Use Online Project Management to Streamline Your Small Business Projects

In the day to day operations of your small business, you will often find that you need tools to help with certain processes. Particularly, projects or even certain practices and procedures can use a little help in keeping everyone organized and on track. That is why a project management tool can be good for your company's productivity.

While there are many project management software packages available for licensing and downloading onto your computer server, there has been a big movement in the 21st century for Software as a Service (SAAS). Project management has had a tremendous response to SAAS, and many small business owners are taking advantage of the ease-of-use and low cost of this option.

So which online SAAS project management should you use for your small business? Here are a few recommendations.

Basecamp has emerged as the most popular online project management software. With full range of options, simplicity, and flexibility of use, Basecamp is currently used by over 5 million people worldwide.

One of the reasons Basecamp has such universal appeal is that they have eliminated all the fancy charts, graphs, and statistics. Instead, Basecamp emphasizes communication and collaboration between project managers and other users. Also, Basecamp is easily used by almost any smartphone with internet access. No app download is necessary.

What makes Basecamp work? Here are a few of the popular features:

• Communication & Collaboration - Basecamp makes it easy to communicate with all members on a project. Members can post comments and keep discussion going through messages. Each message can have its own thread, and new messages or responses can be sent to a subscriber's email for instant notification.
• File Sharing - Project members can easily upload files to share with other members. MS Office files, PDF, and multi-media files are easily supported. Even image previews are available.
• Calendar and Milestones - Assign and set milestones for when individual tasks are due. View a calendar of upcoming milestones via a general overview, or by specific project.
• Project Templates - Have a recurring or common project? Simple create a template that is easily applied to new projects as they come along.

Basecamp offers a free trial, and basic plans start at just $49 per month.

Huddle is a popular project management SAAS system used by many small businesses and larger corporations as well. Huddle allows people to connect online through their system, whether in the same office or across country. Project members can swap information and ideas, hold virtual meetings in real-time, give feedback, and work anywhere, including via smartphones.

Users can try it 14 days for free. Prices are $15 per month for 10+ users paid annually, or pay $150 per month for short-term projects.

Like the above systems, 5pm allows file uploads and sharing, easy comment and communication, and time-tracker. But 5pm uses a more friendly GUI interface that is completely customizable, and it is easy to use by practically any size business. In addition, 5pm can provide detailed project reports, use drag-n-drop on a powerful dual panel display, and 5pm provides easy integration with iCalendar, Google Docs, and Gmail contacts.

Pricing is based on the number of users, and starts at just $18 per month with a free 14 day trial.

Dooster is fast becoming a popular online project management tool for small businesses for many reasons. Dooster does all the tasks, deadlines, overviews, and alerts expected by a project management. Their unique selling point is the ability to work more effectively with teams and individuals, more easily assign, modify, and move workloads and tasks, and all information is safe on their "enhanced security" servers.

Dooster is highly affordable too, starting at just $14 per month for up to 15 projects.

Many benefits are available to small businesses who utilize SAAS project management software. Save money and employ cost controls, use better planning and scheduling, and collaborate with employees much more efficiently. Whether you are looking to organize a large and highly complex project, or simply streamline sales calls and responses, project management through SAAS can be your answer.