In the fast-paced world of technological change, the future of project management stands at an important juncture. Many project managers are weighing the opportunities and advantages of digital technology against the challenges and inevitable disruption of implementing new ways of working.
In this blog, we explore the ways that project management is set to transform in the future and highlight how resource management software can offer organizations the capabilities they need in the modern workplace and should be at the centre of any digital transformation journey.
The future of project management
As forward-thinking businesses adopt digital technology they are enjoying a host of significant benefits like improved collaboration to streamlined processes, greater analytics and intelligence, and increased productivity.
But what does this mean for the future of project management?
Digital transformation is not a radical overhaul of what’s gone before. It’s about looking at a process that already works in a business and sees how the latest technology – e.g. the cloud, AI, Big Data – can improve it. The future for project managers isn’t going to be unrecognizable, it will still involve all the essential areas: planning, reporting, measuring key metrics, assigning tasks, resource allocation, resource visibility, and resource optimization.
What will change are the tools that project managers use.
What will change and what will stay the same?
Let’s look at a few of the key trends shaping the modern workplace and how new technology can enhance traditional project management techniques to adapt to these trends.
Cloud technology enables remote working
Remote working is becoming more popular than ever before. Colleagues can connect and collaborate from around the world, in most cases just as easily as in the office. For project managers this creates several challenges:
- How to manage teams across large distances
- How to best allocate resources when teams are dispersed
- How to communicate with remote workers and check on progress
- How to react to the unexpected and ensure changes are implemented quickly
How resource management software can help
The right resource management software can provide full visualization over resources in real-time. To deal with the challenges posed by large teams spread over large distances, project managers need tools to provide data in real-time. This way project managers have more control as projects progress. They can see what’s happening as it’s happening, wherever it’s happening. They can act immediately, updating project schedules and communicating changes to all staff. This might have been a time-consuming process before as data was manually inputted into spreadsheets. Now it can be done in a few clicks. Tempus Resource provides dashboards (including heatmaps and cool maps) and real-time reporting, which enable project managers to be on top of resources at all times.
Data and analytics offer new powers of insight
Almost everything we do produces data that can be harvested. However, this data is completely useless if you don’t have the tools to make sense of it and transform it into actionable insights. Using Excel for managing resources simply won’t cut it anymore. Lacking capabilities for visualizing data, Excel doesn’t provide the visibility or dexterity required for project managers to use resource data intelligently. Among the main challenges are:
- Ensure we don’t become overwhelmed by oceans of data
- Leveraging data to optimize resources and improve outcomes
- Reporting resource info and insights to key stakeholders
How resource management software can help
The right resource management software can provide sophisticated tools to leverage resource data to help you plan projects, as well as react to the unexpected. Planning and reacting to change are two fundamental aspects of traditional project management. With digital technology, you can now gain better insights and take more informed action. Cutting edge tools also offer what-if analysis, which can help project managers test out possible outcomes and scenarios in a risk-free environment. Users can move resource data around to see how potential changes will impact project success.
Tempus Resource is the future of project management
Although digital transformation will have a huge effect on how project managers operate, it’s a massive opportunity to unlock the full potential of your resources. Traditional project management capabilities and mindsets don’t get thrown out because of new technology; rather, these tried and tested ways of managing resources will be enhanced by it. It’s time to take advantage of this.
Tempus Resource is a powerful piece of resource management software that can help project managers, whether they are working with 15 resources or 5,000. Key features include:
- Easy to add and import data
- Modelling and forecasting
- Real-time reporting
- What-if analysis
- Integration with major PPM tools
To find out more about the future of project management in the era of digital transformation and how Tempus Resource can help you optimize your resources, get in contact with us at ProSymmetry today.
