Why Choose an All-in-1 Project Management Solution?

Here’s a question– 

How many apps do you think you have on your phone?

According to Google, users on average have 35 apps installed on their smartphones. A lot of us download these apps in an attempt to make our lives easier: to streamline, organize, etc. It’s become normal to have our devices brimming with tons of apps.

But the modern norm of having multiple applications or solutions could potentially make us less streamlined, and less organized.

And that’s just on the individual level.

SaaS sprawl, aka bloated tech stacks, is costing businesses big time, in terms of software licenses, time, and intangibles like productivity and team morale. Employees and managers can easily get overwhelmed by too many apps.

In response, forward-thinking companies are moving more toward what you could call platform singularity– that is, switching to an all-in-one solution to keep costs low and productivity high. 

Whenever possible, all-in-one solutions offer lucrative benefits over using say, 3-10 platforms to accomplish a goal.

All-in-one solutions offer a particular advantage in the field of project management, where historically, different departments have been siloed into different software platforms. 

Check out the benefits of adopting an all-in-one solution for your project management needs.

Moving to all-in-one software tools

Using too many platforms at work is a common problem, especially for remote teams. At the beginning of the pandemic, many companies gobbled up as many software solutions as they thought they needed to effectively manage remote work. 

Now that for many, remote work is here to stay, there’s a bit of a hangover effect from adopting all these tools. And employees aren’t too keen on constantly interloping between them.

The thing is– Many teams across various industries have become dependent on an inflated tech stack for what now can realistically be accomplished with just one or two solutions. 

Here’s a good example from insights garnered from Salesforce’s annual State of Sales Report: 

“Sales teams are using too many tools to close deals,” according to the in-depth survey of over 7,700 sales professionals. 

That’s because Salesforce’s findings demonstrate that each sales professional, on average, uses a whopping 10 tools to help close the deal.

Luckily, businesses of all industries and sizes are waking up to the benefits of all-in-one software to help them operate more efficiently and save money. 

We agree with Valerie Creque, tech writer for Sales Cloud, who recommends moving to an all-in-one solution as 1 of 4 ways to reduce a bloated tech stack. She highlights a great example of how moving to all-in-one software helped Grubhub save major cash–

Grubhub finally found an all-in-one solution tailored to their needs, and once they did, a senior manager claims they saved over $1 million in annual costs. 

Yes, software costs are necessary to help you run your business. But as HubSpot aptly puts it:

The number of apps, products, and SaaS solutions available is growing exponentially. Identify and use those tools that can help you optimize your business.

That’s where an all-in-one solution comes in.

Siloed Project Management: Too many costly tools!

Project management has fallen victim to the bloated tech stack. Since today, around 58% of project management professionals work remotely, many businesses have been seduced by a host of collaboration tools and platforms to manage:

• Contracts
• Project planning
• Task management
• Invoicing
• Time and expense
• Resource management

Fortunately, more forward-thinking project management solutions are moving toward all-in-one functionality. 

This means you’ll be able to handle all the above under one digital roof, something that just might save your team time, money, and frustration.

Benefits of an all-in-one project management solution

1. Productivity

Think again about your smartphone, the pinnacle of what has been designed to keep us connected, convenient, and productive. But adding app after app can have the opposite effect. 

So goes it in the project management space. 

It’s common for small teams to use a tool like Asana for task management, another for their contracts, plus a time-tracking tool like Harvest for project management. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

When bouncing between platforms, your team is suffering from a higher switch cost, which statistically will make everyone less productive. 

Plus, menial (but necessary) admin work accounts for a lot of this bouncing, work which can be automated in many cases with software. 

All-in-one solutions are more intelligently designed to cater to holistic project management while improving your productivity with smart features like:

• Automated alerts
• Dashboards to help you see where (and whom) might be lagging
• Self-driving time tracking
• Automated invoicing

2. Cost efficiency

All-in-one solutions that are self-driving and easy to use will innately be more cost-efficient versus using multiple siloed platforms. 

