What Job Management Software Should I Start With?
The decision to upgrade your Project Management system can be daunting. You might have spent years investing time and effort into your current system, just to outgrow it. You might have built your business around the flexibility of excel, only to never have a cohesive understanding of how your team is functioning, due to the endless number of spreadsheets and versions strewn across the business. Upgrading your project management system is accepting that your current processes need to change, and acknowledging that you need to put in significant effort to both get things running smoothly, and to take advantage of the benefits of the new software.
Once you’ve made the decision to move, an even more important decision awaits; what software will be right for you?
Just like shopping for any other significant purchase, the first thing you need to do is research. Have a look at the options in the market, do any stand out? Which are designed for your industry, and which aren’t? Which have a simple User Interface (UI) and which seem clunky? Follow your intuition to narrow down your list of options.
Once you have a shortlist, take a deeper dive into each option, and check out what features they present as their best assets. Every software has a feature list on their website which outlines their best bits. However, when checking out these feature lists, take them with a grain of salt and review each point with a critical eye.
They say they have a Xero integration, but how does it work? Can it be configured to suit your Xero needs? They say they have customisable proposal templates, but is it enough to suit your current designs? If not, are you willing to sacrifice your presentations to suit this new system? They say they have flexible invoicing options, but will it let you present invoices in the same way your clients have gotten used to?
So, you’ve reviewed the features, and asked yourself how those features would actually work for your business. Next up – What doesn’t the software tell you? A software’s website can’t show off everything under the hood. They need to pick and choose their feature list; however, a deeper review of the product can reveal some extra bonuses you may otherwise have missed.
Our Favourites:
One of our favourite Project Management software is WorkflowMax. However, we love it for reasons beyond those they put front and centre in their feature list.
For example, WorkflowMax is owned by Xero. We can dig deeper into this simple fact to get a far better understanding as to why it may be the software for you.
- Being owned by Xero means its Xero integration is best in class.
- It’s got financial security. You don’t need to worry about WorkflowMax going bust right after you make the move.
- Your team only needs the one login for Xero & WorkflowMax. With a UI designed to reflect Xero, it can promote familiarity if they already use Xero.
Another example is WorkflowMax’s little-known email feature that lets you forward emails directly to your job as a note. This is a great way to keep the team across a project without worrying about who is and isn’t cc’d in an email.
Finding these extra bonuses when choosing a software isn’t always simple, and that’s where a cloud implementation specialist comes in. We know the software’s in and out, but more importantly, we know how they practically work for a range of businesses. We can tell you about the extra bonuses and workarounds that other businesses have used with success, helping to make the change as smooth as possible for you and your team.
If you’re in the market for a new Project Management software, but don’t know how to find ‘the one’ give Business Continuum a call. We can give you the confidence you need to make the right choice.