Projects are at the heart of all professional service businesses. They are the foundation that keeps the business thriving and the main source of revenue and profitability for any professional service business. Whether they’re short-term projects or retainer-based services that last for years, client projects are the fuel that keeps companies prosperous.
Ultimately, with the importance of projects in mind, it becomes pivotal for the success of the business that these projects are executed on time and on budget. While every project is different and has different underlying conditions, obtaining larger and longer projects and expanding the business can be a pretty good indicator for success. However, this can be extremely difficult for small businesses to conquer, because they rely heavily on manual processes, antiquated spreadsheets and ill-equipped ad hoc solutions.
Although manual processes can hinder the success of a project, ultimately, the success of your project relies heavily on your clients. According to a recent study commissioned by Accelo, client change requests were stated as the number one reason for projects going over time or over budget (87 percent of project managers said they were a critical factor), followed by client unresponsiveness (with more than 75 percent of project managers stating the same). Understanding the critical role that clients play in guiding project success is pivotal to understanding how to handle project planning and tracking, and ultimately the deliverables.
Considering the fact that project plans and scope will change often because of engagement or simple, unforeseen circumstances, clients should be updated regularly to avoid miscommunication about resources and budget. While the latest trend is to use a messaging and collaboration tool, the same study by Accelo found that project managers prefer to use email (90 percent), informal meetings (55 percent) and calls (49 percent) when collaborating with their clients. Thus, it is important to have a system that synchronizes with email inboxes and calendars to keep both clients and team members in the loop.
The simplest thing project managers can do to avoid the downfall of their projects and keep their projects profitable is to adapt a system that is both agile and flexible and can keep their clients happy. Without a tool to track project progress, managers are either manually tracking progress in a spreadsheet or they simply aren’t tracking it at all, making it very difficult to manage last-minute change request or client unresponsiveness. Ultimately, unhappy clients will leave, resulting in loss of profits. Without clients or profits, a professional services business cannot succeed.
