The Essential Guide to IT Ticketing Tools
If a problem crops up at work, who do you turn to for help? Technical issues are typically handled by teams known as the customer service desk, help desk, support team, service desk, and IT support. The information technology or IT team is important in every workplace, and especially in an IT project management setup. They help in promptly resolving any tech or IT-related issue that a team member may face, boosting individual, team, and organizational efficiency. Ticketing tools are a great way to help your IT team do their best work. In this guide, we'll discuss what a support ticketing system is, its benefits, and how to identify the best ticketing tools for your company. What is an IT ticketing tool? Whether a company comprises two employees or two hundred thousand, each one needs robust ticketing tools to deliver an outstanding experience for their internal and external customers. IT ticketing tools help record, manage, and resolve customer issues, user requests, or technical problems. How do IT tickets work? An IT ticketing system centralizes all support tickets and their related information in one unified hub, making the entire process easier to manage. Here is the typical process followed by a service request or user support ticket: Tickets are generated from user requests, created automatically by computer systems, or manually entered by customer support agents. All tickets come into a single consolidated queue, where they're prioritized by urgency and the company's internal rules for ticket resolution. Tickets are assigned to different IT support agents for resolution. Once the IT support agent receives the ticket, an automated receipt notification is sent to the user. The agent performs the activity needed to resolve the request or asks for additional information. They may choose to escalate it if they aren’t able to resolve it at their level. All ticket-related information and records are stored in the ticketing software and can be used for upcoming process improvements and data analysis or to support team performance reviews. Does your company need an IT ticketing tool? If your customer support team struggles with issue management and is overwhelmed by the number and scope of support tickets, installing a ticketing tool makes perfect sense. Your team members are probably handling multiple and diverse external or internal support requests. Introducing a powerful IT ticket system can help streamline their workloads, enhance customer satisfaction, and improve internal work efficiencies. Ticketing system best practices you need to know There's no point in introducing new software if your team cannot measure the results. By setting up important parameters and key performance indicators (KPIs), your IT service desk will be able to resolve customer issues, maintain high satisfaction rates, and meet service-level agreements. Here are the ticketing system best practices to know before you start your search for the best one. Provide self-service options Most customers choose to use knowledge bases over any other kind of customer service option. Encourage self-service for support requests that can be easily resolved. Provide multiple forms of content to help them, including community forums, video tutorials, blog posts, and more. Apart from reducing costs, your team will be able to cut the overall number of support tickets and help customers find answers faster. Add support portals Did you know that more than 71% of customers want to solve their own issues? Creating a simple support portal can provide the tools your customers need to solve problems quickly and review ticket resolution progress. Your chosen IT ticketing software should have a customizable support portal to handle diverse requests and allow customers to upload any additional information easily. Create a superior customer experience According to a 2015 Gartner study, 89% of companies are competing on the quality of the customer experience. With customer experience the new marketing, managing customer requests becomes a business-critical process that can't be taken lightly. Investing in ticketing software that allows your team to support an omnichannel experience, gain consistency in communication, and resolve customer issues across touchpoints could be a wise decision for your company. Robust analytics and reports Leading ticketing system tools support real-time analytics and reports that help you gain visibility into help desk operations. This, in turn, allows you to discover opportunities to improve service outcomes and KPIs. Using Wrike's Ticketing and Help Desk Template, for example, can help your IT organization achieve best practices for ticketing management while eliminating any service requests slipping away unnoticed. Security A secure ticketing system is a must-have. Even if tickets do not contain confidential or customer-sensitive information, you'll need to establish secure networks between browsers and the server using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Getting HIPAA compliance will give you and your customers immense peace of mind and ensure no leakages happen anywhere in the ticket resolution process. Integrations and customization If customers need to include data from other software or programs, having a tool that integrates with your IT help desk workflows will make their experience smoother. Identify if the software can be customized for your organization — this can help you increase your support team's turnaround times. For example, incorporating multi-lingual and translation support can be a wonderful add-on service for customers in diverse countries like Canada or the US. [caption id="attachment_465487" align="alignnone" width="749"] Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash[/caption] What are the benefits of IT ticketing software? Are you still wondering if your organization needs IT ticketing software? Let's evaluate if the benefits of ticketing tools outweigh the costs. Improve team productivity with automation We all know that automating specific tasks or job elements can improve individual productivity. Centralizing all tickets helps keep any additional information (such as screenshots, images, documents, and more) in the same place. Automating routine tasks and having a ticket trail can boost your IT team's productivity and keep all customer processes streamlined. Deliver a superior customer experience US companies face an estimated $62 billion loss each year due to poor customer service. No one wants their organization to be on that list! Many customers require help with multiple issues, but with an organized and centralized IT support system, these problems can be resolved quickly. Resolve and centralize all business issues All organizations have diverse internal and external stakeholders, including investors, customers, vendors, and other third parties. Service level agreements (SLAs) ensure that the company meets business obligations towards these stakeholders. So how do IT ticketing tools help businesses meet SLAs? Setting up SLAs can be a good way to hold your team accountable and ensure they are meeting the expectations noted in the agreements. A simple help desk software can help manage diverse SLAs, gain compliance insights from custom reports, and keep the organization’s relationships thriving. List of IT ticketing tools Managing key performance indicators (KPIs) like resolution time or ticket response time can help optimize the customer experience. Let’s see which IT ticketing tools could be a great fit for your team. Servicenow Reduce software, hardware, and cloud costs with Servicenow, a specialized digital workflow management platform that centralizes IT support workflows to transform your