What’s the best project management software for Small Business? Project management software provides a single platform with tools for project planning, scheduling, updates, resource allocation and document management. It’s the most widely used genre of software by businesses today.
Project management software takes the digital ‘to-do’ list to another level by allowing teams to collaborate on tasks and communicate within the platform. Projects are added and updated so that teams are on the same page. This isn’t the same as job management software, which is for jobs.
There are hundreds of project management software solutions out there competing for your money. And many of them are much the same. In this guide, we’ll cover only the best solutions your business should consider.
Best Project Management Software for Small Business 2021:
- For physical work and the trade: Onsite 7
- For getting started: Trello
- For communication: Slack
- For large organisations: Basecamp
- For digital projects: Asana
Now, let’s discuss why these project management tools are the best around.
Onsite 7
Onsite 7 solves the biggest problem of project management software tools: that they are designed for digital projects and not physical work.
When you work in the trade and have physical jobs, from plumbing to electrical work, you need a different set of features in software for managing jobs.
Onsite 7 will handle every stage of your jobs, including:
- Sales
- Invoices
- Survey and measurements
- Installation and construction
- Job recording
- Service and maintenance
- Customer/client sign off and ratings
These features are not available in project management tools designed for digital workflows. You can use Onsite 7 as a digital replacement for paperwork and other manual processes like invoicing and evidence capture.
We designed Onsite 7 to be the best project management software for small business in the world. It’s designed for the trade, by the trade, to tick every feature box.
Trello
Trello is the simplest project management tool on our list. It’s essentially a pumped up to-do list tool that uses cards to organise work.
Features:
- To-do lists, project cards and boards
- Real-time chat power-up
- Visual collaboration
- Automate manual interface tasks
- Simple “To-Do,” “Doing,” and “Done” workflow
You start with a Trello board, lists, and cards. You have a dashboard containing all of these elements and you assign different tasks to team members.
Trello gives you a simple way to manage projects and organise tasks. All boards, lists and cards can be managed, tracked, and shared with teammates. Opening a card, board or list opens up an ecosystem of communication and resources.
Trello is a digital project management tool for digital workflows. You can also use it to set petty tasks, like get milk and buy stationery. There’s a Chat Power-up so you can chat within lists and boards and collaborate in real-time.
Slack
Slack is more of a business communication platform and team chatroom than a project management tool, but it successfully blurs the line between both with workspaces, threads, channels, direct messaging and real-time collaboration.
Features:
- Task list management
- Real-time chat
- Exceptional topical ordering
- Restrict teams to topics and channels
- Manage all business projects in one place
Slack is a phenomenal project management tool because it prioritises communication above everything else. It’s great for organising teams and sharing ideas.
The first step with Slack is to set up your team. Teams have channels. Channels contain conversations about projects and topics. #sales, #management, #content are examples. All chats related to these topics are organised into channels.
Asana and Trello (two other tools on our list) can be integrated into Slack, enabling all of your cross-communication to converge in one place.
Basecamp
Basecamp was one of the first project management tools and it remains one of the best for large organisations and complex projects and workflows.
Features:
- Client and user portals
- Message boards
- Scheduling
- Docs and files
- Group chat
- Advanced collaboration
Basecamp is the best project management tool for digital workflows where you want to provide clients with visibility over their projects. You can set what clients can see to keep all internal and client-side communication separate.
Basecamp streamlines how you work with clients by letting you set tasks for clients and provide automated updates at the press of a button. It brings order to chaos by eliminating email communication and bringing everything under one roof.
Every project includes the tools all teams need to work together. Basecamp works best with large teams and complex projects with tricky management.
Asana
Asana has rapidly become one of the top project management tools. It enables seamless project management and collaboration, with list views of projects, timelines, boards, chats, document and file uploads, sign off and automation.
Features:
- Automates routine work
- 100+ integrations, including Outlook, Office 365 and Google Drive
- Real-time workflows and collaboration
- Workload visibility
- Submit and manage work requests
- Scalable for any size of organisation and project depth
Asana has a fantastic user interface that brings order to chaos. No matter how many projects, tasks and to-dos you create, the interface streamlines everything, creating little ecosystems for every task and project in production.
Asana is used for project management of digital workflows and you can create custom processes. For example, you can create calendars, roadmaps and onboarding processes to manage every business process in one place.
Asana’s Work Graph data model is unique, combining tasks, projects, portfolios, goals, and the relations among them for seamless project management.
Which project management software is best for my small business?
If your business provides a physical service, the only project management tool suitable for your line of work is Onsite 7. It’s designed to replace paperwork and manual processes and keep a digital footprint of all your jobs, so you have an accurate record of everything you do.
If you require the best project management software for small business digital projects, small teams will enjoy using Asana the most. It simplifies project management and brings teams together, allowing easy collaboration with real-time progress updates.
If you want a communication tool for projects, Slack is the winner. It can replace email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, text messages and other communication methods, so you can bring order to all your business communication.