Top Tips for Coordinating Multiple Projects With Project Coordination Software
It goes without saying that coordinating and managing multiple projects is difficult. Looking to improve your project coordination skills? Find out Wrike’s top tips for getting on top of activities using project coordination software.
The Foundation of Good Choices: Measure Thrice and Cut Once
. How do you know that the option you’re going to choose is the best one? In such big decisions, you can’t rely on flipping a coin. Here is a well-known solution valued by millions of decision-makers: Compare different alternatives. Even if you have a favorite variant, it doesn’t hurt to take a look at other options just to confirm your decision. So for your convenience, we’ve prepared a list of Wrike’s competitors with a feature-by-feature comparison table. Take a look and make your choice: Wrike vs. LiquidPlanner Wrike vs. Huddle Wrike vs. 5pm Wrike vs. Clarizen Wrike vs. Central Desktop Wrike vs. Zoho Projects Wrike vs. Basecamp Wrike vs. Attask
GetApp & FinancesOnline Rank Wrike as the Best Project Management Software
Every quarter, software review and comparison site GetApp ranks the top cloud-based applications in various categories. The rankings are based on user reviews, integrations, mobile apps, media presence, and security. We’re happy to share that Wrike ranked #1 in four different categories: Project Management Project Collaboration Project Portfolio Management Task Management Click the links above to see the complete listings. To GetApp and everyone who has reviewed Wrike, thanks for the love! In addition to topping the GetApp rankings, Wrike is honored to have been awarded Best Project Management Software for the second year in a row by FinancesOnline. The B2B and SaaS product review site awarded Wrike a 9.8 out of 10 for excellent customer satisfaction, flexibility, and reliability. Wrike also received the site’s Supreme Software and Expert’s Choice Awards for 2016. We're ecstatic that our work in introducing what is software professional services to so many is being recognised. Read the full review on FinancesOnline. Lastly, high user ratings on TrustRadius resulted in Wrike receiving a 2016 Top Rated badge in the Project Management category. In addition, Wrike was recognized as a Leader in Project Management and High-Performer in Social Collaboration by G2Crowd, and received a "Users Love Wrike" badge. We’re so grateful to our users for sharing their positive experiences with Wrike. Thank you for a great 2015, and here's to 2016 and beyond!
How Technology Affects Project Management
It was not that long ago that a printed-out Project Charter would be the start of project approval. The key stakeholders would physically sign the document, which would be passed in the internal mail between parties, finally returning to the project manager to update the version control for the document to version 1.0. She would then file it away for safe-keeping and proof that the initiation phase was over and that the real work could begin. Does that sound like your workplace now? Most project sponsors would now expect the entire approvals process to be done by email. That is not to say that you can skip getting formal project approval. Instead, the way you go about securing sponsor sign off is different, due to the technology available to you – and them – in the workplace. No longer do project managers have a filing cabinet of original functional specs and documents signed off in ink. They are more likely to hot desk with limited storage space for project files. Documentation is stored electronically on a central shared server, with scanned copies of any documentation that has been signed. Copies of approval emails are stored with the rest of the project documents on the server. This is now the accepted ways of working, even in industries like financial services which typically take a while to catch up. The Google Generation This approach to handling documentation has evolved due to the availability of technology of work, and an evolution of the way in which we use it. This has given risen to the ‘Google generation’. You probably fall into this category. It is not to do with age. It is a distinction based on the adoption of new technology. If you want information, you can go to Google (or your favourite search engine), type your question and get a relevant response in a fraction of a second. The Google search engine has changed the way project stakeholders expect to get information. In other words, if you need to find something out, you expect to be able to do so quickly and conveniently. It is no longer necessary to trawl through encyclopædias or take a trip to the library to do research. If you don’t know the answer, you can Google the question on your computer or mobile phone. This phenomena has contributed the rise of cheating in pub quizzes, but it has also made project management more difficult. In the past – and it wasn’t that long ago – the monthly steering group report would be an adequate representation of the project status. It was acknowledged that it was not a real-time project position, but it was accurate enough for the purposes of judging progress against milestones and budget. This data would be sufficient for steering group, and if anyone else wanted a