business. Deliver a modern and experiential IT service experience to your customer with secure, automated, and consistent digital operations. Connectwise Quit missing tickets with Connectwise, which lets you create, maintain and operate an efficient helpdesk team. Keep your tech agents busy with smart features, including multi-channel ticketing, mobile access, automated escalations, time entry management, and intelligent dispatching. Jira Service Desk Established in 2013 by Atlassian, Jira Service Desk helps IT support teams reduce manual effort, slash customer wait times, and get more done in their workday. Get various industry-leading features such as an intuitive self-service portal, conversational ticketing, and integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams. SolarWinds Web Help Desk An affordable web help desk solution, SolarWinds is also an asset management software that helps IT teams automate ticketing, develop a centralized knowledge base, integrate with LDAP and Active Directory, and generate custom reports for measuring SLAs. Happy Fox Reduce chaos with Happy Fox's all-in-one helpdesk ticketing system that lets your team get things done faster. Improve your SLA goals and boost your return on investment with Happy Fox's ability to create an actionable self-service knowledge base, efficient support ticket system, and powerful community forums. Features to look out for in an IT ticketing system Not all IT teams are created equal. Since each has diverse needs and ticketing solution requirements, the tools they choose will vary. Even as the urgency and number of incoming tickets differ, the core goal of installing an IT ticketing solution remains the same — to respond to customer queries promptly and effectively. Here are some features that will help them do just that. Incident management Incident management is an issue management process that focuses on restoring company operations as soon as possible by quickly resolving any existential issues. Quite similar to firefighting, incident management involves identifying a problem, diagnosing it, and fixing it immediately. Multi-channel support When more than 80% of organizations deploy an omnichannel customer experience strategy, no one wants their organization to be left behind. Today’s IT project management trends confirm that companies need to be where customers are. The ticketing solution you choose should have the flexibility to create help desk tickets from phone calls, emails, live chat, and social media. You should be able to manage all this from one single intuitive dashboard. Usability and self-service function Ticketing software attributes should include features that improve efficiency, such as automation elements, structured routing of tickets, and provision for simple workflows. User experience for both the agent and the customer should be simple, easy, and intuitive. Adding self-service components can drastically reduce the number of tickets while enabling a quicker resolution. [caption id="attachment_465493" align="alignnone" width="750"] Photo by Simon Abrams on Unsplash[/caption] Multi-lingual support Does your organization have customers in countries around the world? Why not consider a ticketing solution that has language translation inbuilt? Unique and genuinely customer-focused features like this one will increase your support teams' turnaround times and keep your customers happier. Knowledge base Create a powerful and self-serving knowledge base that lets customers evaluate and resolve more straightforward queries without actually creating a ticket. Include customer FAQs, service and product updates, video tutorials, and blog guides to reduce ticket volume and support costs for the organization. Scalability Every organization grows. When you are debating ticketing solutions, pick one that lets your business scale faster and more effectively. Data storage, number of teams allowed, number of customers managed, and user accounts are just a few features that will help you pinpoint the ticketing software options that best fit your needs. Reports and analytics A powerful reporting and analytics function should be a must-have on your IT ticketing system shopping list. You can match actual performance with predefined SLAs with the availability of real-time data around support agent performance, the number of tickets resolved, and the average time taken to resolve issues. Integrations Modern help desk solutions will give you multiple integration options with existing enterprise applications. With integrations, your team can use powerful data-sharing and automation features and boost the system's overall productivity. How to successfully implement an IT ticketing tool A tool is only as good as its implementation. To implement an IT ticketing tool successfully, make sure to follow the seven steps outlined below. Define your end goals Before you implement ticketing tools, make sure the team knows why you’re doing it in the first place. Setting clear and actionable goals helps employees visualize the direction in which team efforts are directed. Additionally, they stay focused on specific goals such as offering consistent customer support, reducing support costs, or improving service level agreement compliance. Clarify user expectations Ask the right questions to delve deeper into your customers' needs, expectations, or pain points. Do they prefer interacting with a live agent or having self-service options? Did they find the process of registering a ticket simple? Build your support team Delighting your customers is simple. Just make sure that your support team is knowledgeable, appropriately skilled in using the company service/product, and confident in resolving customer queries. Estimate the ideal IT project support team size by quickly reviewing the average number of service queries your team gets in a week and the average resolution time per ticket. Set up an automated workflow Automate as many tasks as possible to boost support team productivity and save time that your IT agents can spend on critical issues. Features like automatic ticket assignment using round robin, sending automated feedback mails, or having predefined SLA rules can be helpful. Create an actionable knowledge base More than 60% of customers prefer a readily available self-service tool that helps them solve their own problems. Knowledge bases are the tool that they most frequently use. To create an actionable knowledge base, ensure it is optimized for mobile and updated regularly, with the most popular content easily accessible. Target predefined KPIs If your organization has an IT helpdesk, you'll need to measure specific metrics to ensure its smooth operation. Identify key parameters that are simple to monitor — these can include user satisfaction, ticket resolution time, and levels of escalation of more complex tickets. Test and implement the IT ticketing tool No IT system can be implemented without testing it multiple times to minimize the risk of problems and ensure that your team is prepared. Before going live, give your team time to explore all features and confirm that they are comfortable using the ticketing tool in their daily workflows. Why use Wrike as your IT ticketing tool? Help your people adapt to changing IT project management and evolving customer needs by giving them a flexible ticketing tool to match their needs. Using Wrike's premade template can help your teams effortlessly organize, manage, and track incoming IT tickets, whether they're coming from internal users or external customers. Empower your teams with real-time work visibility, custom ticket dashboards, and simple automated workflows to set them up for IT ticketing system success. Want to get started? Try a two-week free trial today.
