Recommended Reads | By Summer Wilde | Read time minutes
If you have ever managed a project, you know it's no walk in the park. Achieving productive and harmonious cooperation amongst members of your team is never easy, and there's one thing that's absolutely required for things to work perfectly: effective teamwork. But for that to happen, you must leverage the right tools to energise your team and manage the project at hand. That's where tech solutions come in.
Thanks to the technologically advanced modern business environment, project management has received a significant boost in terms of easy execution. Today, the increase in technologies built to enhance and reorganise project development means you have abundant options. Here are some of those tech solutions for better project management and collaboration.
| Wrike | Best for streamlining workflows and allowing companies to focus on core tasks. |
| Workzone | Best middle-ground option with more features than any ordinary project management software. |
| Kissflow Project | Best all-in-one tool for people and companies who are new to project management. |
| Trello | Best for ease of use and keeping organised when managing a small numbers of projects. |
| Kanban Tool | Best for medium and large size businesses needing to add some agile development to their project management processes. |
Wrike
This project management software not only enables the proper tracking and management of deadlines, schedules and workflow processes, but also helps users collaborate. That includes cross-language collaboration since the application is available in different languages. Used by well over 20,000 companies, Wrike's primary goal is streamlining workflows and allowing companies to focus on core tasks.
Wrike consists of features in two categories: project management and team collaboration. The project management aspects can help your team track dates and dependencies associated with the project. Plus, the features also help manage time, resources and assignments. There's a workload view and a sortable table that can be reconfigured to store project data. For the other category, the collaboration features help facilitate conversations, decision-making and asset creation by teams. These features also allow for fast file sharing to help with managing large files for better collaboration.
Workzone
This project management solution is often accepted as a middle-ground option with more features than any ordinary project management software. Notably, Workzone is easier to use than specialised applications, for a simple reason: it's a complete and balanced system with all the tools you need baked right in.
The software also has a workflow that helps sustain existing work processes and even create new ones. Not to mention, there's a helpful support team always available to help you solve any issues you encounter in Workzone. The templates on this platform can also be easily customised for specific tasks and projects, and the built-in email alerts serve as helpful reminders about deadlines and upcoming projects.
Kissflow Project
This software is an all-in-one tool that's not only highly efficient but also one of the most popular free project management tech solutions used by companies. For those who are new to project management, this software is the best option, but it's also a good fit for functional project managers. One benefit is its comprehensive list of project management features. Plus, the software is easy to use and has an aesthetic graphical user interface that makes it a good choice for all types of organisations.
Other key features include a user swimlane view that gives you an in-depth view of what each project participant is currently working on. The personalised boards and custom forms can also meet the individualised needs of your project and organisation.
Trello
This leading online project management software has some built-in collaboration tools to work with your teams. Trello is also easy to use, especially for those who are new to project management software. It makes use of board lists and cards to create project tasks and keep you organised. On the platform, you and your team can also collaborate within the cards, leave messages for one another and share files.
The basic plan is free to use, but there are other paid plans that add more automation, priority support and some other highly useful features. Take note, however, that Trello is mostly only ideal if you manage a smaller number of projects.
Kanban Tool
If you want to add some agile development to your project management, then this tech solution is the right tool for the job. It allows you to visualise your workflow while giving you seamless time-tracking functionalities. The notifications, reporting and team management features from Kanban make collaboration and task-tracking easier than ever.
In terms of ideal users, the reporting and document-sharing features are best for medium and large businesses. There are free plans for up to two users and two project boards. Paid plans are also available, which can allow for more users and more projects. In addition, the paid plan has advanced features—time-tracking, reporting, process automation and user management, to name a few.
Final Word
Many companies are shifting away from physically managing projects to using these tech solutions and others, for good reason.
To effectively manage a project from start to finish, you need to do a lot of work both physically and mentally. Project management software can help you achieve most of what you need to do, thereby making your tasks considerably easier. That seems like a pretty good reason to consider trying one of them out to manage your next project—doing so will likely enhance both your project management and the collaboration among your team.
Why not let us know what tech solutions you use for managing your projects in our forum.
Recommended read: Project Management Tools, by Duncan Haughey.