It’s 2022 and you’ve made the critical decision to adopt a new project management system for your business — Congratulations!
Purchasing a project management system can be an investment that will change your business, improve productivity, boost ROI, and change the perception your employees have on you.
When you have a better grasp on workflow and delegating tasks, your business runs smoother. According to Kissflow, 77% of high-performing teams implement a project management system to help streamline workflow and organization.
Based on the statistic above, it can be inferred how crucial a project management software is to a company and maintaining organization.
The challenge is deciding on which project management software best suits your business’ needs. For many companies, this might be new and foreign to implement this type of software.
If you’ve already done some investigating yourself, you know that there are plenty of options, and it can be daunting to narrow down to one.
Let’s get started!
Checklist for Project Management Software
We’ve curated a checklist of the main items to consider when shopping for a project management software.
Of course you can take your own approach but a project management software can be a huge investment of time and money for a company. You don’t want to take the decision lightly.
Follow these guidelines and it will help you and your team feel confident that you made the right decision with your final purchase.
Determine Your Core Concerns
You cannot just start anywhere if you aren’t sure what you need. Define your company and project needs before proceeding.
It’s an excellent opportunity to work with your team and communicate their needs.
Create a document that lists all the reasons to adopt a project management system and use it as a reference later.
What are the problems your company is facing to require software implementation? Are there communication issues? Lack of Organization? Project lag? It is not until you understand these core issues that you will be able to find software with features that can resolve these problems.
Examine Your Budget
Figuring out your budget should be one of the first steps in this process especially since affordability is a crucial component and companies need to stick to a budget.
Figuring out your price range will allow for options, and you can then identify what features are necessary and which ones aren’t urgent. Additionally, we recommend a range since it might be worth spending slightly more than you’d like. A range allows for ample options.
Don’t forget that an adequate system can save you money rather than cost your company money.
Research Your Options
You should now have a list of criteria to base your decision on. Compare the feature list and pricing for each option against your list of needs.
Don’t rush through the options, and take your time. Ask your team what project management software tools they are familiar with. Discover which ones your employees liked and which ones they didn’t. This might help narrow down your choices.
It’s worth spending a little extra time looking for that perfect fit.
Don’t forget to read over reviews, don’t solely look at the ratings, read what customers are saying since ratings sometimes cannot reflect the expectations.
Test Out Software
You want to ensure that both you and your team are comfortable with the interface, layout, and tools of any project management software you choose.
Create an spreadsheet with all the criteria you need, pulled from the document mentioned in above. Make columns with all the necessary features to help your team with the correlating options.
Keep with three options. Why three? You don’t want to be overloaded with options and narrowing down to a top three gives enough options but not too many that it’s difficult to make a choice. Additionally, there’s only so much time that can be allotted to try these products.
Depending on your team’s size, have only higher management test out the software and decide. At the same time, bear in mind the needs of the rest of your team.
Involve Your Employees
Your employees keep the engines running (to use one metaphor). You want to make sure you’re investing in project management software that benefits your company AND your employees alike.
If you buy a software tool that isn’t a good fit for your employees, they might not use it or give a negative vibe to the workplace.
Involve your employees in the process. Ask them what their needs are from the start and allow them to test out options.
Final note: listen to feedback. You want a successful and happy team. Therefore it’s crucial to involve your employees in the purchasing process.
Purchase and Implement
After researching the perfect project management software, it’s time to purchase and implement it.
We highly suggest checking with the rest of your team before making the final purchase. We cannot stress enough how imperative it is to have the support of your team and to not take the decision lightly.
Make sure you carve out a day to train your employees and allow a window to transition. It is best not to implement during a period of high stress since it could be stressful for your team.
Choose a time that works for your team and does not disrupt workflow.
Test Results
You’ve decided and implemented the project management software, and now it’s time to wait.
You want to see how your team does with the chosen software. How are your employees responding to it? Are they satisfied with the interface? Do you see an improvement in productivity and project management?
Analyze the results and track progress. Ensure you have a runner-up option if your decision doesn’t end up suiting the company or the employees (not only the employees to make this call).
You won’t know if the project management software is beneficial until implemented into your business.
Allow for a significant amount of time. We suggest you wait several months to establish a benchmark and evaluate your results in order to determine if the software is helping or hindering.
The Future of Project Management Software
Given the transition to remote working thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can only anticipate the future of project management software to expand.
“The project management software market is expected to register a CAGR of 10.67% from 2020-2025” (Mordor Intelligence, 2020).
From that statistic, it is evident that using project management software will continue to grow.
Choosing the right project management software means not just picking one that meets your companys’ needs, but one that meets your employees’ needs, as well.
It can also be inferred that there’s a cost to implementing software that isn’t fitted to a company’s needs.
In one study, “A more recent report shows that 25% of organizations do not leverage technology suitable for team collaborations on informal projects despite this consuming 20% of their productive times at work” (Wellingtone, 2020).
Therefore, when choosing software for your company, you want to run through our checklist above.
Take your time and be mindful of your decision. Choosing adequate software can be a make-or-break decision for your business.
WorkShiftly as Your Solution
WorkShiftly is an all-in-one project management system that addresses the most common issues amongst companies. WorkShiftly is built to scale with you, using a tier-pricing method to grow as you go.
Many companies have relied on WorkShiftly to help increase productivity, manage projects, and streamline tasks.
If you are interested in learning more about WorkShiftly, you can try a 7-day trial with no credit card required!
Ready to test drive the software?
Head over here to try the WorkShiftly demo!
