Poor handling and management of project resources such as people, budget, tools, and more can negatively impact organisations. It can lead to numerous problems including below-average performance, low levels of productivity, high turnover rate, or worse—lost business.
When projects are not completed on time and do not deliver the expected results or quality, clients will be dissatisfied with the work. Unsatisfied clients will no longer consider the business for any job, thus contributing to a huge loss.
But if only businesses, especially the service-based ones (i.e. digital marketing agencies, professional services firms, etc.) realise the importance of resource management software, then they would not fall into the above success traps.
Through this system, resources can be managed in a breeze, individuals can become more productive, and businesses can sustain their operations for years.
So if you do not want your projects to fail, it is time to consider investing in such. Read on to find out how this tool can solve the most common resource- and project-related problems.
But first, let us discuss what resource management is.
What is Resource Management?
As its name suggests, resource management refers to the planning, organising, managing, and measurement of company resources. It works hand in hand with project management because it helps to assure that all resources are used effectively on schedule and within the allocated budget.
What Problems Can This Software Resolve
Lack of Transparency/Visibility
Project managers (PMs), in particular, deal with several projects at once. While multiple projects, might mean that a business is growing, it can be tiresome and complicated.
Imagine the goals that must be set up, tasks to be assigned and resources to be allocated. Not only that, but these things must be meticulously aligned, otherwise, there could be project deficiencies such as employee unavailability, missed deadlines, and so on.
These problems have one root cause: lack of transparency or visibility. Because there is a lot of work to be done, most project heads fail at looking into every project detail. But if resource management software is in place, none of the above will take place.
With this tool, everyone involved in the project gets a clear view of everything—project requirements, deadlines, time spent on each task, and more.
Project leads, specifically, can keep an eye on the teams they manage. They can see who is working on what, assign more team members to a pressing task, and check or measure the progress of each project, real-time.
Inability to Predict/ Solve Problems
Some businesses fail to predict possible problems while doing a project. Again, that is because things are not visible to everyone.
See how the first problem connects with the inability to solve project-related challenges? If PMs have a clear picture of how a project is performing including resource allocation, then forecasting can become a possibility.
Project leads and the top management can foresee problems, create a plan, and make adjustments before things get worse. They can iron out bottlenecks such as incorrect estimates, overlapping vacation days, and unmatched skills before they occur.
For example, a project is almost nearing the deadline but the person assigned with most of the tasks suddenly got ill and needed to take a rest. PMs can add other members with the same skill and less workload to the loop.
That is where a resource management system also comes in handy. This program has an intuitive dashboard that lets users see the tasks statuses—new, completed, pending, and in progress.
Failure to Communicate Adequately
A few organisations fail at giving the utmost value to team collaboration. They still cling to old-fashioned meetings, which they think improve team communication.
The thing is, meetings do not always enhance communication among team members. Not everyone is confident enough to speak out in-person, thus leaving some questions left unanswered and problems unsolved.
If this is the case, how can they build a healthy peer-to-peer working relationship and ensure everyone is heard and on the same page? Cue in resource management software.
This business tool is not only great at providing users with project visibility, but it also allows everyone to communicate with one another because if the collaboration features built in the system.
Examples of such features are @ mentions, requests, approvals, and email notifications make it easy for team members to communicate in both provide and public discussions around tasks, projects, and more.
The Takeaway
Investing in a central resource management tool is among the clever decisions that any business could make. Some may think that doing so would only add up to the expense, but it should not be seen that way.
Resource management systems should be considered as a business asset—it can turn the exhausting resource management job into a manageable one, thanks to its ability to provide full project visibility, forecast the future and enhance communication, among others.
