In this second half of our article on working with project and resource management, we finish examining how small and medium-sized businesses can work smarter, not harder. The SME sector is a driver of national economic prosperity. When the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills released its latest figures in October 2009 it showed that, despite the troubles of the past two years, the number of private sector businesses continues to rise, having reached 4.8m by the start of 2008. SMEs are now a staggering 99% of all enterprises in the UK and have an annual combined turnover of £1500bn.
Small businesses will support Britain's return to financial health and wealth. It is the SME's ability to move faster than the larger enterprise and adapt more readily to change that will enable it to pursue returning growth and opportunity. However, it will only be able to do so if it is working smartly, efficiently and effectively.
We believe that SMEs need to understand how to work smarter and to understand more about the tools that they can use. Asta Development has more than 20 years of experience in helping businesses of all sizes do this and, in this and in part one of this article, offers a seven point overview to working S.M.A.R.T.E.R. using project and resource management solutions. We started by examining the need to put the right Solutions in place, establish and work with progress Milestones, support business Agility and manage Resources better. We conclude with three further elements.
T is for time ...
Time is money. It is a phrase we all know, but although it trips off the tongue easily we must ask: is it truly embedded in our business thinking? Time is always the first consideration in analysing business efficiency. How is time being utilised? Is it being absorbed by unnecessary tasks? Is there duplication of effort? Is the company getting maximum value from time spent? For consulting businesses there are further questions, such as whether all the time being devoted to a client is being charged back, or whether associated expenditures are being tracked and reclaimed. The deployment of individuals and teams can be planned, prioritised and assessed and, for fee-earners, it gives the ability to record their work using integrated time and expense tracking.
E is for efficiency ...
Efficiency is a term which is often used but usually misunderstood. In mathematics efficiency is a formula representing the percentage of energy output versus the energy input. In business, efficiency is about making sure that the maximum possible productivity comes from the effort and resources that are put into achieving your organisation's results. Businesses that wish to improve efficiency cannot do so unless they can understand where inefficiencies lie.
That means having information accessible and visible to them on all the relevant cost, resource and progress factors. The most effective way to do this is by implementing project and resource management solutions. These establish a system for measuring and comparing productivity, enabling you to set realistic targets and meet resource demands. By monitoring the status quo and using predictive planning tools to evaluate different potential scenarios, plans for increased productivity or profitability can be created. By analysing past activities based on the actual costs and resources required to create outputs, it is possible to plan, quote and bid for future work more accurately and thus accelerate bottom line improvements.
R is for reporting ...
It has long been stated that 'information is power' and it is certainly true in business. Information capture, knowledge management and business information systems are thriving industries in their own right. In any size of business information delivers the ability to make more informed decisions, see patterns and spot trends. However, simply gathering data is not enough. The information must be robust and reliable if it is to be used as the basis for decision-making. It must also be possible to extract information quickly as meaningful and actionable intelligence.
Project and resource management solutions often have this built in, providing project and team managers with a vast array of project reports within a few clicks, to show overall project status and information on elements such as planned versus actual costs, progress and task status. By holding information in real time, up-to-date information is always accessible. Reports must be customisable, clear and easy to interpret if they are to support good management and inform senior managers and executives, team members, clients and suppliers. Good project management discipline always includes reporting, and it should be an important consideration in your choice of solution.
Smart thinking, day-to-day management and robust decision making will be vital for SMEs as they face the challenges of 2010. A new decade demands new thinking, and this means shaking up processes and becoming tighter about progress management in pursuit of improved profitability. Asta Development believes that companies should be making far more extensive use of project and resource management tools, and that SMEs in particular have yet to embrace them and recognise the role they can play.
For more information please visit www.astadev.com
