4 Signs Your Business Needs Project Management Software

Successful project management involves carefully managing a number of moving parts from task planning to resourcing in order to deliver the project objectives by a set deadline while ensuring alignment with organisational strategy and values. Oftentimes, project managers have to manage several projects at any one time with a report from RGBM noting that only 15% of project managers focus on one project at a time. With project managers juggling so much at any one time, it seems that having a good project management system in place would be essential, to not only ensure project success but to also help alleviate the burden on busy project managers. However, despite the need and the benefits only 22% of organisations use project management software.

Project management software can help drive project performance with access to all project information and status in a single space, delivering real-time reports and KPIs. However, despite a lower adoption rate, the benefits cannot be ignored, with a PWC survey noted that 77% of high-performing teams use project management software. Further building on this, a Capterra survey noted that teams using project management software reported a 42% improvement in team communication, 44% agreed that it improved the final product and 38% noted that it improved customer satisfaction. For organisations who want to improve project management processes, below we have compiled some of the signs that your organisation would benefit from the introduction of project management software.

Using Too Many Tools

Is your business using too many tools that don’t integrate to manage projects? Or is your organisation adapting non-project management tools to manage projects? This is a big indicator that project management software could benefit your business. Decentralised information, tools and processes can hinder project management greatly leading to employees having a lot more manual work using multiple apps for managing project data which prevents them from delivering more value within their role too. Further, without a centralised way of tracking all project data issues can arise and it can be harder to track and resolve when using numerous tools. This can then impact the project delivery in a negative way. Project management software can help resolve with a single source for all project information for easier tracking of project progress and tasks. This delivers more transparency but also gives more accountability for those responsible for tasks within a project.

Disconnected Project Teams

Building on the previous point, disconnected tools or too many tools can also lead to a disconnected project team. For instance, project managers may find it difficult to always know what each project resource is doing which can lead to duplicate tasks or tasks being missed. Without a single shared source of information, team members can feel lost and project managers have no way of knowing if any one team member is overloaded.  To try and work around this there can be multiple communication channels being used for project team members to try to stay on track. However, with multiple channels being used at once, important communication can be missed. Project management software can help tackle this, particularly project management software that offers integration with collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams.

Bad Resource and Asset Management

Another issue that can arise with a lack of centralised project information and poor team communication is poor resource and asset management. Some indicators that your organisation is mismanaging resources are not being able to adhere to budgets and deadlines as well as not assigning project tasks efficiently. While managing resources in project management can be a challenging task, particularly in a busy organisation where there are a variety of skill sets needed on numerous projects, many different project management solutions offer comprehensive resource management capabilities that can help project managers stay on top of this and streamline the whole process.

Lack of Data-Driven Decisions

Another sign that you may need project management software, is poor decision-making and a lack of data-driven decision-making. If project data is scattered in different applications and tools, it takes time to create data reports. Therefore, the organisation cannot make decisions based on real-time data but rather on educated guesses which can often not be entirely accurate. Project management software can offer real-time reporting on all your projects, making it easier to pull project reports and decision-making can be based on the data and metrics generated by the software. This ensures less likelihood of bias within the data and less chance of human error. With the project team spending less time on data collation, they can spend more time on analysis to come up with insights or to spot any potential signs of issues before they have a big impact on delivery.

If your organisation would like to learn more about how project management software can help drive better project performance in your business, watch our on-demand webinar or get in touch to speak with an expert.

Malek Al-Shayeb, Principal PPM Consultant Oct 25, 2023