The Ultimate Return-to-Work Checklist for IT (Infographic)
Your organization’s IT department has a key role to play in the return to work following the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only do they have to ensure that the office is properly equipped for returning workers, but they also need to provide support for employees adopting a flexible working model. There’s a lot to consider — so what are the most important tasks to be addressed before going back to the office? We’ve created a handy checklist for IT teams to consult in the run-up to reopening.
Why You Should Care that Marketing & IT Leaders are Collaborating More (Infographic)
Collaboration is the new way to work. We no longer make progress in the silos of our own departments, we synchronize the efforts of multiple teams to get projects out the door faster and with better results. 55% of marketing leaders say they're now collaborating more closely with IT leaders than ever before. But there are still many kinks to work out in the collaborative process. It is not easy to collaborate with new teams for the first time — especially other departments who are used to different lingo, processes, and mindsets. If you want to prevent your collaborative efforts from devolving into a war between right-brained and left-brained colleagues, check out this infographic to see the common challenges facing Marketing & IT collaboration, and then think about how your team can overcome those barriers. Sources: The Creative Group (TCG) and Robert Half Technology (RHT) How to improve collaboration between Marketing and IT professionals TCG, RHT, and Wrike have published several articles to help you think about how to overcome the collaboration problems between these two power groups in your organization. They're worth reading, so take a look: Can We Please Get Along? 10 Tips for Collaborating with IT Professionals The Great Creative-IT Divide: Top 10 CIO Concerns 3 Collaboration Tips for Enhancing Teamwork Why Every Company Needs a Culture of Collaboration
A Day in the Life of a Software Product Manager
You may know the general role of a product manager: they analyze market data and guide the product towards its intended purpose and optimal usefulness. But let's get specific — what does that actually mean in terms of daily tasks? Let's pull a Freaky Friday and step into a software product manager's shoes to see exactly what needs to be done every day. So, imagine you're in software product management. You're fast asleep, dreaming of happy users and unlimited budgets, when your alarm clock starts ringing.... 7:00 am Coffee. Major coffee. 7:10 am Take a quick scan of your messages and emails to check for any emergencies. All clear! 7:15 am Breakfast. Shower. More coffee. 8:00 am Time to head into the office. Once you settle in, fire up the laptop and run through your inbox, responding to whichever emails you can, and forwarding messages that need further research/action to your project management tool (or rescheduling them). 9:00 am Log into your project management tool. You review yesterday’s work, identify areas for improvement, and make notes for this afternoon's meeting with execs. Then you organize the new tasks you just created via email (or add tasks manually), assign them, and define any next steps. Next, you convert any relevant email conversations into user stories, add them to the team's backlog, and prioritize them. At your weekly meeting with the development team lead later today, you'll review the backlog and discuss any new stories. 10:00 am Ooh, apple turnovers! You grab one plus a coffee on your way to the daily stand-up with your engineering/development team. You'll do a quick check in, review everyone's progress, discuss any roadblocks, and shift focus if necessary. 10:15 am Check your Product Requirements Document (PRD), where you define all product requirements clearly in writing. What should the product do? How fast should it be? What are the release criteria? Make any necessary updates based on the engineering/development team's questions, changing market conditions, etc. 10:30 am Meet with your product team and communicate any changes you've made to the PRD. Consult with product design, review UI mockups, and check in with QA. Make sure your vision for the product is consistent and clear across all these cross-functional teams. 11:45 am Check key performance indicator (KPI) updates to see how products are performing, and take notes for this afternoon's report to executives. 12:00 pm Grab lunch with your pal Anna from the support team to catch up and ask about any customer feedback or insights she's picked up. 1:00 pm Meet with the head developer to review the results of the latest bug check and confirm the new feature is good to go for deployment. Then run through the backlog and PRD together and discuss any updates. 2:00 pm Coffee break! Then meet with marketing managers to update them on developer progress and talk strategy/positioning. 3:00 pm Run through the latest task updates in your project management tool, make sure everything's still on track, and respond to anyone requesting feedback. 4:00 pm Meet with executives to report on progress, discuss potential new features, and talk business strategy, including how to balance company goals and resources with the product vision. 5:30 pm Read your favorite tech blogs, check Google alerts, and scroll through your Twitter feed for the latest on competitors, industry news, and market trends. 6:30 pm Scan emails & messages for anything that needs immediate attention before the end of the day. Download and play with any buzzworthy new apps to keep up with new technologies and trends. 