Successful business owners have loads of responsibilities -managing employees, running project teams, managing resources and budget, just to name a few. Also, when the industry demand is at its peak, the workload can become overwhelming.
To help run things smoothly, business owners need project management software that can automate time-consuming tasks and has the ability to manage large teams.
While we all want to get results quickly, the task of finding the right tool is daunting. So to give yourself a head start, go through this guide so that you have a clear understanding to make an informed decision of choosing the right PM software.
Benefits of using project management software
Visibility
You can view all your current projects from one place, via the dashboard of project management tool. The tool also provides you with a feature to monitor the timeline of your project and track all milestones that have been completed.
Realtime collaboration
When working on big projects, you are often working with members from various departments of companies. A project management tool should be great at giving users the ability to work in a shared space -without sacrificing each user’s focus. This way, the team leaders have the freedom to work on multiple ventures while keeping an overview of each project’s progress.
Organization
Keeping everything relevant to the project organized and in one place saves a lot of your time and your team member’s time also. The project management tool can keep track of the location and detail of every resource related to the project.
Accountability
Timely project updates to people at all levels keep people involved in the project in loop. It can also give you the list of missed deadlines and tasks piled that need immediate attention. The project management tool encourages the employees to be more responsible by showing them their progress and areas that need improvement.
Features of a project management software
Project and Task creation
Most often, you’ll be creating templated projects for your company presentations. But once in a while, you’ll have some task in your hand that requires unique workflow charts; therefore, you need to have a project management tool with similar flexibility. This will ensure that it can handle all your projects with different sizes and shapes.
Mobile connectivity
Today we are often on the move from one place to another frequently, so the whole workplace is kind of decentralized. As team members travel to different client locations, they need the ability to access project information from their mobile or other portable devices.
So, you need a project management tool that has a cloud-based presence to access stored data easily from anywhere in the world using any mobile device.
Time tracking
Time is an essential quantity that never stops for anyone. Therefore seek a project management tool that includes time tracking capabilities. Using the time tracking tool, you can better manage the time spent on each task and can automate specific repetitive tasks.
It is an essential feature for better planning, accurate estimation, and to carry out work with high precision.
Simple and Efficient reporting
If you’re working with project management software, you’ll need accurate reporting power. Reporting is essential because in case the project fails, you can go to the reporting tool and analyze for any errors that occurred. A useful reporting feature will go a long way in helping you with this.
Reliable Support
When any error occurs in the project management software who you are going to call? This is why it is crucial to have a project management tool with proper support facility available to help you manage all sorts of technical issues.
Types of project management software
One-premise tools are installed locally on the computer servers. The access to these is physically not possible and can only be accessed by the admin. They are also called locally-hosted project management tool
Cloud-based project management software is hosted on virtual cloud servers. This gives freedom to business owners and their clients to access the software from anywhere by just using an internet browser.
Individual softwares are for those who are beginners and need to test different features before they zero down on a selected few. These systems are not that feature-rich as general project management tools. Plus, they are generally lightweight and web-based.
Open API softwares are best for custom use. They give you the freedom to adjust the features that result in maximum productivity for your business.
Summing it up
To successfully reach your organizational goals, you need to pick game-changing project management software that can adapt well, manages, innovates, and is collaborative.
There are a lot of options to go for, but when you go to buy a project management tool, it all boils down to what suits your needs the most and this is the only way to get the maximum return on your investment. Depending on the size and nature of your business, you can pick a great project management tool from our list of free open source tools to help you get started.
