Work Management: Finding the best software to build and manage custom workflows
Blog: Monday Project Management Blog
Work management is a set of software products and services that apply workflow structure to the movement of information as well as to the interaction of business processes and human worker processes that generate the information. Work management streamlines and transforms crucial business processes and thus can improve results and performance. (Gartner Glossary)
In monday.com-speak, we refer to work management as a work operating system, or “Work OS” for short.
A Work OS is a cloud-based software platform where teams build custom workflow apps. It allows teams to plan, run, and track processes, projects, and everyday work.
The monday.com Work OS is built for organizations of all sizes, across all functions. It’s a personalized, customized, totally flexible solution empowering teams to build and adapt to any workflow, project, or process.
A Work OS is a centralized home for all work.
We like to think of our Work OS as an organization’s digital workspace – its building blocks can be assembled into apps that manage any kind of work. Information is collected from external tools (via integrations), helping teams communicate about tasks within the context of the work happening.
In this blog post, well share how work management solutions (and Work OS software, like monday.com, are essential in today’s business environment and what to look for as you consider your options.
Large tech stacks are not always a good thing
It used to be that a “large, robust” tech stack could win you brownie points in the business world.
The more apps, the more diverse your technology solutions, the more “hip and cool” your organization.
And then something happened.
Your tech stack — originally intended to make things easier — turned into a project management and information sharing nightmare.
While each of your various solutions solved specific pain points individually, taken as a whole … turned into a chaotic workflow disaster. You and your team spend more time searching for data than actually using that information to increase efficiency.
Equally as bad, each tool began to create team silos, virtually eliminating team-based workand collaboration.
Work management and project management solutions aim to solve this. But not all are created equal. Far from it.
What all work management platforms must include
Digital work management platforms tackle the challenges of large, unruly tech stacks by creating a single point of truth — one access point for projects, tasks, timelines, and communication.
We recommend the following 8 characteristics when securing a work management system
1. INTEGRATIONS: Integrations connect the tools you already use ensuring all your team’s work happens in one place. Integrations mean the information is housed in one central location making for better collaboration and more seamless communication.
Integrations mean team members can work the way they’re used to working.
Bonus: Managers can easily track progress and keep all working towards their goals.
Integrations lead to more efficient processes and ultimately save everyone time … and frustration.
Check out some of the monday.com integrations — from Outlook to Dropbox to Slack, Salesforce.com to Stripe to Mailchimp, we’ve got you covered.
2. VISUAL DASHBOARDS: Customizable. Personalizable. Visual. These are 3 traits that all digital dashboards should have. Customizable dashboards and layout capabilities afford team members the flexibility to review data in a highly visual, easy-to-digest manner.
Some examples:
- Calendar view means employees who are part of several teams can see all upcoming deadlines
- Kanban layout means people can organize tasks based on priority and group related tasks together.
- Gannt charts are the ideal solution for people who manage multiple projects, teams, and budgets at once. Gantt charts are used for any organization that wants to manage its workflows in a visual and organized manner.
Ultimately, visual, customizable boards help to empower employees to work in their own unique ways.
3. COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION: Cross-functional alignment and transparency are essential for any well-run organization. At monday.com, we are huge advocates for transparency. And communication.
Within a work management solution, communication and collaboration can come in many forms.
- In-app messaging
- Tagging teammates
- Adding collaborators to a project
- Bell and email notifications (you can even automate these — see image below)
Here’s how we support communication and collaboration at monday.com.
4. RESPONSIVE: Mobile. Tablet. Desktop. Laptop. A work management platform must must must MUST be accessible on all devices, all sizes. Today’s employees expect demand their software solutions work the same (or pretty similar anywhere they access.
Communication and image/file sharing and updates should be effortless and seamless AND happen in real-time, no matter the type or size of the device. Make sure your team has everything centralized at their fingertips.
More about monday.com’s mobile app here.
5. SECURITY & TRUST: As reported by IBM, the average total cost of a data breach in 2020 ranged from $2.2 million to $6.9 million. In 2021, security and data protection is a must. In the digital economy, data are what power your business and ensure you keep up with customer needs and fend off competitors.
At monday.com, we secure and protect the information of more than 100,000 customers worldwide with absolute transparency and 24/7 support. Learn more about how security is in our DNA.
6. TEMPLATES: Ease-of-use. That’s the name of the game when it comes to work management software. Easy to install. Easy to run. Easy to manage. The best-of-the-best digital work management solutions all have various templates giving users a strong starting point for developing custom workflows and timelines.
Templates also help busy managers and leaders launch projects quickly — essential in today’s fast-paced, always-on-the-go life of an executive.
The monday.com template center offers a variety of templates customizable for every industry, business, and team.
7. ONGOING TRAINING: Always. Be. Learning. Work management software is not static — ideally, it’s constantly improving as product teams adjust and adapt to market (and customer) needs. A sound work management platform includes ongoing training with updated help documentation.
The best work management tools offer a variety of onboarding solutions and services that drive employee empowerment, ensuring teams get the most value out of their investment.
monday.com has guides, live and on-demand webinars, and a strong community forum — a place to learn from fellow users and monday.com product experts.
8. CUSTOMER STORIES & RECOMMENDATIONS: Any savvy salesperson can tell you why their product or service is the best on the planet. It’s their job! But customers really tell the true story. When researching work management solutions, be sure to read case studies and testimonials.
Additionally, ask to speak with customers in your same industry, customers of the same size. Customers provide an unfiltered, true perspective on their challenges and how the vendor helped them tackle these issues and ultimately see success.
At monday.com, we put our customer success stories front and center.
Discover why more than 125,000 companies of all sizes love using monday.com.
monday.com: our personal favorite work management platform
We are biased, clearly.
But we feel strongly that if you do your research — using the above 8 characteristics as your guide — you’ll find that monday.com is the best solution when it comes to work management software.
However, as we discuss in #8 above, don’t take our word for it. Ask one of our 125,000+ customers!
The post Work Management: Finding the best software to build and manage custom workflows appeared first on monday.com Blog.
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