Are you one of the MANY business people who fear that project management is yet another item that eats away at your budget, or isn’t worth investing in? This is one of the most common misconceptions in the business world today, and one that businesses need to change their thinking on ASAP. The reason? Project management is a tool for success, not failure, and investing in it upfront helps meet budget and business goals time and time again (for more information, visit our blogs page). Read below to learn 3 of the top reasons project management benefits your budget, and why you should care:
1. Ensures the solution, process, or technology that is implemented answers the actual business problem
Too often, companies spend their budgets implementing a new solution (be it a system, technology, process, change, or improvement.), only to find it doesn’t work, and didn’t actually answer the business problem they were trying to fix. When you invest some of your budget in project management up front, you are ensuring that this doesn’t happen to you. Project managers ask the necessary hard questions, and make sure that all aspects of a problem are analyzed before a solution is created, thereby making sure the work accomplished fixes the problem.
2. Tracks the process from start to finish
Just as project management ensures that your budget is used to put a solution in place that actually works, it also ensures that, throughout the whole process, the budget is being adhered to, and/or provides a clear analysis of when it might need to be adjusted. It is crucial to have an outside eye manage and track the budget, timeline, and goals of a given project, because their neutral views offer insights that are hard for someone “close” to the project to recognize. Tracking the budget and goals is absolutely necessary to guarantee that your budget is used effectively, and not wasted on non-value add details and activities.
3. Teaches your internal team all the skills needed to utilize the new system, process, or solution
To ensure your budget was used successfully and efficiently, you need to put a solution in place that works. A big part of this? Assuring your team has the skills, knowledge, and understanding to not only utilize the solution, but also what to do if future problems arise. This is yet another key area project management helps you succeed. A good project manager will mentor and transfer important skills to your team at every step of the process, making certain they feel confident moving forward. This additionally helps build team buy-in, overcoming the natural aversion people have to change.
While there are many more important ways that project management benefits any businesses budget, the three listed above are essential. Our word of advice: don’t let the potential price tag of hiring a project management firm/project manager scare you off. Instead of looking at it as taking away from your budget, look at it as investing in making sure you get the most and best out of your budget.
Interested in learning more about how project management could help your business problem? Contact us today for an exclusive strategy session! If you’re interested in learning more, and discussing other issues, email Kim West, or connect with us on LinkedIn and Facebook.