Why is Project Management not enough?

What if I tell you that Project Management is not enough to manage your company successfully?

We live in the 4th industrial revolution, where technology is advancing faster than ever. Consequently, risks, unpredictabilities and opportunities are emerging much quicker too.

How can you counteract this? Read on...

The Situation within Your Projects

Think about your project management. Probably, your main objectives are fulfilling projects on time and within budget with the required quality.

Of course, every company is different, but when it comes to a project management approach, we can distinguish the following steps:

1. After receiving a project, you start planning and scheduling its delivery.

2. You distribute tasks and set respective deadlines between your team members.

3. During the execution, you control project progress, its financial health and the specific aspects of delivery.

4. You finish the project, store the needed documentation and analyse what could be improved next time.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Well, such a way of managing a construction company is common and has undoubtedly many benefits. You can focus on your project, assure better control over execution and deliver outstanding work to your clients.

However, you are missing something important along the way.

Read the reviews of the best 15 tools and software for managing construction projects here.

Meanwhile in Your Company

Let's look at the bigger picture. Your company manages different processes, always trying to ensure timely and quality delivery within the set budget.

To do that, you treat your projects separately with distinct team members, equipment and activities. Everything is good until some risk occurs to one of your projects.

It happened. A risk occurred. The situation in one of your crucial projects changed and now, it is time to react fast to avoid exceeding your budget or delivery date too much.

• You could move some of your employees between projects, but it is hard to quickly check their current occupancy without an overall view of your employees' schedules.

• You can assign more equipment, but it is tough to instantly have information from different projects about the available time to use the machines.

• You can hire an outsourcing company. However, it might be hard to predict the cost benefits without a proper financial view of the company.

Well, you must admit that without treating your company's assets as a whole and without a proper business approach, dealing with a construction project's challenges might seem more like fortune-telling than appropriate risk management.

What Can You Do to Manage Your Company Better?

To understand your company's needs, apart from focusing on your project delivery, you need to look at it as a whole. Your company management should consist of both a project and business approach.

Thanks to the joined perspective, you can better respond to your company's needs and challenges. For example, imagine having all the data from your projects (presented in an easy-to-comprehend way).

It is much easier to check which processes need more attention or additional employees/equipment. As a result, thanks to introducing business management, you can deliver your projects even better!

To sum up, let me present you with tips for a successful project and business management.

1. Include in your company's management both project and business aspects.

2. Do not treat your projects like entirely separate processes.

3. Try to set the golden thread for your company so that information can fly fast between departments.

4. Manage your assets (labour, money, equipment) more flexibly according to current needs.

5. Apart from monitoring specific projects, assure a full view of the company's processes, profitability and financial stability.

Read about the crucial role analytics can play in construction and how you can leverage it.

Invest in a Professional Support

Assuring project delivery on time and within budget while at the same time, keeping control over the company's assets and monitoring financial stability is a challenge.

However, you do not have to do it all by yourself! As I mentioned before, we live in a world of technology, so it is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of it.

The solution that can help you manage it all is a construction management platform.

Based on an example of our Archdesk software, the construction project management platform connects project and business levels with a streamlined information flow.

As a result, you always know the up-to-date situation in the projects and within the whole company.

Moreover, a modern construction management system has a modularity feature. It means that you do not receive an off-shelf solution, but just like the Lego pieces, the software's tools can be put together according to your company's processes and needs.

Level up Your Construction Management

In the world of fast changes and high unpredictability, your business challenges and needs might also emerge quickly. As a result, focusing only on your project delivery might seem more like a short-term strategy.

Instead, to have complete control over your company's profitability, efficiency and financial stability, you need to join two approaches: project and business management.

There are many benefits of including a business perspective.

You can:

• look at your company, see better which aspects still need more attention and support

• better manage your assets between projects, maximising the efficiency of used machines and reducing time and money

• react fast to any changes thanks to the streamlined information flow inside your company

• have a complete overview of your company's data available anytime without having to gather them from each project and calculate on your own

Read this article to find 5 tips for getting control over your construction projects.

I could add many more points to the list of benefits, but it is better to experience them yourself. Check out Archdesk's project management solutions by clicking below.