You know it’s time to overhaul the way you manage client work, but where to begin?
Even if you know work management software is a worthy investment, selecting one you’ve fully evaluated and making sure your leadership team is ready to commit to the change can be intimidating.
Here’s a concise guide to help you properly gauge the capabilities of the platforms you’ve found.
The starting point in evaluating any work management tool should be its alignment with your business’s unique characteristics and needs, including:
If you run a small consulting firm, you might prioritize easy collaboration and look for a platform that centralizes all of your client communications. For a large architecture firm, you might need robust analytics and the ability to manage projects across multiple divisions.
The key lies in analyzing a typical project lifecycle in your company and envisioning your ideal way to interact with your clients. Discuss questions like the following with your team of decision-makers:
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How you do things today might not be the same as how you do them in the future. As you evaluate client work tools, think about whether they can grow with your business.
If you’re looking to scale, can a given platform help you establish processes that will withstand the pressure? Consider whether it can accommodate more users, help you manage larger projects and manage tasks more efficiently as your operations diversify.
Adaptability is just as important. Can you customize things like sale and project statuses to adapt a platform to the way your team works? Software should be versatile enough that slight changes won’t affect your ability to use it to its full potential. Perhaps you’ll decide to use new or different features over time. Ask about how that expansion might look now so that you can prepare for adoption later.
A flexible and powerful client work management platform will be able to address your needs no matter how they evolve over time.
No matter how feature-rich a client work tool is, it will fall short if it’s not user-friendly. You need to work with a software provider that understands that your time is a valuable resource. Not only should navigating the software be intuitive but reaching out for support should be simple and quick.
Opt for a platform with a full suite of client services to support you. At Accelo, this looks like:
Before committing both financially and operationally to software, leverage a free trial and/or demo for the platforms you’re most interested in. Immersing yourself in the technological environment, even briefly, can provide invaluable insights into its feasibility for your business.
Engage your team during this trial phase, as their feedback can shed light on potential challenges or benefits you might not have considered — which you can clear up by asking the right questions in a demo.