6:45 pm Grab a Friday evening drink with some co-workers and head home for dinner. Special Days Periodically, a technology product manager needs to set aside time for high-level tasks. Big-picture thinking. Hold an intensive brainstorm session to answer long-term planning questions like: “What’s the next phase of our mobile strategy?”, "Should we rethink our methodology, and consider the difference between Agile and DevOps?", “Should we expand into Asia, and if so, what's the most effective plan?” or, "Is this new trend something we should jump on, or just a passing fad?" Dig deep into market research to define high-level goals for the next several months. Your product plan must be rooted in research and hard data. Product & Feature Ideas. Take an afternoon or a whole day to tackle your product roadmap and create wireframe sketches or screen shot mockups of feature ideas. Look at them from every angle, consult your market research and user data using roadmapping software, and let your creativity run wild. Once you have something tangible, share it with your team and let them add their own ideas. Customer feedback & relationships. Spend a day interacting with potential or current customers: pitching, listening, troubleshooting, surveying, etc. This might mean a day of in-person user testing, meetings with a series of focus groups, or, if user testing isn't done in-house, consulting with an agency. Good product managers know customers personally and have a real understanding of their daily challenges. Demos & training sessions. Big releases will require you to take some time bringing sales and support teams up to speed on new products or features. Depending on the number and complexity of products/features, this could take anywhere from an hour or two to a whole afternoon or day. As you can see, good product managers need to juggle a myriad of tasks, teams, and priorities. They need to be effective communicators and technically adept, so they can interact with the development team and also speak clearly with customers and stakeholders. They need to be big-picture thinkers, all while balancing customer expectations with business needs and budget. And most importantly, they need to be persuasive! Although they’re seen as leading the product, they aren’t in charge of the different teams developing, financing, selling, or supporting the product and its customers. So they need to be able to convince others that their product plans are worthwhile — that there's not only a market need, but that their solution will produce the right product at the right time to capitalize on that need. If you're a product manager, we'd love to hear about your typical day in the comments! Find out how Wrike helps product development teams deliver amazing results, faster than ever.
Why do companies choose Software as a Service?
The growth of popularity of Enterprise 2.0 on-demand software is remarkable. This growth is not gradual. The pace of on-demand software adoption grows each month and equals 150 % year-over-year, according to Saugatuck Technology research. On-demand software, or software delivered to the customer via the Internet as a service, turned out to be a revolutionary concept in the late 1990’s. Back then, it seemed unbelievable to replace the traditional on-premise software, which you have to buy and install on your computer, with a service. The situation has now changed as businesses and the software vendors serving them are serious about on-demand software delivery.In 2005, IDC announced in its report that on-demand software will represent more than 3.8% of all spending, or $10.7 billion by 2009. In 2006, on-demand software was announced to be the future of software development by many of the authoritative media, such as Forbes, the New York Times, EWeek, and BusinessWeek. Today, business magazines announce that on-demand software customers are becoming more comfortable with the model and that, according to recent research, nearly 36% of large and small companies are considering bringing software-as-a-service technologies into their organizations. About 80 percent of those considering it say they plan to adopt it within the next 12 months. Additionally, 90% of enterprises that are using on-demand software have already stated that they plan to expand their use. Today, we have a great number of examples of software delivered as a service. The applications range from project management to CRM services. Factors influencing the enterprise Why is software delivered as a service adopted by more and more companies all over the world? There are certain external and internal factors which influence the software development and the development of other industries. Here are 2 major external factors: Fast-paced development of the telecommunication industry transforms and expands the former boundaries of software development. Telecommunications are affordable and available from almost any computer. Information workers enjoy high-speed connections to the Internet at home and at work. Almost 300 million people worldwide are now accessing the Internet, using fast broadband connections and fueling the growth of social networking and business software applications. Penetration of broadband services is seen as a key for developing businesses all over the world. Fast Internet enables companies to use software applications for storing, editing and exchanging information online and accessing it anytime they need it. Outsourcing development opened new opportunities for businesses. Business strategists started to pay more and more attention to outsourcing of non-core operations since the 1980s. In the early 2000s, IT outsourcing became a very important cost-cutting measure for thousands of companies. Today, it is increasingly viewed as a strategic planning and outcomes optimizing tool. A recent survey of American and European executives conducted by Accenture shows that 25% of respondents report first-day improvements in business processes with an outsourcing model. The benefits of outsourcing are incontestable: instead of building their own infrastructure and supporting it, companies outsource it to a third party and focus on the core of their businesses. They save on money, time and effort. As a form of outsourcing, on-demand software penetrates deeper into the way businesses are built nowadays. Major benefits for the enterprise There are also very significant reasons why many business owners and CEOs choose to adopt a new online service, rather than use on-premise software. These are the internal factors. Let’s have a look at on-demand tools from a CEO’s point of view, and we’ll see the advantages for the business growth immediately. As opposed to on-premise software, software as a