The modern business environment has become competitive. As a result, project managers are always working under pressure not only to profit but also to avoid getting edged out of business. 

That means you need to know exactly where you stand – with regard to your employees, customers, suppliers, and vendors. Operating below peak performance means loss of revenue – which will attract a backlash from stakeholders and increased chances of getting trounced by competitors.

To prevent things from spiraling out of control (and loss of revenue), project managers are increasingly investing in project management software.

How can Project Management software help to increase profits?

Helps you keep a commercial focus

The profit margins obtained from a project largely depends on your overhead costs. For you to maintain healthy margins, you have to keep overhead costs low. One of the major benefits of project management software is the ability to improve cost control and budgeting at the same time.

It allows you, as the project manager, can easily track over-provisioning and under-provisioning of resources during the lifetime of a project. The ability to monitor the allotted budget in terms of actual versus planned will help you create future predictions with more accuracy.

For example, let’s say you are managing a mammoth of software development project. What happens when the cost of keeping in-house software development project team runs too high? It definitely will eat into your profits. But, using the project management tools, you can easily compare keep your tabs on the expenditure and how it might impact on cash flow and profit margins at the end of the day.

That way, you will always find a way of reducing costs and maximize the profits. For example, you could try hiring remote developers or even renting a co-working office space to cut down on expenses and increase revenue.

Helps you cut the cost of acquiring and running new projects

As a project manager, your main goal is to keep expenditures as low as possible in every stage of the project – right from contract bidding stage to completion.

One of your biggest potential gains will be at contract bidding stage. A study conducted Forrester and Deltek revealed that 61% of companies usually have a win rate of less than 50%. Now, the challenge is, every failed bid tears down your morale, wastes your time. But most importantly, it might lead to the loss of cash that you could otherwise have put into a productive use.

Again, there is a bigger trauma in winning projects with overly optimistic financials. How can specialized project management software come to your rescue in this case? A business management PMS helps you conduct forensic audits of previous projects that were successfully implemented.  For example, by using software that supplies with granular project history, you will able to assess your team’s capabilities. That way, it ensures that you won’t take a costs-hungry project that eats on your profit margins during the course of execution.  

Offer real-time insights you need to make wise decisions

If you want to grow your revenue, you need to understand the factors that are currently driving the success of your company. Thanks to big data, the search for elevated performance is no longer in vain. Today, you can run very sophisticated algorithms that will deliver deep and unexpected insights that are transforming the way projects are being managed.

Specialized project management software provides tracking and analysis tools that help you monitor the execution of different tasks in your project in real-time. That way, you will easily identify the top performers. You will also be able to trim away the under performing aspects and focus time management, monetary, and human resources on the core profit-driving facets of the project.  

For example, using Deltek, big data management software, Transport for London (TfL) is able to scrutinize the different project they run. The company uses the software to run scheduled analytics of the project in seconds, a task that usually consumed hours on end. That way, a project manager is able to cut the total work time by 95%. The time saved can easily be allocated on other sub-projects instead of getting used on mundane tasks. That way, it leads to increased productivity which in turn leads to increased revenue.

Helps increase project visibility, averting costly errors

Many work teams are struggling with the concept of visibility. Unfortunately, you can’t improve what you can’t see. A weekly status email cannot pass for actual visibility. As a project manager, you should make it easy for everyone to answer the basic questions like: “what is holding up task X or Y?” Or, “who is working on task Z?”

If you are dealing with a large project, failure to have visibility might make some of the tasks to slip under the radar. Your project is doomed to failure because it lacks the exposure it needs to run successfully and efficiently. And as a result, their health of your project suffers wasting times resources, efforts, and money.

Implementing project management software help provide visibility across the project and aid decision-making. PM ensures that everybody in the team is reading from the same page and engaged with the project. It also ensures that everyone gets to know what is happening in real time.

Being in this position of knowledge empowers your team members. As a result, it provides them with greater control, enabling effective decision-making and reducing exposure to risk. And most importantly, it increases the chances of your project to succeed and profit.

Bottom Line

The changing business environment calls for a change in the tools for the trade. As a project manager, having right technology can make a huge contribution to the net revenue. You need to improve. You need to manage your project to improve the profit margins.

However, it becomes very tricky if you have to operate your project using the sticky notes on your fridge. You need powerful and specialized project management software to successfully run your project. Software that guarantees better visibility to your project health for all the sub-project you are managing. PM software also allows you to track the project health and escalating any imminent risks before they derail your project. At the end of the day, it leads to increased revenue.