It is the year 2022. With the aid of project management software, you routinely check items off your list. Project management software simplifies project planning, task allocation, and team organization to meet deadlines and objectives. However, selecting one can be challenging. Therefore, we researched dozens of the industry’s top vendors to identify the most effective project management software for small businesses in 2022.
The best project management software simplifies and facilitates team organization of projects and tasks.
With a substantial percentage of employees working from home due to the pandemic, project management software is more vital than ever, enabling remote teams to manage projects and tasks easily.
Unlike in the past, when paper or spreadsheets were required, modern project management software typically provides various tools to increase productivity and simplify the management of activities.
Typical features may include:
- Creating a team and facilitating communication between members.
- Assigning particular subtasks with due dates, goals, and interactive calendars.
- Progress reports.
- Analytics that provide information on workflows.
How To Select Project Management Software
A small number of calls will ask about the PMI Software Survey. Unfortunately, the last update to this useful resource occurred approximately five years ago, rendering it practically obsolete. The majority of callers expect that I will be able to suggest one or more project management software solutions. However, this is hazardous. Software tools should be tailored to the type of project your business performs and how it manages projects. These tools are an extension of your non-automated practices and procedures. Therefore they must be compatible with them and your company’s culture. Many project management software packages are available for most computer platforms.
Benefits Of Project Management Software
Overall, project management software aids firms by keeping track of the development of projects, campaigns, resources, allocation, and tasks throughout an organization. In addition, project managers and team leaders can understand how organizations and teams progress and maintain team unity with project management software.
With the recent transition to remote and hybrid work, teams without project management software have struggled to keep track of all remote work and project updates, as we can no longer rely on in-person meetings to communicate. Therefore, in 2022, project management software is more important than ever, whether you’re just establishing a business or searching for strategies to adapt to an existing corporation.
Here are a few significant advantages of using project management software:
- Improves communication and teamwork within a company
- Provides leadership with a macro view of the project’s progress
- It Helps teams maintain perspective on their duties and comprehend their priorities
- Assists in cost control and budget management
- Helps allocate resources and reduces team-wide burnout
- Facilitates remote collaboration for distributed or hybrid work model-based teams
Best Platforms for Project Management Software
Countless project management tools and productivity apps help you focus on jobs and projects with expert precision. To help you understand it all, we’ve compiled a list of the finest project management tools to bring you and your team closer to productivity heaven.
1. Monday.com
Companies like Hulu, BBC Studios, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal Paris, Adobe, and Deezer use the award-winning project management platform monday.com across several industries.
Monday.com includes resource and project management, time tracking, collaboration, and reporting services for managing projects. Users can, for instance, upload and attach files to cards, write comments, and mention teammates. It also provides an excellent project reporting dashboard that can aggregate data from several boards, allowing for enhanced progress monitoring. You can use monday.com to track hours, deadlines, and invoices, even though it does not provide a complete set of capabilities for project accounting and invoicing as other programs do.
2. The ClickUp
Your team’s projects may be managed and completed on a single platform with the project management software ClickUp. Users may plan projects, organize tasks, manage resources, and communicate and collaborate with team members and guests in a centralized workspace.
ClickUp also offers collaborative tools for generating, sharing, and revising documents and Wikis. Users can annotate documents and assignments, assign comments, and chat with other team members to enhance team communication and collaboration. ClickUp offers native connectors with Slack, G Suite, Dropbox, and numerous more applications, in addition to over 1,000 integrations via Zapier.
3. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like project management application. It has earned several awards for rapidly becoming a popular commercial application. If you want a break from complex mathematics, Smartsheet is a great project management tool. It does all computations across multiple sheets. Individual projects can also include bespoke brand logos and color themes.
Smartsheet’s connectors include Microsoft and Google applications and Jira and Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Box, and Tableau, which are all practical business applications. In addition, the platform can be extended using a REST API and webhooks.
4. Hive
Hive is a project management and collaboration software utilized by businesses such as Starbucks, Uber, WeWork, and IBM. As the first community-built software in the world, Hive’s product plan is entirely based on client requests.
Hive’s time-tracking, analytic, and view-customization features provide a transparent awareness of team members’ work and upcoming projects. Hive’s project management solution also features complete email connectivity, allowing users to send and receive Gmail and Outlook messages from within the application.
5. Teamwork
As its name implies, teamwork is project management software that facilitates team and workload management. The Ireland-based platform provides the same functionality as other leading PM solutions but excels in time tracking, budgeting, and stakeholder management. As a result, teamwork can optimize the worldwide scattered processes of the future, whether it’s staff or a third-party contractor.
6. Wrike
Wrike, the newest subsidiary of cloud computing titan Citrix, was already one of the most prominent names in project management software before receiving funding from the company. Wrike’s feature set includes custom request forms, risk forecasts, invoicing software, and enterprise-grade security, and it can manage whole project portfolios. In addition, I found the platform robust, with clear use cases for small enterprises, big organizations, and various team functions.
7. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects, part of the Zoho portfolio of solutions, provides teams with tools for monitoring projects, issues, time, and resources to maximize cooperation and efficiency. For example, blueprints enable users to visualize and modify project data in real-time using views such as a traditional spreadsheet, basic list, Kanban board, or Gantt chart, as well as automate mapping procedures.
Despite being the most economical project management software, Zoho Projects provides many features. In addition, it lacks some of the scalable and advanced capabilities of the leading systems.
8. GanttPRO
GanttPRO is a Gantt chart-based project management software that effectively manages various projects and teams. Its user-friendly interface and robust functionality distinguish it.
The software contains capabilities for efficiently subdividing projects into subtasks, sibling tasks, and subprojects and establishing dependencies and milestones. Users can pick between the Gantt chart, Board views, and task dashboards to increase their visibility. In addition to statuses, priorities, duration & estimation, progress, dates & deadlines, assignees, and more, GanttPRO provides useful task management capabilities such as duration & estimation, progress, and more.
9. Nifty
Nifty is a project management software that shortens project development cycles and increases team efficiency by assessing progress against milestones and ensuring that corporate objectives are met on time. It enables task management via Kanban or list views, has an integrated calendar that can be integrated with Google, and tools for file and document sharing. Additionally, Nifty includes excellent collaboration tools, such as project-specific discussion threads.
Nifty allows importing data from Asana, Basecamp, ClickUp, and Trello. It also offers native interfaces with Slack, Zoom, GitHub, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Calendar.
10. Asana
Asana is a task management application that includes automation capabilities, a rule builder, and more workplace management components. The Timeline feature of Asana enables users to construct a plan that illustrates how the components of a project fit together and keeps work on track when circumstances change.
Asana’s user interface is vibrant, detailed, and appealing, with everything from segregated productivity items to entertaining cartoon animations that “zoom” across the screen when a task is completed. As a result, it earned them a high score in the UX evaluation criteria category. In addition, users may link Asana to Zapier, Automate.io, and others to combine it with tens of thousands of additional applications.
Conclusion
When picking which project management software to download and use, you should first assess your actual demands, as free platforms may only offer basic features, so if you require advanced tools, a paid platform may be more worthwhile. In addition, free and low-cost software solutions may be limited in terms of the range of tools accessible. At the same time, high-end software can truly meet any need. Therefore, you should clearly understand the features you may require. Software tools for project management software allow teams, small enterprises, and individuals to keep track of all project stages. These software solutions can work remotely and collaborate on a project, add notes and deadlines, monitor progress, and provide updates. In addition, some software solutions have search capabilities, email integration, and organizational advice.