service has 4 basic advantages; 1. It is cost-effective for small and large companies. On-demand software offers lower prices and lower total cost of ownership (up to 50% and more for project management software implementation, for example). Business owners get a faster return on investment. Companies "pay as they go," so hosted solutions often carry little or no upfront cost. The savings can be really huge. For example, in 2005, the town of Stratford estimated that upgrading and merging its two in-house Microsoft Exchange 5.5 environments — one placed at town hall (250 users) and the other at the police station (100 users) — as well as the underlying 10-year-old server, would run $180,000 to $250,000. Instead, the town authorities decided to sign a contract with InfoStreet, an on-demand service provider, to host the Exchange e-mail servers. The representatives of the town authorities do not disclose the exact terms of the contract, but they do say that they paid 20 times less than they would have paid for Microsoft to replace their Exchange environment. 2. Software as a service implies a short-term commitment, which results in dramatic financial risk reduction for businesses. By acquiring traditional software, companies pay significant amounts of money (over $100,000 for CRM solutions) and still face the high risk that the software may not fulfill the business requirements. In this case, there is no refund option. Instead, a SaaS product manager can start implementing software as a service by purchasing 3 or 4 accounts. The users will test the application’s features and determine whether the software complies with the corporate needs. Then the organization can gradually involve more users and acquire more accounts. Otherwise, the company can make a decision to move to another software provider that offers better service conditions. A good example would be Superior Industries, a company producing conveying equipment. They had turned to an on-demand solution when their top management realized that they could save up to 90% of their expenditures on CRM software. Later the executives of the company reviewed the return on investment they were receiving from their CRM service, provided by Salesforce.com, and decided to reevaluate their approach. Their switch to SugarCRM resulted in even greater savings, up to $70 000. 3. SaaS reduces the burden on IT staff. Moving to software as a service contract template means reducing the IT headcount, cutting the cost of hiring and training IT support and reducing IT operating costs. Internal IT personnel don't have to purchase and support the server infrastructure necessary to install and maintain the software in-house. The onus of maintaining a labor-intensive patch and upgrade process is taken by the software providers. With traditional licensed software, companies typically have to wait months for the next release of an application, which internal IT staff will then have to test and deploy. Very often, these installations are time-consuming and do not run smoothly. On the contrary, using software as a service means that a company will receive all the software patches automatically and usually much more promptly. Moreover, by using the SaaS product management, enterprises ensure that subsidiaries in all locations are using the correct application software version. 4. On-demand software usage usually means instant deployment. Traditional application implementation cycles inside companies can take years, consume massive resources and yield unsatisfactory results. With on-demand software, a company can start using the service the moment the provider activates the company’s accounts, which usually happens minutes after the payment is made. So taking into consideration all these advantages, it’s not surprising that more and more companies choose to adopt on-demand software and that analysts believe that this model of software delivery is the future of the software industry. McKinsey Quarterly named software as a service a disruptive force and called for traditional software vendors to focus on integrating on-demand software into their product lines. More and more, companies introduce their on-demand alternatives to traditional on-premise software. One of the best examples would be the project management field, where next-generation, Web-based applications have already displaced MS Project from its leading position, as they offer greater opportunities for easy and productive collaboration. Today, the IT landscape is changing, opening new competitive advantages for early adopting customers. What we observe is, while some companies are struggling with the pain and cost of installation, others are wisely spending their time and money on their core business and become market leaders by leveraging all the benefits of the new technologies.
Complete Collection of Project Management Statistics 2015
Need up-to-date facts and figures for a project management report, article, or infographic? Browse this collection of project management statistics collected from studies and reports from the past five years. The data and statistics below are sorted into categories so you can quickly skim to find the information you need. Simply grab the stats you want and find the corresponding original source information at the bottom of this page. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Benefits of Project Management —1A. Project Management Methodologies —1B. Project Management Best Practices —1C. Agile Project Management 2. Project Management Salaries 3. Project Management Training & Certification 4. Project Management Software & Tools 5. Project Management Industry Growth 6. IT Project Management Challenges 7. Portfolio Project Management (PPM) and Project Management Offices (PMOs) 8. 