It’s 2024 and the professional services market is growing fast. Research suggests that revenue is growing at a 5.62% CAGR that will result in a market volume of $95.44 billion by 2029.
To remain relevant and profitable, professional service firms must master the art of project management.
From accounting and bookkeeping to consulting and legal services, professionals must constantly balance client expectations with internal workflows under tight deadlines.
The truth is, this balancing act is not possible without the right tools. An essential ammunition in your toolkit is advanced project management software.
If you think a project management software is just a digital to-do list, think again. Modern project management software offer a suite of features that can streamline workflows, promote team collaboration, help with deadline management and provide real-time insights. The right software can make or break your client relationships.
Challenges of Managing Professional Services Projects
Professional services projects involve a host of complex challenges that you need to stay on top of to deliver exceptional results. Given that 70% of all projects fail to meet expectations or even completion, it may be worthwhile to look at potential solutions.
Before we get to that, let’s look at some of the overarching problems that professionals, in specific, have with managing projects.
- Resource Allocation: Money and people are two of the most important resources of a project. Managing them efficiently is key. Did you know that 55% of project managers say that budget overruns are what cause project failures?
- Time Management: After people and money management, time management can make or break a project. Staying on top of project timelines and deadlines, meeting milestones and communicating this to clients is imperative for a project’s success.
- All Communication: Clear and consistent communication with clients is important. At the same time, internal communication also needs to be streamlined for the highest productivity. All team members need to be aware of timelines, deliverables and status updates.
- Scope Creep: Projects are often dynamic and changing project scope needs to be accommodated without heavy budget overruns or delays.
Given these challenges, a structured approach to project management is imperative for success. The solution to all of these problems is an effective project management software that is replete with the right tools for communication, deadline alerts, version control and real-time monitoring.
Vital Role of Project Management Software in Professional Services
A project management software streamlines planning and execution through a variety of tools: scheduling, deadline management through timely alerts, budget and resource control, internal and external communication tools are just some of the examples of features that allow a manager to track everything under one roof and ensure project success.
Such software also promotes real-time communication and collaboration among distributed teams, improving alignment and quicker resolutions when challenges arise. Simultaneously, they allow project detail sharing with clients so that they have access to progress, milestones, and deliverables, making the whole project lifecycle transparent.
Even though research suggests that having a reliable software program reduces project failure by 10% and scope creep by 17%, about 44% of project managers do not understand its importance. In the realm of professional services, its role is even more crucial given the complexity of deliverables.
Suggested Read: Best Contract Lifecycle Management Software
So How Can Project Management Software Help Professional Service Firms Excel?
Like all other technology, project management software works to make life easier for its human counterparts.
It eliminates time wasted on routine tasks, provides a centralized database to find resources and updates, and reduces implementation errors that may be overlooked by humans.
It Streamlines Workflows
Professional services firms often work on multiple projects for different clients at once. Organization is key for efficiency and effectiveness in such situations. A project management software simplifies workflows through automation. Scheduling, task assignment, tracking, progress, deadline management and document sharing can all be managed in a single system.
Specialized project management software by industry or specific niches can be even more helpful. For instance, project management software for accountants would provide a host of features such as compliance checks or integrations with existing accounting CRMs to make processes even more efficient.
It Improves Deadline Management and Prioritization
While handling multiple projects, there is always a possibility of misprioritization or overlapping deadlines. In such instances, a project management software allows a manager to clearly demarcate priorities and sort tasks by the most important ones.
When several members work on the same project and are dependent on each other for things to move forward, a project management software provides transparency and instant contact., Team members can immediately access documents in a centralized portal, check versions, contact each other to get updates either through a dashboard, file sharing, or built-in messaging. This drastically reduces issues like miscommunication or working on the wrong file.
It Makes Risk Monitoring Easy
All projects have some level of inherent risk. A project manager for professional services needs to be proactive with risk identification and assessment, finding ways to minimize if not mitigate its impact on deliverables and cost.
A project management software can make risk monitoring simpler through real-time insights and analysis of bottlenecks, blockers and challenges. Apart from analytics, software that have timeline and task management, alerts for upcoming deadlines and accountability visibility can drastically improve risk management.
It Allows Efficient Budget Control
Sticking to a budget so that the project is profitable is a challenge that many organizations face. It needs smart resource management in terms of choosing the right person for the right job, monitoring their performance and ensuring they do not waste time on duplication or unnecessary activities.
Firstly, a project management software automates many routine activities such as proposal creations through pre-defined templates, status updates and dependency management and timesheet approvals. This time can instead be used for other important project goals. In addition, features like expense tracking and management, integrating time and expense management and projections and alerts for budget overruns can be immensely useful for managers to stay on track.
It Makes Communication A Breeze
Project management software can drastically improve communication both internally and with clients. Teams that use project management software with advanced communication features see up to a 52% improvement in communication.
Inbuilt communication features in these software also reduces meeting times and errors lost in translation and increases transparency. Clients can monitor progress and point out mistakes in a staggered fashion instead of providing feedback at the end.
How to Choose the Right Project Management Software for Your Firm
Now that we’ve established the importance of project management software for professional service firms, how do you go about choosing the right one for your business? There are thousands of options out there. Making a decision on which one to use for your team will involve several considerations:
- Important Features: The right software for your firm should have all the features that align with your firm’s specific needs. Some of the must haves include time tracking, client portals, deadline management, and alerts. You could also choose a specialized software depending on your industry. For instance, Cone’s practice management software for accountants has features important for accountancy firms such Kanban boards, e-signatures and email integrations.
- Integrations: It is also important for your project management to integrate with your existing systems such as your CRM. This makes information transfers easier and reduces discrepancies.
- Collaboration Tools: A key advantage of project management software is ease of collaboration. Look for a software that has quick documentation and file-sharing features, automatic updates and version histories, commenting features and in-built messaging for seamless communication.
- Client Communication: Your project management software should also support external sharing of information so that your clients can easily track progress and have clear access to your team’s work.
- Scalability: Migrating from one software to another can often be a pain. This is why you should opt for a software that can scale with your firm’s growth and adapt to evolving project management needs.
- Privacy Protection: Since you will be dealing with sensitive client information, you should also prioritize privacy and safety policies of the software you choose. Look up the software’s T&C details, privacy policies and security features.
- Cost: The software you choose also needs to fit into your budget. There are many options in the market and some may be pricier depending on the features they offer. Compare different software and their pricing models to ensure it fits within your budget while offering the necessary functionality.
Reimagine and Transform Project Management
Having project management software is not just an investment in technology, it is a strategic decision that will drive your firm’s long-term success. As a professional services company, the right project management software can provide visibility into every aspect of your projects, enhance collaboration among team members, make processes more efficient and improve productivity. This will reflect on your bottom line and your brand value in the long run.
Don’t be a technological laggard and let project challenges hinder your potential. Start your journey towards greater efficiency and client satisfaction now! Check out Cone’s comprehensive project management software for a solution that will wow you.
