Resource management software for consultants

Resource management software is often confused with project management software. That’s understandable since they are closely linked, but they have different purposes and some consultants might consider using both in tandem.

While most project management tools are focused on task management, resource management tools are centered on the people actually doing the work and completing the tasks.

Used correctly, resource management software makes it easy for consultants to assess employee workloads and availability in real-time, and allocate work effectively across projects and teams.

This is particularly beneficial at a consulting firm, where workloads are heavy and client expectations high. Without specialist resource scheduling software, there is a risk that overlapping projects will put excessive strain on consultants and lead to project delays.

Resource management tools make resource and project planning processes much more efficient for consulting firms. Ultimately, they enable consultants to get the right people working on the right projects at the right time.

By implementing resource management software at your consulting firm you can:

• Create realistic project schedules that are based on real-time team availability
• Easily find the people and other resources you need for upcoming projects
• Identify skill gaps and understaffing issues before they become bottlenecks
• Avoid scheduling conflicts, overallocation, and team burnout
• Analzye capacity, utilization rates, and billable hours for better project forecasting
• Avoid scheduling issues caused by vacations, sick leave, and absences

In many cases, resource management software for consultants replaces a spreadsheet as the main means of organizing resources.

Spreadsheets may be cheap and flexible, but updating them is almost always a manual process. Because information doesn’t update dynamically, keeping them up to date is a never-ending, time-consuming challenge.

People can change their working hours, switch roles, or gain new skills. People may also join or leave the team.

These types of changes make it much harder to reassess and reschedule resources on the fly. That can impact project timelines and lose you clients and revenue in the long run. This is where resource management software can be invaluable.

What counts as a "must-have" feature for you will depend on how you run your consulting firm.

Here are some of the top features you should look for:

• Resource management – Can you browse all available people, equipment, and meeting rooms in one place? Can you keep track of key information, such as working hours, skills, department, location, time zone, and more?
• Resource scheduling – Can you easily assign and reassign work to people and other resources? Is it clear who’s working on which projects and when? Is it easy to view all assigned work in a schedule or calendar view and move things around as required?
• Capacity planning – Can you see how much work each consultant has assigned to them? Is it clear who is under-utilized and who is overloaded? Can you easily plan new projects based on future capacity?
• Clash management – Is there a system to prevent scheduling clashes and excessive overtime? Is it easy to see when conflicts arise and can you solve them before they become a problem?
• Project forecasting and reports – Can you analyze workloads and how many working hours are assigned to each consultant, client, or project? Can run reports on metrics that impact your business, such as billable hours, utilization rates, and downtime?
• Integrations – Can you connect to other tools and software you use in your workplace? Can you synchronize external calendars with your resource schedule so you get a full picture of team availability in one place?
• Leave management – Can your team easily book time off? Is it easy to see when someone is out of the office and unavailable? Can you analyze the impact of vacation and other types of leave on project timelines?

Of course, features aren’t the only important consideration. A good resource management tool for consulting firms should be easy to use and affordable too. When choosing yours, the factors below may also weigh into your decision:

• Customer support – Is there help available if needed? Can you contact the company by email, chat, or phone? Is there a Help Center to answer common questions?
• Pricing – Is the software affordable for your business? Will it cost more as your team or workload grows? Are there options to upgrade and add extra features, and how much do those cost?
• Usability – Is it easy to use or will it take a long time to get everyone up to speed? Can consultants complete their daily tasks with minimum fuss? Is the interface clear or confusing?

Once you’ve evaluated all of the options, you should create a shortlist of the ones that best meet your needs.

There may be an obvious choice for you, but if not, start a free trial of each tool and see how they work for you and your team in practice. You can also read product reviews online, to see if each tool lives up to the promises on its website.

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