GetApp’s research indicates that companies offering project management software fall short as one-stop solutions, forcing companies to rely on several tools used in conjunction. 11% of companies say that collaboration is a must-have feature they’re currently missing from their project management software. It’s easy to blame the products, but the companies choosing to use them are also at fault. Now, they must be strategy experts as well.” This is something also indicated by our own research on the importance of customer success, and how SaaS companies help their customers get set up. Choose tools that integrate Integrations are connections between tools that automate the transfer of data. For example, you might want to integrate your emails with Trello so you can automatically create Trello cards (tasks) out of emails and cut down on copy/pasting. If you find yourself doing a lot of data entry, or updating multiple apps with the same information, integrations are sure to solve that issue. Choose a project management tool with task management features Since the main complaint about current project management tools is their limited task management options, it’d be wise not just to choose something like Microsoft Project, but go for a more flexible tool. Again, Trello and Asana let teams add and assign tasks within projects, as well as see the tasks that are assigned to them. Move your important work to the cloud, set up integrations for tasks you could avoid, and start centralizing your information so no one is left in the dark.
Is bad project management causing you to abandon important projects? Should you blame the tools you use, or does the issue go deeper?
A new report published by software comparison company GetApp reveals the dire state of project management in 2017.
GetApp’s research indicates that companies offering project management software fall short as one-stop solutions, forcing companies to rely on several tools used in conjunction.
On a general level, the effects of switching between different tools have been proven to [drastically reduce productivity]. And it’s not always the case that separate PM tools integrate, meaning project managers are wasting time transferring data between tools as part of their everyday workflow.
This could offer an explanation as to why only 2.5% of companies finish every project they start.
These worrying findings are a reflection of how businesses cope when forced to adapt to the cloud, and how companies building SaaS project management tools aren’t able to properly meet the needs of their users.
However, looking at which tools are the most widely used, the problem could be almost entirely centered around the limitations of Microsoft Project, which comes as a default part of the Microsoft Office suite and is used by almost 70% of the surveyed companies:
The root of the issue? 11% of companies say that collaboration is a must-have feature they’re currently missing from their project management software.
Other common missing must-haves include task management (11%) and integrations (10%). Without these basic features, project managers would have no choice but to split their workflow between several tools and fall into the trap of entering the same data in multiple tools for every one task.
It’s easy to blame the products, but the companies choosing to use them are also at fault.
The painfully slow adoption of collaborative SaaS by SMBs
A study by TECHnalysis shows the reality of SaaS usage outside of the world of startups: adoption of cloud software is slow, and the mindset that work and information should be properly centralized is rare.
The study found that 75% of internal communication happens over email, phone call, or text.
Almost a fifth of companies don’t collaborate digitally at all, and 92% of co-worker collaboration happens locally, not in the cloud.
With such a huge chunk of companies used to using old school methods, there are bound to be snags associated with effectively using project management tools.
Bill Mabry, PMO Director of Digital Transformation at Salesforce, says that companies selling project management tools need to stop focusing only on making the sale, and focus on teaching customers best practices and how to get the most out of the software.
“This digital transformation may include, and in fact necessitate, changes to their business models, workflows, and even partnerships in the industry. Project managers used to be execution experts. Go-live was the major success metric. Now, they must be strategy experts as well.”
This is something also indicated by our own research on the importance of customer success, and how SaaS companies help their customers get set up.
The duties of software companies to…
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