Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan

Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan
Jen Jordan brings a wealth of life and leadership experiences to her writing. After 10 years creating a variety of content for a nonprofit, Jen decided to establish her own writing business. She specializes in creating high quality blog and website content for small businesses. When she's not writing, Jen is a competitive triathlete with a goal of completing a triathlon in all 50 states.

Why Project Management Tools Will Boost Your Small Business's Bottom Line

Why Project Management Tools Will Boost Your Small Business's Bottom Line

Project management tools help create an efficient workflow. Not only can they help organize and optimize any process, but these tools allow for distributing duties and watching their progress in real-time.

For a small business owner, this process can allow you to see employee progress from anywhere while giving employees ownership and recognition for their work. Many project management tools also make collaboration easier as employees understand how each task fits into the overall objective.

Benefits of Project Management Tools

Using project management (PM) tools comes with solid benefits. PM tools help you better allocate resources. Effective project management can save up to 12% of your organization’s resources, increasing your profit margin.

The ability to visualize the workflow keeps everyone focused and adds accountability to assigned tasks. This process also increases communication and allows employees to practice decision-making skills.

Furthermore, PM tools allow managers to visualize each employee’s workload and productivity. This is valuable information when delegating tasks, offering constructive feedback, and analyzing overall efficiency. Project management tools can also help you meet more deadlines and increase your task completion rate. With labor costs accounting for up to 70% of small business overhead, efficiency can lead to significant savings.

Increasing focus, accountability, and management means less time wasted on reworking tasks. It also minimizes the stress of chasing down results and redefining job roles.

Over half of the organizations surveyed in one study reported that they do not consistently follow up on tracking performance measurements within a reasonable timeframe. PM tools will allow your small business to track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Smart Goals in real-time.

Additionally, these tools can save you time by streamlining and tracking your own workload as you multitask. Only one in four small businesses currently use PM tools, offering your small business an accessible competitive advantage.

Types of Project Management

Finding the project management style that best fits your immediate needs will help direct you to the best software. There are four main types of PM workflows:

  • Waterfall - This method divides a project into phases and uses a "first this, then that" sequential order for project segments.
  • Agile - This system also divides a project into smaller chunks for duty assignments, which are completed as "sprints." Sprints may be tackled in any order depending on the project’s needs.
  • Kanban - This form of PM divides tasks into sections on a board. The columns are flexible. They can show jobs by person for an overall duty view, or they can show where each task is with completion. (Example: not started, in progress, finished).
  • Scrum - This tool is helpful if you have a backlog of work to complete in an orderly and efficient manner. Scrum boards have tight deadlines and rely on a manager (called a "scrum master") to keep everything moving forward.

While each type of PM board can help clarify tasks for employees and retain focus, using the right board for the right job can eliminate confusion and chaos.

Final Thoughts

While most small businesses view project management software as an expensive or frivolous purchase, it can lead to significant savings. Workflow management software helps save employees an average of 498 hours a year while saving small business owners countless hours of stress.

Many new PM software tools have tiered pricing and monthly options, making them more affordable for small businesses.

Conducting a cost analysis on work productivity and goal tracking can help you decide if PM tools are right for your organization. Whether you are managing a team or want to streamline your own tasks, PM tools offer highly customizable options.

Works Cited

https://getnave.com/blog/what-is-the-kanban-method/#:~:text=The%20Kanban%20Method%20suggests%20an,Time%20(JIT)%20manufacturing%20processes.

https://asana.com/resources/waterfall-agile-kanban-scrum?psafe_param=1&utm_campaign=NB--NAMER--US--EN--CatchAllDSA&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pd_cpc_nb&gclid=CjwK

https://www.proofhub.com/articles/project-management-statistics#:~:text=2)%20Only%201%20in%204%20organizations%20use%20PM%20software.,-This%20project%20management&text=Only%2025%25%20of%20companies%20use,blame%20if%20your%20project%20fails!

CAjwmbqoBhAgEiwACIjzEKxG_ZCeQH5dO6RVmHBEtwoJEaN1q3PUYdHX05asZk1Xk_zBCWlI_BoChl4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/articles/closer-look-at-labor-costs/#:~:text=Labor%20costs%20can%20account%20for,payroll%20and%20other%20related%20taxes.

https://www.g2.com/categories/project-management/small-business

https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/tools/best-project-management-software-for-small-business/

https://www.accidentalpm.online/blog/the-benefits-of-project-management-for-small-business-owners

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/small-business/project-management/articles/project-management-for-small-business/

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-using-project-management-software-2196.html