November 9, 2007

Using Technology to Manage Projects. A Look At @task

If you've ever had to manage a project which involved several people, several "to do" items and documents - you know it's not easy.

Many businesses, often for lack of knowing any better solution, rely on tons of emails back and forth, maybe Microsoft Excel and definitely several folders and paper clips, to manage projects.

While this "stone age" system will make do on smaller projects, it's going to be very inefficient as you manage larger and larger projects.

If you're going to operate to your maximum effectiveness it's vital that you use a system which keeps track of tasks, documents, progress and other aspects of project management.

Microsoft Project appears to be the big-daddy of project management software, but there's so many others.

One software as a service (hosted application) I've been taking for a spin is @task. I found it feature rich and relatively easy to use after a few minutes.

I think the interface could be more intuitive, but if you take the time to learn its ins and outs you'll be just fine.

A project management program, as @task so eloquently went through in the online demo,is great for four reasons:

• Team Member accountability. Companies have meeting after meeting to update everyone on what's been done. With a good project management tool, the number of meetings needed are minimal. Less meetings means more time for employees to be productive.
• Managers will like project management tools because it allows them to distribute and lead projects for even more productivity gains. If projects are off track - they can quickly take action. If a new project needs to be launched, a project management tool can quickly tell them of the available resources.
• For senior managers (maybe you ARE the owner, founder and senior manager), project management enables real information based decisions and not "gut based" decisions. From one screen you can get a quick update on the status of projects. This is where using technology as a tool for business growth comes into play.
• Whatever project management tool you use, I'm sure you're not going to stop using several other tools in your business. It's very important that your project management software plugs into other applications - as @task does. Maybe you have a sales force tool or CRM application - your project application should work seamlessly with it. @task works with Microsoft Outlook, Salasforce.com and QuickBooks.

@task Enterprise is $64.95 per month per user or $649.95 per year per user.

There's many project management software products on the market and it might be hard to know which one is best for you. @task is definitely powerful and feature rich and worth having a serious look at.

When looking for a solution don't just compare features, but consider your needs now and in the future and buy based on YOUR NEEDS.

A quick Google, Live or Yahoo search will bring you a number of project management software options.

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