Vetting Client Work Tools: 3 Factors To Evaluate

You know it’s time to overhaul the way you manage client work, but where to begin?

Even if you know work management software is a worthy investment, selecting one you’ve fully evaluated and making sure your leadership team is ready to commit to the change can be intimidating.

Here’s a concise guide to help you properly gauge the capabilities of the platforms you’ve found.

1. Assess Alignment With Business Needs

The starting point in evaluating any work management tool should be its alignment with your business’s unique characteristics and needs, including:

• Team size and work locations
• Client demographics
• Type and duration of projects
• Growth objectives

If you run a small consulting firm, you might prioritize easy collaboration and look for a platform that centralizes all of your client communications. For a large architecture firm, you might need robust analytics and the ability to manage projects across multiple divisions.

The key lies in analyzing a typical project lifecycle in your company and envisioning your ideal way to interact with your clients. Discuss questions like the following with your team of decision-makers:

• Do we need to be able to access real-time project statuses?
• Are our workflows functioning well or could they use a refresh with automation? 
• How do we share updates with our clients and how can we improve upon that method?
• Which tools do we need to integrate with and which can we consolidate?

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2. Review Scalability and Adaptability

How you do things today might not be the same as how you do them in the future. As you evaluate client work tools, think about whether they can grow with your business. 

If you’re looking to scale, can a given platform help you establish processes that will withstand the pressure? Consider whether it can accommodate more users, help you manage larger projects and manage tasks more efficiently as your operations diversify.

Adaptability is just as important. Can you customize things like sale and project statuses to adapt a platform to the way your team works? Software should be versatile enough that slight changes won’t affect your ability to use it to its full potential. Perhaps you’ll decide to use new or different features over time. Ask about how that expansion might look now so that you can prepare for adoption later.

A flexible and powerful client work management platform will be able to address your needs no matter how they evolve over time.

3. Investigate User Experience and Support

No matter how feature-rich a client work tool is, it will fall short if it’s not user-friendly. You need to work with a software provider that understands that your time is a valuable resource. Not only should navigating the software be intuitive but reaching out for support should be simple and quick. 

Opt for a platform with a full suite of client services to support you. At Accelo, this looks like:

• Full implementation to get your team up and running as quickly and comfortably as possible
• Global support for all users and a Premium Support program for even more dedicated attention
• Consultative sessions for overcoming unique challenges via the Expert Services program

About the Author

Chelsea Williams is Senior Copywriter at Accelo, where she shares unique insights with service professionals and tells user stories via blogs, eBooks, industry reports and more. She has over 15 years of B2B and B2C writing experience — primarily in tech, sales, education and healthcare. Chelsea is an AWAI-certified Master Copywriter trained in brand storytelling and microcopy.