The pandemic started a boom of new businesses, unlike anything we’ve seen in this lifetime. 

From companies shutting down and forcing jobless people to make a way for themselves to members of the great resignation realizing that working for someone else just wasn’t worth it anymore, the job market is plummeting in place of new entrepreneurs bringing their dream businesses to life. People are cooking up soap and skin care in the kitchen, learning the tricks of the dropshipping trade, and creating content faster than the speed of light. But oftentimes these dream chasers are starting to do the work without laying a clear foundation to scale in the future or build a team.

It’s one thing to be an entrepreneur with a dream in your head and a solid work ethic to carry you, but when the time comes to scale, all of the information to run your business needs to come out of your head and go into a trackable, repeatable system. That’s where business software comes in. The one thing you need to improve your business performance is a well-oiled project management process that is managed within a project management software. Reading this will help you understand why you need a good system, how to develop your personal system, and how to choose the right software for you and your team.

Why You Need a Good Business Process

When it comes to how to best run your business, the proof is in the numbers. According to The State of Project Management in 2020 by Saaslist, “Project management team collaboration software improves internal and external workplace communication by creating clear project timelines and outlining related employee responsibilities.”  Their research shows that companies that use project management systems save 28 times more than those that do not and saves the average employee up to 498 hours per year. That’s nearly 500 hours of time wasted per employee that is costing companies tens of millions of dollars. And while the benefits of using the software in the present are more than enough to justify its importance, the process of planning ahead and using software into the future has much more far-reaching impacts. 

According to an in-depth report by the Project Management Institute (PMI), forward-thinking businesses are growing faster, building deeper connections with customers, and producing better products than ever before. And these growing small businesses can attribute much of their success to good business systems that manage and optimize their process. Processes are critical to ensuring companies are agile and able to capitalize on new opportunities as soon as they are presented. Process drivers or enhancers help entrepreneurs fine-tune their strategy to improve business performance. A 2017 PMI report outlines that organizations with high agility optimize their daily operations by recording and tracking metrics, being able to readjust priorities at a moment’s notice, reviewing their product or service roadmaps regularly, and more. See the below photo for a fuller list. 

Companies that have reached peak agility practice the same process drivers at a higher rate than those that have not. And peak agility means being able to capitalize on new market trends as soon as they arise, allowing you to position yourself as an industry leader and opening the door to higher levels of cash low or efficiency. 

With this understanding of why a strong business process is important, you’ll need to identify which business tools will help you find success for your growing business.

Developing your Business Process

Creating a process map for each of your products and services takes a bit of time at the onset that will save you time, energy, and effort in business for years to come. Getting all of the steps out of your head and on to paper not only frees up brainspace for you to function and focus better as a leader, it allows for clearer communication when delegating to a team or managing the project or daily processes.

This Project Management Starter Kit will help you organize the steps in your process and start to think about the best way to organize your workflows. It will provide you with key project management terms and a guide to layout critical milestones and changes during your projects. Identifying this information and laying the foundation for one project will help you learn to navigate this business function and strategically plan for all of your other projects and operations. Once you’ve gotten all of this out of your head and onto paper, it’s time to flow the plans into a software. 

Choosing the Right Project Management Software for You

Project management software runs the gambit from free task boards to highly powerful paid platforms. To choose the right one, it’s important to understand what’s out there and which features will be the most impactful for your business. Our top software picks for companies of any size or any need are Asana and Wrike. They have multiple plans and a plethora of features to choose from to suit your growing business needs. 

Asana vs Wrike

Both Asana and Wrike are web-based platforms that allow you to organize and manage your tasks within a project. They both provide list, board, timeline, and calendar views allowing you to choose the option that works best for your team. Both are used by companies from solopreneurs to large conglomerates, with Asana being used by companies like google and AirBnb and Wrike being used by L’Oreal and Hootsuite. Both Wrike and Asana allow you to customize your space and add workflows, custom tags, and templates that can be automated for your cyclical work. And most importantly, both are incredibly intuitive, making building out your systems and doing your work manageable and easy. 

No matter which software you choose, making the choice to organize your operations is an act that will benefit your business. If you’re ready to take the next step in streamlining your project processes, schedule your free consultation with Ampere Business Solutions. We’ll walk you through the process step-by-step and show you how to maintain your system without hiring an in-house operations manager or project manager.