It's common for employees in the professional services industry, as well as other small businesses, to work remotely, either as freelancers, contractors, or part-time and full-time employees; and customers may also be in far-flung locations. That can make it difficult for you to plan projects, delegate work and collaborate. A project-management system can drastically increase efficiency and productivity among widespread team members, and even make it easier to collaborate if all of your stakeholders on various projects are in one place.
These systems allow you to create a project and keep all the documentation regarding that project in one place for efficiency, and many store that information in the cloud, so you can access your information from anywhere. Team members can log in to give status updates, complete expense and budget reports and more. Just imagine being able to visit one site and receive a snapshot of an entire project. How much time would that save you?
There are many options when it comes to choosing a project-management system, but here are some of the most popular options:
Asana
Create and assign tasks through the system and you will always know the status of your tasks. Asana also enables you to comment on tasks—and it retains that information—so that you have a record of who is doing what and how they are progressing, which helps with collaborative projects. Plus, you can see each team members' work and priorities, so it makes it easier for you to delegate work to people based on their workloads and to increase productivity. Free basic memberships include unlimited teams up to 15 members with unlimited tasks and projects. Depending on your needs, you can upgrade with packages starting at $50 per month.
Basecamp
Create a project and manage everything, including scheduling, task assignment, discussions and questions pertaining to the work and more. The platform, available on Mac, PC, iPhone/iPad, Android and via email, is compatible with Safari, Chrome, Firefox and IE 9+ browsers. One added benefit is the weekly “Be a Basecamp Pro in 30 minutes” online classes with a live Q&A session that teaches you and your small business employees how to fully utilize the program without investing a ton of your time on tutorials and trial-and-error. You can sign up for a 60-day free trial, and pricing starts at $20 per month.
Zoho Projects
Upload documents, video clips, graphics, spreadsheets and reports, and see everything on one page. The "Feeds" feature allows team members to communicate and collaborate by retaining conversations, and the software integrates with Google Apps email and calendar functions. The free package covers one project and 10 MB of storage. Pricing plans start at $20 per month and 5 GB of storage.
AceProject
The platform offers customization of time and expense tracking and versioning. Plus, you can create Gantt Charts to visually track the progress of projects and tasks and view deadlines. The basic free package is open to five users, 50 tasks and two projects and offers 250 MBs of storage. Paid packages start at $19 per month and offer increasingly more options and storage.
Most projects could run a little smoother, and as a small-business owner, you probably can use all the extra time you can get. With so many free trials and free basic packages available, it doesn't hurt you to try out a project-management system to see how it can improve team collaboration and save you time as you manage different projects -- and your business.