Project managers in service companies have a clear goal: to deliver projects as profitable as possible. However, their completion on time, as well as the observance of the conditions established by the contract, are not exactly easy. Managers are often forced to rely on manual processes for project tracking, a task that can become overwhelming and time-consuming. If both project configuration, budgeting, resource allocation and project monitoring are done manually, delivering the project on time and within budget can be a difficult, if not impossible, task.
We have identified some common problems that make it difficult to achieve goals. Let's see together why sometimes the project exceeds the budget and misses the deadlines.
Low visibility on the project
One of the main causes of projects that exceed the budget is that managers do not have a clear understanding of the status of the project. Often, teams use different tools to update the status of the project, creating incomplete status reports and a fragmented image. These different tools, whether Excel or dedicated project management software solutions, can lead to a lack of standardization in monitoring KPIs and difficulties in updating dashboards. This lack of cohesion creates additional uncertainty and substantial effort on the part of the project manager when it comes to monitoring or reporting on project status or financial issues. And finally, all this lack of visibility and uncertainty on the data collected can lead to an unrealistic view of the performance and profitability of the project.
Lack of collaboration and communication
Project managers often have to deal with poor communication between the members of the team they lead. Using email or chat makes it extremely difficult to keep track of project status updates. For example, when project reports are given verbally instead of being tracked in a system, some information may be lost, which again leads to inaccuracies in reports. This is why lack of collaboration and communication in an effective way can lead to project delivery delays or budget overruns.
Poor allocation of resources
For service companies, maximizing the number of hours billed per employee is essential to maintaining cash flow and increasing profits. If the company cannot identify the most suitable employees to work on specific projects, it means that it is not using its resources properly. Also, in a fast-paced work environment, manual or administrative work slows down and diminishes the effort that could rather be directed towards the timely completion of the project. Clearly, non-billable hours affect revenue.
Lack of accuracy in billable hours
It is difficult to track the hours spent on the project and their billing, when team members report the effort by email, chat, verbal or Excel. Not to mention that reporting may not always be done on time. The billing of all these hours then becomes even more complicated, which, again, affects the performance of the project and its profitability.
These are, of course, just some of the obstacles that we have faced, not just our customers. Precisely because we went through all these challenges, we came up with a complete solution for the service area.
With this complete solution for the service industry, companies can gain better control over the project life cycle and automate business processes. This can provide:
- More accurate reporting on project profitability and other KPI
- Improved collaboration between team members
- Optimized use of resources
- Billing for services provided quickly and accurately
- Managing customer requirements and, implicitly, increasing the quality of services
