A Tough Decision
By now, you should be familiar with project management (PM) tools. They’ve been around since the early 1900s, which is when Henry Gantt invented the Gantt chart. There is debate about the inventor of the chart, but we won’t go into that. If you’re interested in reading more, Google: Karol Adamiecki.
The modern PM tools are, however, more complex than those used more than a century ago. The complexity of the current tools, or even the fact that you have them available, would not ensure the success of your project, however. What’s important is having the right features in the tools that you use. Ultimately, the tool is there to make your team more productive.
With the oversaturated market, choosing the right tools and tech for your business can be extremely hard and time-consuming. In fact, 47% of the respondents in a study by Gartner stated that the top challenge for their organisation was choosing which new technologies to invest in.
Catapult focuses on solving this problem by helping big companies find the right solutions and innovations as well as access tech market insights. In other words, we’re about enabling smart decisions in the tech field.
Great Increase in Interest
The data gathered from our pool of over 300,000 emerging tech companies provides valuable insights, and can help predict future trends and support a better understanding of the market.
This investment graph is rather fascinating. The increase in deals has been an ongoing trend throughout the decade. However, it wasn’t until 2018 that investment skyrocketed. During that time, companies started really getting onboard with such platforms.
In 2018 a majority of companies were using PM softwares. According to a 2019 study (Statista), 83% of respondents worldwide had one or more project management offices in their organisation. 26% of these were less than two years old. That’s a massive growth in global usage.
While the investment seems to be declining post 2018, the interest in these tools will definitely keep on increasing in the 2020s.
To gain an even better understanding of the industry, we broke down the technologies used. SaaS gained the most investment. This is no surprise, as we’re talking about software here.
From the rest, we can identify three main trends in PM tools: AI-powered tools, communication systems and workflow digitisation. These are further discussed after the graph.
Top Three Trends in Project Management Tools
AI-powered tools
PM tools that are powered by artificial intelligence
Communication systems
Digital communication channels within PM tools
Workflow digitisation
Any automation of a company's processes
AI-Powered Tools
Project management is a complex matter that requires a variety of skills. AI can be very beneficial in this. AI solutions provide support across industries. Not only do they facilitate the practice, but they provide valuable insight for project managers as well.
AI is already a big part of project management. 81% of project managers, in a 2019 report (PMI), claim that their organisation had already been impacted by AI-powered solutions. The report also stated that these solutions in project management will increase from 23% in 2019 to 37% by 2022.
The power of AI can surely be seen in many aspects of project management. For one, it can help in assisting in overall project management. It can also provide predictive analytics from large databases thanks to big data. On top of this, AI can expand project understanding, predicts risks and automate tasks due to its ability in processing a wide array of data.
Communication Systems
Communication in project management can be of all sorts. However, the main areas of communication fall into internal communication, information management and project marketing. For a successful project execution, all three areas have to be covered.
A fifth of all projects fail due to ineffective communications, according to a study by PMI. The same study claims that those who communicate more effectively are five times more likely to be high performers. The importance and value of communication can be therefore emphasised highly in project management.
The most effective PM tools usually have features that enable communication. With a suitable communication channel it is a lot easier to succeed in managing projects.
Workflow Digitisation
Workflow digitisation is the automation of a company’s processes. It could be anything from using emails to communicate, or a system that comprises multiple aspects of a company’s operation. It is used to automate any repetitive tasks, thus making the actual work flow better.
There are multiple benefits to digitising workflows. The main benefits include: speeding up processes, eliminating human error and reducing the carbon footprint.
Digitisation of the workflow also enables the collection and analysis of data. This allows for better decision making and the prevention of future mistakes.
With all of this knowledge, you might want to check on your company’s project management tools. After all, who doesn’t want to be productive?
Do you want to ask for more info?
Get in touch.
Mikael Juntunen
Chief Executive Officer
mikael@catapult.fi
+358 50 405 5252