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Benefits of Project Management 80% of “high-performing” projects are led by a certified project manager. [4] ROI of project managers (including average salary and training costs): Entry level501% ROI Mid-level268% ROI Senior level358% ROI [8] 89% of high-performing organizations value project management, 81% actively engage sponsors, 57% align projects with business strategy. [6] 46% of organizations admit to not fully understanding the value of project management, even though that understanding boosts the success rate of strategic initiatives by 16%. [12] —1A. Project Management Methodologies 59% say either most departments or their entire organization uses standard project management practices. [6] Organizations that use a methodology:38% meet budget 28% stay on schedule 71% meet scope 68% meet quality standards 60% meet expected benefits [4] VS. Organizations that don’t use a methodology:31% meet budget 21% stay on schedule 61% meet scope 60% meet quality standards 51% meet expected benefits [4] Popular Methodologies:41% use PMBoK26% do not use a standard methodology9% use an IT methodology9% use another approach8% use a combination of methods4% use an in-house method to manage projects3% use PRINCE2[4] —1B. Project Management Best Practices Having a knowledge transfer process in place boosts the chance of project success by over 20%. [6] More than 90% of organizations perform some type of project postmortem or closeout retrospective. [9] 64% of organizations say they frequently conduct risk management. [6] 30% of project managers break up large projects into smaller segments, with deliverables and evaluations at the end of each segment. [5] How Project Success is Measured:20% — Satisfied stakeholders19% — Delivered on time18% — Delivered within budget17% — Achieves target benefits15% — Produces high-quality deliverables9% — Achieves acceptable ROI2% — Other[6] Keys to Project Success:48% say the team’s technical skills41% say executive support26% say effective team communication19% say Agile techniques17% say the leadership of certified Project Managers12% say effective soft skills among staff[5] —1C. Agile Project Management 38% of organizations report using agile frequently. [6] 75% of highly agile organizations met their goals/business intent, 65% finished on time, and 67% finished within budget. Compared to organizations with low agility, where only 56% met their business goals, 40% finished on time, and 45% finished within budget. [6] Agile organizations successfully complete more of their strategic initiatives than less agile organizations. (69% to 45%). [12] Agile organizations grow revenue 37% faster and generate 30% higher profits than non-agile companies. [6] Most Popular Agile Tools and Processes:Scrum – 43% Lean & Test Driven Development (TDD) – 11% eXtreme Programming – 10% Feature Development Driven – 9% Complex Adaptive System – 4% Crystal – 3% Dynamic Systems Development Method – 3% Other – 6% None – 10%[4] 2. Project Management Salaries Average Project Manager Salaries: Entry-level$54,953 Managing small, low-risk projects$65,818 Managing medium-size, moderate-risk projects$81,520 Managing large, highly integrated projects$103,047 [7] On average, it takes 7 years in the profession to go from entry-level to managing large, complex projects. [7] Average Salary of Senior-Level PM by Region: .graph .col{ text-align: center; width: 100px; display: inline-block; position: relative; padding-bottom:50px; } .graph .progress{ height: 111px; width: 90%; position: relative; margin: 0 auto; } .graph .bar{ position:absolute; bottom:0; height:50%; width: 100%; } .graph .text{ font-size:12px; padding-top:4px; position: absolute; width: 100%; word-wrap: break-word; } .graph .col:nth-child(1) .bar{background-color:#B85754;} .graph .col:nth-child(2) .bar{background-color:#6E99AF;} .graph .col:nth-child(3) .bar{background-color:#99BE68;} .graph .col:nth-child(4) .bar{background-color:#CC9662;} .graph .col:nth-child(5) .bar{background-color:#88C2C8;} .graph .col:nth-child(6) .bar{background-color:#919097;} .graph .col:nth-child(7) .bar{background-color:#D48AA4;} .graph .col:nth-child(8) .bar{background-color:#A2AFB1;} .graph .col:nth-child(9) .bar{background-color:#B693BB;} .graph .col:nth-child(10) .bar{background-color:#88C2C8;} .graph .col:nth-child(11) .bar{background-color:#7D84A4;} .graph .col:nth-child(12) .bar{background-color:#B85754;} .graph .col:nth-child(13) .bar{background-color:#6E99AF;} .graph .col:nth-child(14) .bar{background-color:#99BE68;} .graph .col:nth-child(15) .bar{background-color:#CC9662;} Southwest US$108,300 Southeast US$98,864 Midwest US$97,778 Mid-Atlantic US$110,096 Northwest US$101,446 Northeast US$103,511 Outside US$108,300 [7] Average Salary of Senior-Level PM by Industry: Energy/ Utilities$147,600 Aerospace/ Defense$116,100 Government – Federal$113,000 Information/ Technology$107,200 Construction/ Engineering$104,800 Financial Services$104,500 Telecommu- nications$102,800 Pharma/ Healthcare $101,800 Automotive/ Manufacturing $99,760 Management Consulting$100,700 Media$94,340 Government – City/State/Local$90,080 NonProfit/ Education$72,920 [7] According to respondents, five days per year of project-focused training reduced the amount of time it took to advance from an entry-level project manager to a senior project manager by 12.6 months. [7] How much do project managers make? In the U.S, Project Management Professional (PMP)® certified project managers make an average of 16% more (approximately $14,500) than their non-credentialed peers in 2011. [6] 3. Project Management Training & Certification 61% of project management practitioners say their organization currently offers ongoing project management training for staff. [6] PM Certification by Department:37% say their entire IT department is certified.33% say IT department managers are certified.26% say Business managers are certified.25% say Business staff is certified (both managers and non-managers).10% say Executive managers are certified.29% say no one on staff is certified.