If you are running a small business (or a small section within a larger business), you’ll be more than aware of how difficult it is to plan out a new project; often there are so many tasks-potentially delegated to several different people- that it’s hard to know if something has been overlooked.
This is a major problem because it can mean you have to invest more time and money into the project to fix the error later on.
That’s where project planning software comes in- it contains all the necessary information on your project at the touch of a button allowing your team to work together easily to reach their goal.
Efficiency
In all businesses, time equals money. One of the biggest wastes of time in terms of project planning is having to go between different departments in order to ask what they need to complete a project, whether that’s walking over to the marketing team to ask what they want to do about publicity or ringing the accountancy team to ask about finances.
Why? Well every team has different needs and what one team tells you may directly contradict another (i.e. “We don’t have the money for a TV ad. Tell Marketing that the most we can spare is radio money”) and you’ll be stuck acting as a go-between.
It’s not just the project manager who’ll get caught in this trap; many of the different teams will need to send their part of the project to at least one other department (running sales copy by the legal department or approving the IT teams’ request for new hardware). As a result, there could be several different copies of the same document and when it comes to the deadline, it might not be clear which one is correct.
Better Financial Management
If time equals money, then money definitely equals money. No matter what line of business you’re in, you’ll always be under pressure to produce quality work at a reasonable price.
The trouble is, when you’re dealing with each team on an individual basis, they can be so focused on their own part of the project that they can’t see that financial resources will be better spent elsewhere (i.e. “We need to hire an extra staff member for this project, IT doesn’t need new hardware”).
Project planning software, like that offered by Timewax, allows all the team to visualise the project as a whole and helps the project manager to estimate and manage resources, including seeing the total budget and how it is divided up.
Real-Time Information
If you’re running separate systems for each part of the project, it can be a hassle to sync them all up and take hours to get you the information you need. This might mean that you end up spending money than you needed to (i.e. “Well if I’d been able to purchase the items by Monday, I’d have saved 20%”), missing a deadline, or that you’re using out of date information.
With project planning software, all the teams (and their work) are brought together in one place and updated in real time, so that you can make business decisions faster with fewer errors.
Do you use project planning software? How has it helped you build your business? Let us know in the comments below.