Project management plays a more crucial role in the growth of every business than ever before, says Heinrich de Leeuw, Managing Director, Seidor Africa, a leading SAP Business One reseller in Africa.
For businesses to survive in a post-pandemic world, project management solutions are more crucial than ever. According to a report from research firm Mordor Intelligence, the project management software market is expected to reach USD 9.81 billion by 2026 and grow at a CAGR of 10.67% between 2021 and 2026.This is because a growing number of businesses need an all-inclusive solution to manage and co-ordinate their portfolio of different projects. These solutions help management to shuffle between plans, workload, budgets and resources, observe the project progress and report on delivery. Project managers, stakeholders and users can control costs and manage budgeting, quality management and documentation and the software can also be used as an administration system.
The report states that project management software has evolved into a strategic function of today’s business due to the accelerating pace, technological advancements and digital transformation and disruption happening across almost every industry.
For project managers, the impact of COVID-19 on operations has been cataclysmic. The move to remote work has impeded the collaboration that is a norm in the project team environment. Looking beyond the pandemic, project management remains the key to success for many businesses. It enables control and visibility over all projects, from planning through to execution and billing, as well as improvement in all areas of project management, across job costing, project planning, billing and reporting. Integrated project management enables faster estimating, more accurate budgeting, more reliable deliveries and increased project margins. The result is better outcomes for the project and for the business, which is crucial in challenging times.
Here are some of the benefits of robust project management practices:
Correct estimating: With the right software, account resources, materials and time can be used as the basis for producing a quotation or proposal for your customers.
Budget vs actual spend: A pre-sales engagement that captures the estimate in the system allows the business to compare all job costs against the original budget, so the accuracy of estimates can be measured over time.
Gantt chart functionality: For project resourcing and planning, the Gantt chart is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed against time. With a dynamic Gantt chart, users can view the different stages of project dependencies and completion percentage displayed in an easy-to-understand layout. Project phases can be moved, extended or shortened interactively. Users also have access to added fields indicating due dates and completion dates. This improves project management by allowing easier visual planning of tasks. Gantt chart functionality also gives users a view of a team’s capacity, as well as the ability to drill down to an individual or machine for task allocation.
Just-in-time material planning: With a view of stock availability and lead times, materials are only ordered and received as they are needed in the production process. This reduces costs by saving money on overhead inventory expenses and reduces waste.
Increased project margins: Accurate capturing of time and materials against each project, as well as accurate estimating for all quotes, increase the profitability of every project undertaken.
Milestone billing: Payment on agreed on events or deliverables allows for improved cashflow and project income management. Invoice terms can be defined per project and split across several instalments or project milestones.
If your business is project-based, contact world-renowned SAP partner Seidor Africa to find out more about how ‘SAP Business One for Project Management’ can deliver faster estimating, accurate budgeting to actual spend, just-in-time material planning and increased project margins through better budgeting visibility.