[5] Types of Project Management Training Offered by Organizations: Classroom setting – 28% Online self-paced course – 24% Online situational sessions – 18% Paper-based self-studies – 16% All of the above – 13% Other – 1%[4] Number of PMI Certified Project Managers: Total Number of PMP credential holders: 607,128 # of CAPM certification holders: 25,060Program Management Professional credential holders: 1,027 PMI Agile Certified Practitioner holders: 5,265[14] 4. Project Management Software & Tools 77% of companies use project management software, and 87% of high-performing companies use project management software. [5] Top Business Challenges that Lead People to Project Management Software: Capturing time/cost of projects: 62% Approvals are paper-based: 55% Re-entering lost data: 45% Lack of integration between tools: 38% No central source of project information: 35% Poor visibility & resource management: 31% Poor purchasing processes: 23% Lack of visibility into work in progress: 21%[10] Most-Wanted Features in Project Management Software: 1. Reliability 2. Ease of integration 3. Ease of use[10] 66% said they choose a project management software based on level of support available. [10] Popular Tools for Managing IT Projects:70% use status reports68% use the project plan documentation63% use spreadsheets53% use project management software45% use help desk tickets, work orders, or a task tracking system36% use time reporting at the project level31% use communication templates25% use quality assessments21% use real-time status dashboards20% use a homegrown/in-house solution18% use word processing documents10% use earned value management reports[5] The most important factor in choosing which software to purchase was functionality (40%), followed by ease of use (24%). [17] Most-used features include file sharing, time tracking, email integration, and Gantt charts. [17] Business aspects significantly improved by PM software: Team communication – 52% Quality of final product – 44% Number of projects completed on budget – 44% Number of projects completed on time – 44% Customer satisfaction – 38%[17] 66% of organizations use PM software to communicate with clients. [17] 76% of respondents said they are either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their PM software. [17] 5. Project Management Industry Growth Between 2010 and 2020, 15.7 million new project management roles will be created globally, and the project management industry is slated to grow by $6.61 trillion. [11] An expected 12% growth in demand for project management professionals will result in almost 6.2 million jobs by 2020. [11] Business services (2 million jobs) and Manufacturing (630,000 jobs) supported the greatest number of project management roles in 2010. Business services and healthcare are expected to lead job growth between 2010 and 2020. [11] The healthcare industry is projected to increase project management roles by 30% — a higher growth rate than any current project intensive industry. [11] Estimated Project-Oriented Job Openings 2010-2020: China8,153,340 India3,975,650 US2,348,830 Japan387,560 Brazil347,820 UK177,120 Germany153,230 Canada120,070 Australia74,900 United Arab Emirates18,000 Saudi Arabia12,670 [11] 83% of project organizations reported that they were understaffed at some level. 44% of the reported shortages were for senior-level project managers. 89.4% report that it is either very difficult or somewhat difficult to find senior-level talent. [7] 6. IT Project Management Challenges The average large IT project runs 45% over budget, 7% over time, and delivers 56% less value than expected. [6] One in six IT projects has an average cost overrun of 200% and a schedule overrun of 70%. [1] Nearly 45% admit they’re unclear on the business objectives of their IT projects. [3] Only 34% of respondents say IT projects almost always deliver value to the business. 21% say they sometimes deliver value, and 41% say results are mixed. [5] 78% said their project requirements are usually or always out of sync with the business. Depending on the situation, this may include technical requirements as well. [3] 75% of IT project leaders believe their projects are “doomed from the start.” [3] 17% of large IT projects (budgets $15M+) go so badly they threaten the existence of the company.[2] Top Contributors to Large IT Project Failure: Unclear objectives/lack of business focus Unrealistic schedule/reactive planning Shifting requirements/technical complexity Unaligned team/missing skills Unexplained causes[6] Only 47% say their teams achieve 70-89% of their goals. Nearly 20% say they only achieve 50-69% of their goals. [3] 80% of teams say they spend at least half their time reworking completed tasks. [3] Barriers to Success:38% cite confusion around team roles and responsibilities.31% point to being unclear or disagreeing on what constitutes project success.77% say they don’t always agree on when a project is done, leaving the door open for ongoing rework and scope creep.[3] 7. Portfolio Project Management and Project Management Offices Portfolio Project Management (PPM) 53% of respondents say they have a project portfolio management process in place. [6] The number of firms with a PPM process in place grew from 64% in 2003 to 71% in 2013. [13] Popularity by Industry:Finance – 87% Healthcare – 76% Retail/Consumer – 72% Insurance – 71% Information/Technology – 67% Manufacturing – 66% Automotive – 65% Banking & Capital Marketing – 60% Telecommunications – 55% Energy – 52% Defense – 51% Construction – 34% Other – 51%[13] 26% of firms say they get a 25% or greater ROI from implementing PPM processes. [13] How Companies Prioritize Projects:18% say strategic alignment14% say expected benefits14% say ROI[6] Top 5 PPM Functions: Portfolio tracking & performance monitoring – 75% Portfolio oversight – 68% Portfolio planning, resource allocation, and schedule – 66% Portfolio analysis, project selection, & prioritization – 65% PPM process implementation & management – 61%[13] Top 5 PPM Priorities: Improve resource planning & forecasting – 65% Implement/enhance reporting, analytics, & dashboard tools – 62% Implement/enhance PPM processes – 53% Implement demand management/capacity planning processes – 42% Implement/enhance performance measurement process – 39%[13] Top 5 PPM Challenges: Organization has silo mentality 49% Consistent application of defined processes – 44% Getting reliable/accurate project info – 42% Lack of info on resources- 40% Inadequate PPM skills- 39%[13] 42% of portfolios are comprised of more than 100 projects, while 25% of portfolios have fewer than 20 projects. [4] 55% of organizations surveyed review project portfolios monthly, 23% review them quarterly. [13] Project Management Offices (PMOs) PMO Popularity by Company Size:61% of small organizations ($1B) have a PMO[16] Number of companies with a PMO has grown from 47% to 80% from 2000-2012. 