By dropping unintegrated, superfluous licenses and monthly payments, you can do right by your cash flow. Here’s an example:

Digital Marketing Company A with a team of 6 uses Asana to manage tasks and share information around a project. They also use a collaboration tool, Slack, to streamline their communication. To help track time, Company A uses a time-tracking solution: Harvest. For contracts, they use PandaDoc. Company A also does manual invoices and billing creation using spreadsheets, which we’ll call (e). That makes their monthly bill something like this:

1. Task Management Software monthly cost (Asana): $65.94
2. Collaboration tool monthly cost (Slack): $40.02
3. Time tracking monthly cost (Harvest): $72.00
4. Contracts (PandaDoc): $114
5. Invoice & Billing (6 hours per month @ $20/hour): $120

Monthly total for a team of 6: $411.96

Digital Marketing Company B with a team of 6 uses an all-in-one solution to manage tasks and share information around a project. Because their solution has robust integrations, they decided to keep Slack since everyone is used to it. Solutions c and d are eliminated, as are the e costs which have been solved with automation. That makes the monthly bill of Digital Marketing Company B something like this:

1. All-in-one project management solution monthly cost (PSOhub): $75
2. Collaboration tool monthly cost (Slack): $40.02

Monthly total for a team of 6: $115.02

This is just one example of how ditching multiple solutions for an all-in-one platform can save you money over time. While this scenario is in the realm of project management, you’ll be able to save money with a robust solution that consolidates your growth stack, regardless of your industry.

3. Integrations to keep solutions you can’t live without

In the above scenario, Company B chose to keep Slack in its tech stack, even though it could have in theory been replaced with a different communication channel, perhaps a free one like Telegram. The point is, that Company B had become comfortable with Slack and wanted to keep it around. 

We all have platforms that we just plain like, even if at the end of the day they could be eliminated or replaced to save us money. Sometimes, it’s a good thing. You don’t have to train people on another solution and familiarity goes a long way.

The best all-in-one project management solutions have powerful integrations that will let you keep those platforms you can’t live without.

For most digital marketing agencies, that includes an integration with HubSpot or Salesforce. The beauty of an all-in-one solution that integrates with your CRM is that all your data will live in the same place. It’s a win for productivity and profitability, and importantly, security.

4. Security (closed loop)

One of the top, often overlooked benefits of an all-in-one project management solution is security. We aren’t necessarily talking about protection against malware or hacking (though closed-loop automation will provide this safeguard), but rather security from a closed-loop system. 

When all your project and sales data lives in one digital hub– financials, budgets, time and expense, contracts, CRM– there’s less chance something will fall through the cracks. 

Projects are less likely to go off the rail when you are leveraging an all-in-one project management suite, as all the data you need is securely stored under one digital umbrella.

5. Your team will thank you

Yes, an all-in-one project management platform can benefit your business in measurable ways. But let’s not forget the intangibles and one of those ever-important intangibles is the happiness and harmony of your team–

Because employees despise having to use too many tools! It can be overwhelming and feel unnecessary, especially for creatives and highly skilled team members. Consider this data on the working styles of project management teams– 

92% of people believe collaboration with teammates can be improved.

94% of people believe that having visibility into what their teammates are doing improves business productivity and efficiency

An all-in-one project management solution can help harmonize your sales and project teams, improve collaboration, and provide visibility and transparency to keep your team incentivized (and happy).

Checklist: How to choose the right all-in-one project management solution

By now, you’ve seen the practical and financial benefits of adopting an all-in-one project management system versus going with a bunch of other solutions. What’s next? If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for project management for your business, make sure it checks the following boxes:

• Excellent dashboards backed by solid analytics
• Automated alerts
• Time tracking
• Self-driving features
• Budget management
• Task management and collaboration
• CRM integration
• Contract management

Want to know more about how to choose the best project management platform for you?

This article was intended to be a high-level explanation of the benefits of an all-in-one project management solution. If you want to learn more, download our FREE ebook with a meatier checklist and all the info you need to help you make the right choice for your business:)