formal project status report, the latest steering group report could be handed over as a snapshot in time. Most of the time, people were happy with this level of detail, even though implicitly they knew it could no longer be true. Only in an emergency would any one ask to see anything more up to date. Project info at your fingertips Today, project stakeholders have different expectations about project information, because they can get other information at the click of button. You want to know the weather in Bangalore? Google it. You want real-time stock prices on the FTSE? Google it. You want up to date project status reports. Here’s last month’s steering group report, precisely 19 days out of date. This lack of real-time data is no longer acceptable to project stakeholders who can get everything else in a fraction of a second. Sixteen per cent of the workforce is what research group IDG calls ‘hyperconnected’. These people have “fully embraced the brave new world… They liberally use technology devices and applications for both personal and business use.” IDG also estimates that the amount of workers falling into this category could soon be up to 40%. The fact that people are connected at work and at home has a knock-on impact on the way in which we provide project data. Now project stakeholders expect real-time, up to date status reports. Or at least, they expect you to give them that information whenever they ask for it, by return of email. Project managers now have to deal with those raised expectations and always be on top of project status in case anyone asks. And I think we should be. Project managers who don’t know what is going on — and are not able to communicate it — aren’t serving the needs of the project team or the wider stakeholder community. Of course, accurate and timely information works both ways, and we need it from sponsors too. So how have you adapted your project management practices to the evolving needs of your hyperconnected stakeholders? About the Author Elizabeth Harrin has ten years of experience managing projects. She’s a member of PMI’s New Media Council, and she writes about projects on her award-winning blog A Girl’s Guide to Project Management. She’s also the author of Project Management in the Real World, a case-study based book that tells you what you really need to know to succeed in project management.
Wrike as Marketing Project Management Software
We prepared a video in which our users, Philip and Laura, tell you how Wrike helps them with their marketing project management. Additionally, you will learn how to: create tasks attach files to tasks set the due date of tasks add folders organize tasks in folders delegate tasks to your associates give the responsible party 24/7 access to tasks be notified about changes in tasks and, finally, how to get control and a unique visibility of operations Watch the full-sized video: How a manager plans a Product Launch in Wrike Feel free to ask questions and make comments. We’ll be happy to give you additional details about how you can benefit from Wrike.
How to Choose the Best Project Management Software for Your Company
The best project management software for small businesses should include a few key features. Find out some core capabilities you’ll need whether you’re looking for project management software for startups or another type of organization.
Optimizing Project Productivity With Integrated Project Management
Read and discover how Wrike’s innovative integrated project management system can help your company optimize its project workflows with ease and clarity. Project coordination becomes more efficient and streamlined with Wrike’s simple project management software.
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.
Most Wanted Project Management Software Features: GetApp Report
To prove their hypothesis, GetApp surveyed over 200 US-based project managers who rely on project management software to do their job. Almost 45% of those surveyed work in the IT sector, with more than three quarters working in a small business. The result is in their Project Management Software Features Report.
The State of Project Management in 2015 (Infographic)
Project management is becoming an essential part of running a successful company. But in an evolving industry like project management, where trends, top tools, and best practices are always changing, how can you tell if your approach to managing projects is outdated? This infographic collects statistics on various aspects of the project management industry to give you: Insights into the top business challenges leading to project failure The compelling benefits of introducing project management to your company Emerging trends that are shaping the future of project management (and your business!) Take a look at this infographic, and learn more about project management in this complete collection of project management statistics. Share this infographic on social media, or embed it on your own site using this code: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Project Management Tools to Accelerate Your Business If you want to introduce better project management to your business, you can start learning more now. Discover how a project management tool like Wrike can keep all your business projects running smoothly!