The Project Management Institute estimates that for every $1 billion spent, companies waste $122 million – or ~12% – on poor project management. They also report that as of 2021, ~35% of project failures resulted in lost revenue, and an additional 34% of projects experienced scope creep. In today’s fast-paced business environment, managing projects efficiently and minimizing resource waste is crucial for success.
While missed deadlines and client dissatisfaction are significant challenges arising from poor project management, the impacts can extend beyond the obvious. Scope creep can result in over-delivery of services, leading to greater complexity, resource strain, and decreased profitability for uncontracted services. Poor planning and inadequate monitoring throughout the project lifecycle can result in budget overruns and blown deadlines. Poor communication and lack of alignment among internal and external stakeholders can also result from poorly managed projects, leading to decreased quality of the final product. Perhaps more insidious is the decreased internal morale and client dissatisfaction that occurs when the project suffers ongoing failures, despite best efforts.
To prevent or combat these challenges – and save a lot of potential revenue – businesses need project management software that not only tracks projects to enable timely delivery of tasks but also enhances team collaboration, ensures appropriate resource allocation, and provides feedback on project success and profitability based on analytics. In an era where data is king, being able to leverage a company’s own data with AI and analytics enhances project management, success, and profitability. By choosing an AI-enabled project management software suite, businesses gain:
- Data-driven decision-making: Based on real-time insights and analytics, project managers can make informed decisions about tasks like resource allocation, timelines, and budgets.
- Risk Prediction and Mitigation: Leveraging historical data, AI-enabled project management software can predict potential delays, budget challenges, or other issues, enabling action to prevent or mitigate identified challenges.
- Automated Task Management: Using pre-defined parameters, AI-assisted project management software can handle tasks like meeting scheduling, progress tracking, and status reporting.
While there are many options available in the project management software market today, Zoho’s new Projects Plus offers enhanced functionality that builds on its two decades of success with its Projects software. The new service delivers a feature-rich platform designed to serve the needs of larger, enterprise-class businesses. The software delivers AI-assisted, data-rich project management coupled with enhanced security and governance. The service was engineered to deliver robust customer experiences around five primary pillars:
- Data Democratization: Enabling transparency of data for all relevant employees.
- Artificial Intelligence: Automating and providing data-driven insights to improve decision-making and overall project management decisions.
- Hybrid Project Management: Allowing project managers to use various project management methodologies (Agile, Scrum, Six Sigma, Waterfall, among others).
- Collaborative Work: Enabling easy communication inside the software among all project stakeholders.
- Enterprise DIY: Offering easy deployment and onboarding by customers without significant professional services or partner engagements.
The software provides customers with project and resource management functionality and project analytics based on proprietary business data, all surrounded by security governance and compliance capabilities to ensure the safety of business data.
Projects Plus also integrates with both Zoho’s own software suite and other popular third-party business productivity software like Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace. One of the most valuable features of Project Plus is its customization capabilities, which allow developers to extend integrations and build custom features needed to make the software more impactful for their specific business.
According to Zoho, beta customers that have tested the service are enjoying the benefits of Projects Plus. Thanks to the intuitive functionality, 74% of customers are able to use the software without the need for professional services or partner assistance to educate and train employees on the software. Businesses that move from other leading project management software suites realize between 30-85% cost savings while achieving enhanced team collaboration and more insights to improve project outcomes.
Even as clients are having their first taste of Projects Plus, Zoho already has a strong roadmap of service enhancements planned to advance the service for customers’ benefit, including native AI integration, enhanced workflow automation, and vertical industry-specific templates and content based on past data.
Excellence in project management can be a key to the success of your business. To ensure your business stays ahead in today’s competitive business landscape, it’s crucial to adopt a project management solution that not only meets your current needs but also scales with your growth. Zoho Projects Plus offers a comprehensive, AI and data-driven platform designed to enhance collaboration, optimize resource allocation, and provide actionable insights for better project planning and decision-making.
