nature of the project. The system is able to organize all the data and make it accessible to the relevant stakeholders promoting transparency and collaboration. The system uses user access rights and permissions by categorizing users into different levels so as to monitor access by maintaining logs thereby also providing accountability and security. Users are able to access up-to-date standardized forms and are easily updated on any changes made to the same.
8. PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
A project is only as successful as the project plan that correlates to the elements of the Triple Constraint of project management. As such, Project Management Software are all based and designed with this in mind to make the project planning and scheduling process smooth. The system is able to provide data from previous projects which help project teams design efficient project plans and scheduling charts. Project teams are also able to plan tasks such as dependency identification, project deliverables, resource requirements and allocation and Gantt charts that define the timeline for the project, the milestones and deadline dates.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Project Management has evolved over the years and as such the need for Project Management Software has become essential in improving business operations. Companies have adopted remote working in a positive way especially with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that changed everyone’s perspectives of working from anywhere.
You can’t afford not having a Project Management Software in your organization if your goal is to have a smooth operation.
Smoothtel & Data Solutions provides CloudApper offers Project Management as a core module amongst other modules including Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Human Resource Management (HRM) and Legacy Systems that boosts productivity and seamless integration with existing systems. CloudApper is single mobile app that addresses your challenges by enabling automation, work productivity, and centralized information access.
Contact us via any of the below platforms and our team will get back to you on the same.
Email: mailto:marketing@smoothtel.com
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