A great team goes much further than a simple sum of people working in an uncoordinated manner. The problem is that daily emergencies do not help to maintain proper communication. In addition, nowadays it is not always easy to get organized with the team, when teleworking is becoming more and more common. Fortunately, technology allows us great efficiency, if we know how to take advantage of it. This is where project management software comes in, a great ally for your productivity.
do you want to know the best tools for monitoring your business activity? Save time by filtering the best quality among the hundreds of programs available, and get to know our selection. Let’s take a look at five recommended business project management software options. Plus, find out exactly what project management is and its many benefits.
Table of contents
what is project management?
Many professional teams have high levels of stress due to a heavy workload in organizing their own tasks. Project management is the work methodology that allows to streamline, distribute and continuously review projects and tasks within the company.
Currently there are many methodologies and schools of thought to approach project management. If we go back to its origins, there are precursors of this concept such as Henry Ford. This 20th century American visionary used techniques to improve efficiency in his car factories. On the other side of the Pacific there was also Toyota with its application of methodologies that have given rise to Lean Manufacturing.
Your company probably doesn’t need as much precision as a car factory, but you certainly want to achieve more efficiency. Good project management can help in many ways:
- It reduces unnecessary meeting and mailing times
- Ensures that deadlines are met
- It makes it easier not to miss details that need to be done
- Contributes to the team’s well-being, reducing stress
- Makes it harder to procrastinate on tasks
- Promotes effective remote leadership
- Makes competitive telecommuting feasible
- Optimizes resources, avoiding potential incidents or economic losses
- Improves customer satisfaction
Now that we have seen what project management is, it is time to apply it. Apart from following a series of techniques, technology is key to improving results.
Best software for project management
Just as the leap to the use of machines led to the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century, today we have the digital revolution. Software now allows us to be much more competitive. However, those who do not use them, or use them inadequately, will be left behind in this new era.
A good project management software must be able to include some key features:
- Intuitive, easy to use for anyone in the company
- Scalable, able to grow or adapt over time
- Useful, which fulfills the task of improving efficiency
- Integrable, which is compatible with other tools
- Accessible, that can be used on many devices
Let’s take a look at a ranking of project management software that meet the basic requirements.
Holded
This list starts with Holded because it is a very complete and advanced project management software. Moreover, it is a tool that is actually much more than the project manager itself. With Holded you can centralize and streamline all of your company’s information and activity in a single tool.
This ERP in the cloud allows you to perform all types of business management, including project management among its many modules. The software relies on widely used methodologies such as Kanban view and Gantt charts. Intuitively and conveniently, teams can be organized using Holded remotely from any device.
The tool is available online from any PC, whether Windows, Apple or Linux, or even Android or iOS smartphones. Each device offers visually easy and convenient access to the program. Thus, project management becomes more agile and efficient, accessed from anywhere with convenience.
As mentioned above, Holded also allows you to manage all other areas of the business. It has very complete solutions, such as:
- Management of the company’s accounting
- CRM for contact management
- Efficient inventory control
- Human Resources
- Invoicing, payments and collections
In short, with this solution you can control the progress of projects in a way that is linked to other areas of the company. In this way, you ensure that you always have real data on costs, for example, company personnel, customers and everything else.
On the other hand, having everything centralized in one program makes the internal operation more agile, avoiding a multiplicity of tools that hinder the day to day.
Asana
Among the most popular and complete project management tools, Asana stands out. It has its own app, is intuitive and of course integrates very well with other business solutions.
This software has its own data model, which is called Work Graph ™ and offers a very practical and convenient project visualization.
Another great point in favor of Asana is that it has the ability to generate reports in real time. Thus, the project manager can very easily see the progress of each topic.
Trello
A good project management software that allows you to create dashboards, distributing tasks as they progress.
Within each board, tags can be added, as well as photos, files, checkboxes, deadlines, responsibility assignments and mentions.
The use of commands to automate tasks, for example, is one of its great advantages, in addition to its PowerUp integrations system that makes it compatible with other tools.
Trello is a very intuitive business management software that can be used in web or app version. It has an app on Android and also on iOS, plus it has the great advantage of being free. To fully enjoy all its functionalities, it is convenient to jump to a paid version that is very complete for companies.
Wrike
Another great project management software is Wrike, a cloud-based program that is very practical and intuitive. Visually it is very easy to understand and use, and allows you to create workflows in a versatile way.
The tool has a free version and a more complete paid version. In total, these are some of the activities that it allows you to perform in an agile and efficient way:
- Planning of each project
- Scheduling deadlines
- Allocation of resources
- Budgeting and cost tracking
- Project documentation and records
- Quality management in each phase
- Reporting
- Effective real-time tracking
- Pattern analysis to see trends and make forecasts
This enterprise software has its own customizable templates to make it easy to start each project.
Monday
If you want a visually colorful and very complete tool, don’t overlook the Monday tool. It allows you to create agile workflows, distributing projects by phases and adding managers.
This project management software allows you to automate many tasks, making the very task of getting organized not in itself an additional workload. In addition, Monday has customizable templates that help to generate these workflows without having to start from scratch.
Another important point of Monday is that it can be easily integrated with the main tools. Thus, the company can have the project manager linked to other modules of its own, or even to third-party programs that cover other needs. For example, you might need a connection to Hootsuite for scheduling social media posts.
how to choose the best project management software?
You’ve already seen that there are many software solutions for managing projects efficiently. Each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages, but here we have chosen the most complete ones.
Now the important thing is for you to make your own final selection. Remember that good project management software usually comes with a free demo. This way you can experiment before taking the plunge.
You may feel more comfortable with some styles or with others, because some people are more attuned to a particular operation and organization. Keep in mind that all programs include a minimal learning curve. Therefore, do not prioritize your first impression so much as the complete analysis of your needs and functionalities.
Make sure that the program really follows the minimums we have mentioned above. Make sure it is intuitive for your team, involving them in the selection process. Also, confirm that it will really meet your real needs.
Conclusion
The digitization of daily work makes day-to-day business much easier. Moreover, nowadays it is essential to be competitive in an increasingly global and demanding world. That is why it helps a lot to have business management programs, including project management.
It is time to take the digital leap and move ahead of the competition, achieving more profitability and also greater quality of life, well-being and internal cohesion.
best of luck and may you achieve maximum performance with your team!
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