Project Management in the Digital Age: Embracing Change and Innovation

In the current technology-heavy business world, it is very difficult to find any organisation or business that does not have a digital presence. Spending on digitalisation on a global scale is expected to reach incredible levels within the next few years, particularly since it is has become so important for B2B, B2C and C2C companies who are looking to meet the expectations of their stakeholders. This digital presence has also made improvements to the internal workings that you will find within many companies. Both project managers and team leaders are likely to have noticed that digital tools have seen a change in the way that their teams work. With these changes in digital transformations and their impact on project management, it is important for Project managers to also align any workflows with this.

Digital transformation in project management

The digital journey of any organisation begins when everyone gets on board with the idea. It is only possible for this change to be successful until the new ideas related to digitisation have been tested rigorously, used and then applied at every stage of the structure of the hierarchy.

Implementing good digital transformation takes a considerable amount of time to work its way down the structure of an organisation. Once it has been inducted into the organisation framework, it can have a good degree of benefit on the output.

Applying digital transformation to project management

Digital transformation can have a significant impact on the role of the project manager. Traditionally it is these individuals who have borne the responsibility for the planning, procurement, and eventual execution of any projects. However, today they are also to be found at the forefront of the implementation of many innovative solutions in project management.

Most project managers already use some form of workflow technology and process automation, even if they only use it for a select number of things, for example, scheduling or reporting. The majority of project managers know that their project management skills, such as those learned during any training for project managers, can be improved as a result of interactions with those digital platforms that have been designed with this in mind.

What are the benefits of digital transformation to project management?

Project management is an important part of the management of any business. It allows a company to make sure that they are on the correct path and also to reach their goals, both long and short term. The impact of digital transformation can have the following impacts on project management practices:

Increase in collaboration

Managers can utilise digital tools to help increase team efficiency whilst also promoting a healthy working environment. There are a wide range of different project management software solutions that are capable of transforming team collaboration in order to assist a business. Managers and leaders can also assign tasks more efficiently on these platforms on the tools that allow team members to collaborate. Within each tool is a dashboard that shows the projects organised on a priority basis. This will have everything that the manager needs to help their team work on a project. The tasks and any comments can be seen by team members in order to execute them.

Communication is enhanced

One thing you will learn in any project manager course is that communication is one of the single most important skills necessary within project management. It is key to both cost and time outputs. Those organisations that use more traditional methods often find themselves facing errors in communication that can result in the output being negative and also teams performing poorly.

Cross-team communication can be improved through the use of digital resources, which can help to balance the impact of any digital transformation. There are a number of different resources available to a project manager that can help to streamline customer support and workflow. When digital tools are used, it is possible to see the quality of the communication between team members and managers improve.

Team leaders can use this software to do things like share media files with others within the team and also execute commands effectively because everybody has access to clearer and better details with regard to the project. It is important to consider that while emails may be an effective tool in some respects, they can often go unread, unopened and even forgotten about in a sea of less important emails. This can make them less effective communication tools in a busy environment.

These tools also make it much easier for a team to work remotely whilst still remaining in complete contact with each other. Collaboration isn’t affected, with the ability to share screens as well as ideas and brainstorm in much the same way as if everyone was in the same room.

Focus on results

Those companies that use project management practices that are more standard will often see their project managers involved in trying to improve processes. More time is spent on the creation and fixing of these methods than actually focusing on the end results.

The impact that digital transformation has can give an approach that is result orientated. This allows managers to focus on the delivery and quality of the project while these applications allow for seamless communication and collaboration to take place.

It is the role of project managers and team leaders to find ways in which results can be enhanced. If they only take part and then process aspects of the project, then there is likely to be a compromise when it comes to the output and quality of the work.

Performance measures: ROI, KPIs and outcomes

For those organisations that use digital project management tools, the measuring and monitoring of KPIs is much simpler. Not only will they be more accurate and effective, but the project team will half more faith in the management and leadership of their team.

These tools can provide the project manager with data that is valuable as well as analytics and insights that will help them look more closely at the results. When it comes to the allocation of budgets, resources, and teams, these analytics are very beneficial in order to achieve the maximum ROI for the project and also to make sure that there is a better outcome.