When companies start, they usually begin with a few software tools that are either free or have low initial cost. They commonly use emails for their communication needs as well as spreadsheets for information management. However, these tools have limitations, and when business starts to grow, companies quickly realize their need to have an effective project management software. Project management is crucial for companies to accomplish goals, reach milestones and achieve growth. It is therefore critical for an organization to know when it is time to invest in a project management software.
3 Business Needs that can be managed by a PM Tool
In an effort to help identify the three indicators that make a company upgrade to a project management system, Genius Project, a leading provider of project management software solution, conducted a survey and published the result in their white paper. In that survey, they interviewed 150 software buyers to gather their foremost reasons for purchasing and investing in a PM tool. In the past, most software companies focused on larger businesses that resulted in unaffordable or bloated solutions that small and growing companies have no need for. However, these have dramatically changed over the years, and now, companies have more options to choose from and are more ready to invest regardless of their size.
1. The need to manage deadlines, track status updates and budgets
According to the result of the survey, the first sign that prompt companies to consider investing in a project management tool is due to their need to manage deadlines, know what phase the projects are in, and enable project managers to report to department managers if the cost are still within or has exceeded their budget. An effective project management system will enable project managers to have a real-time view of the status of projects, warn them of coming deadlines, and allow them to generate and distribute reports easily to all stakeholders.
2. The need to implement a process workflow and systematic approvals
The second sign or indicator that companies need a PM tool is because they have a process that requires completed, interdependent tasks to go through and follow a workflow, as well as go over systematic approvals. To successfully implement this workflow in an intact and complete manner, project management systems like Genius Project should have a role-based engine that can manage all kinds of processes, allows for revision and approval, provide notifications, and include features such as document management, automatic distribution of information, and customization of pre-configured workflows.
3. The need to track time and billable hours
Closing the top three signs why companies need a project management system is the requirement to track time and billable hours. Many projects are considered failures because they proved to be more costly than advantageous. Thus, it is a primary requirement to be able to track the time of resources, the cost of tasks, billable hours to invoice clients, and manage complex billing rates of resources while staying competitive in the market. An effective project management solution should first of all be easy to use in terms of directly entering time and expenses into projects. Also, it should be able to provide weekly time and expense reports, workload and capacity reports, and project progress and cost reports.
Summary
Companies that are already in the growth stage with a stable process are ready to invest in a project management system. Since more and more businesses are becoming project-centric in their strategy, it is also a compelling reason to study and decide well in utilizing a PM tool that will be very useful in helping manage demand, requirements, schedule, resources, budgets, delivery and other important business processes. It will also help protect all the work and efforts of the company as it accomplishes its objectives and achieve growth. Since the market is currently crowded with various tools, it is equally essential to carefully consider the right project management software that would 
cater to one’s business needs.
Genius Project is a highly scalable project management software that has configurable dashboards and reporting features, workflow management, time and expense tracking and many other features that can adapt to an organization’s business process and needs. It is ready to accommodate a wide variety of project teams and project types in every industry.
Featured Partners: Project Management Software
If you’re interested in learning more about top rated project management software, the editors at Project-Management.com actively recommend the following:
1 Wrike
Tackle complex projects with Wrike’s award-winning project management software. Break projects into simple steps, assign tasks to team members, and visualize progress with Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and calendars. Manage resource allocation and forecasting with software that’s easy to launch. Automation and AI features strip away time-consuming admin tasks so you can do the best work of your life. Streamline your practices, align your team, and ensure you hit deadlines and stay on budget.
2 monday.com
monday.com Work OS is the project management software that helps you and your team plan, execute, and track projects and workflows in one collaborative space. Manage everything from simple to complex projects more efficiently with the help of visual boards, 200+ ready-made templates, clever no-code automations, and easy integrations. In addition, custom dashboards simplify reporting, so you can evaluate your progress and make data-driven decisions.
3 Productive
Start and deliver each billable and non-billable service by centralizing communication. Collaborate with teammates on tasks in real-time, streamline best practices, and let clients in on progress.
Stop spreading work across platforms. Subscribe to tasks to track progress, assign date ranges and deadlines, and check granular steps off with TODOs.