30% of companies currently without a PMO plan to start one in the coming year. [16] PMO Popularity by Industry:Healthcare – 93% Finance – 93% Information Technology – 85% Manufacturing – 78% Professional Services – 60%[16] Benefits of High-Performing PMOs:45% more projects aligned with business objectives28% increase in # of projects delivered under budget$101,000 cost savings per project27% decrease in # of failed projects18% improvement in productivity31% improvement in customer satisfaction[16] 49% of PMOs provide project management training. [16] Top 5 PMO Challenges:Resistance to change within the organization PMO is perceived as unnecessary overhead Not enough time/resources for strategic activities Value added by PMO is difficult to prove Poor resource management capabilities[13] In Organizations Without a PMO, Projects are Managed by:IT managers or business execs – 38% Non-management IT staff – 26% Project managers within IT department – 22% Project managers outside IT department – 9% Outsourced project managers – 1%[13] 8. Project Failure Only 64% of projects meet their goals. [6] 70% of companies report having at least one failed project in the last year. [15] Organizations lose $109 million for every $1 billion invested in projects and programs. [12] High-performing organizations successfully complete 89% of projects, while low performers only complete 36% successfully. Low performers waste nearly 12 times more resources than high-performing organizations. [12] Only one-third of companies always prepare a business case for new projects. [15] 60% of companies don’t measure ROI on projects. [15] Average Project Success Rates:39% of all projects succeed (delivered on time, on budget, and with required features and functions)43% are challenged (late, over budget, and/or with fewer than the required features and functions) 18% fail (either cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never used).[9] Average % of features delivered – 69%Average cost overrun – 59% Average time overrun – 74%[9] Small Projects (less than $1 million) VS. Large Projects (more than $10 million) Small Projects (less than $1 million)76% are successful 20% are challenged 4% fail[9] VS. Large Projects (more than $10 million)10% are successful 52% are challenged 38% fail[9] Large projects are twice as likely to be late, over budget, and missing critical features than small projects. A large project is more than 10 times more likely to fail outright, meaning it will be cancelled or will not be used because it outlived its usefulness prior to implementation. [9] Most Common Causes of Project Failure:Changing priorities within organization – 40% Inaccurate requirements – 38% Change in project objectives – 35% Undefined risks/opportunities – 30% Poor communication – 30% Undefined project goals – 30% Inadequate sponsor support – 29% Inadequate cost estimation – 29% Inaccurate task time estimate – 27% Resource dependency – 25% Poor change management – 25% Inadequate resource forecasting – 23% Inexperienced project manager – 20% Limited resources – 20% Procrastination within team – 13% Task dependency – 11% Other – 9%[6] Despite being the top driver of project success, fewer than 2 in 3 projects had actively engaged project sponsors. [12] 68% of projects don’t have an effective project sponsor to provide clear direction or help address problems. [15] Projects Completed in the Last Year:64% successfully met original goals/business objectives62% were supported by active project sponsors55% finished within budget50% finished on time44% experienced scope creep15% were considered failures[6] Strategic Initiatives:Organizations report that an average of 3 out of 5 projects are not aligned with business strategy.[12] Only 56% of strategic initiatives meet their original goals and business intent. [12] 44% of strategic initiatives were reported as unsuccessful. Top causes: -Lack of executive support -Lack of focus on key initiatives & projects that are strategically relevant -Lack of skills and/or personnel for effective strategy implementation[12] Over 25% of companies don’t conduct a strategic review to identify how a proposed project will benefit the business. [15] 60% of companies don’t consistently align projects with business strategy. [15] Want More Project Management Resources? Check out our collection of articles, free downloadable resources, and interviews with leading project managers for more tips and advice. Sources: Harvard Business Review: “Why Your IT Project May Be Riskier Than You Think” McKinsey & Company: Delivering Large-Scale IT Projects On Time, On Budget, and On Value Geneca: Doomed from the Start? Why a Majority of Business and IT Teams Anticipate Their Software Development Projects Will Fail PricewaterhouseCoopers: Insights and Trends: Current Programme and Project Management Practices 2012 InformationWeek: Enterprise Project Management Survey 2014 Project Management Institute: Pulse of the Profession 2015: Capturing the Value of Project Management 2015 ESI International: Annual Salary Survey 2013 ESI International: Talent Drain Fact Sheet 2013 The Standish Group: CHAOS Research Report 2013 The Access Group: Inbox Insight Survey 2013 Project Management Institute: Industry Growth Forecast – Project Management Between 2010 + 2020 Project Management Institute: Pulse of the Profession 2014 – The High Cost of Low Performance PM Solutions: The State of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) 2013 Project Management Institute Certification Registry, via LinkedIn Pulse. March, 2014. KPMG New Zealand: Project Management Survey 2010 PM Solutions: The State of the Project Management Office (PMO) in 2014 Capterra Project Management User Research Report 2015 document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function (){ var line_width,stat,line; $('.stat-line').each(function() { stat = $(this).find('.stat'); line = $(this).find('.line'); if(stat.attr('data-width')){ line_width = stat.attr('data-width'); } else { line_width = stat.text(); } line.width(line_width) }) });