If only humans could be a little more like bees.

I mean, from a collaboration perspective, they’re truly incredible creatures.

They all have individual jobs to accomplish but they’re working together for the same cause.

Each one knows exactly what it needs to do at any given moment, and studies have shown that these tiny creatures can actually communicate to get the job done faster and more efficiently.

Unfortunately, people don’t always work together so smoothly.

Often, all of the worker bees within a content marketing team need to have a specific direction and a lot of communication in order to get their tasks done in the most efficient way.

That’s why there are project management platforms such as the one we’ll be discussing today: Microsoft Project.

If you’re looking for a solution to better manage projects and tasks for your content marketing team, Microsoft Project could be very interesting for you.

Today, we’re going to look into the reasons why you should be interested in Microsoft Project, as well as how it works.

Let’s get those worker bees organized and ready for any task!

Microsoft Project: What It Is and How It Works

Microsoft Project is an extremely detailed project management system for businesses.

This is more than just your simple to-do list or organizational app. This is a completely developed system that will help you have the same productivity as a busy beehive.

As you may guess from the name, this system comes from a company that has become a household name in the world of business software and systems. Microsoft is an integral part of the majority of all offices, and Project is just another piece that integrates beautifully into other Microsoft products.

In fact, Project can even be used as a part of Office 365, putting the whole system completely in the cloud. If Microsoft products are already an integral part of your workflow, then Project is the perfect project management solution.

But what makes Microsoft Project better than other project management systems? What are its weak points? And who in particular should be interested in this system?

Let’s find out.

Microsoft Project Review: The Project Management Software to Keep Your Beehive Buzzing

Where Microsoft Project Truly Excels

Tracking Made Easy

Tasks can easily be connected and interlinked.

When you click on one task, you’ll be able to see all other tasks it’s connected to—past, present and planned for the future—at a glance with impossible-to-miss color coding.

Task and project completion is saved with timelines so that you can see how long things took to come together. The simple reporting feature gives you graphs and charts to view what was planned versus what was actually completed by your team.

You can also assign specific people to certain tasks, or even show the priority of each individual task within a project.

These tracking features are perfect for busy content marketing managers who are overseeing a large team of writers, editors and designers.

All the Benefits of Project Management in the Cloud

When all of the information that you need is in the cloud, you’ll always have access to the things that you need.

Whether it’s real-time collaboration with the rest of the team or switching devices mid-project, Microsoft Project has everything stored for you online. It’s ready for you whenever you need it to be there.

It also allows users to submit time sheets, manage project resources and even sync with SharePoint task lists.

This is an extremely useful feature for content marketing teams who don’t work together at the same physical location. If part or all of your team is remote, you can be sure that Microsoft Project will keep them up to date wherever they are.

Templates That Save You Time

If you’re worried about creating a project plan from scratch, you can stop worrying now. Just as other Microsoft products include easy-to-use templates, Project also gives you access to a number of different templates for project management that suit your needs.

Project also gives you access to tools like customizable Gantt charts that will help you with scheduling projects with various team members. In this way, your content will always be ready on schedule.

Real-time Communication and Sharing

As we mentioned above, putting your projects in the cloud makes it incredibly easy to keep everyone on your team updated and working efficiently, even when you’re not all together.

But there’s more.

Microsoft Project also integrates beautifully with Skype for Business, allowing team members to speak to each other directly while working on different projects. Users can also share documents and files so everyone has what they need to get tasks done.

If your team works remotely, this is a great way to keep in contact with them. You can easily hold daily or weekly meetings to discuss the content calendar using Skype for Business, and share the tasks and project materials to everyone in your team when they need them.

Never Miss a Beat with iOS and Android Apps

Want to make sure that everyone on your team is up to date, wherever they are?

Do you need to monitor how everyone’s doing when you’re not in the office?

Either way, Microsoft Project has the solution for you. This project management system is available for Windows, iOS and Android devices, meaning you and your worker bees can stay informed of what’s going on without even being in the office!

And, since all the information is stored in the cloud, everyone has constant, real-time access to what’s going on.

Built-in Budget and Resource Management

When you’re managing the resources of a company for any given project, it takes time and energy to allocate the right funds to the right places. This can be especially tricky when you’re trying to stick to the numbers you proposed to a client.

With Microsoft Project, you’ll be able to do so quickly and efficiently. Using the resource management solutions available in Project, you’ll be able to keep a hand on what’s going where within each project.

You can track the hours that each member of the team spends on each task, and even set hourly pay rates for each individual.

In this way, you can always ensure that each part of the project stays on budget.

Over 20 Million People Already Trust Microsoft Project as the Solution to Project Management

That’s right, literally millions of people all around the world are already using Microsoft Project in order to get their worker bees synchronized for harmonious work. Among these are many content marketing teams.

Some of the people who are currently using Microsoft Project are actually big names in the world of business, finance, retail and nearly any other industry. These include household names like Tesla, Netflix, BMW, Toyota, 21st Century Fox, Amazon, American Express and many, many others.

The Cons of Microsoft Project

Steep Learning Curve

Microsoft Project has a ton of customization options and a lot of moving parts. This also means that your team will need thorough training in order to become familiar with the system and use it to its fullest potential.

A Bit Pricier Than Other Project Management Options

We’ll discuss this more below, but obviously this is a rather pricey system. That being said, the great majority of those who use it say that it’s worth every penny.

Somewhat Lacking in Visuals

Another complaint among users is the lack of visual options. While there are some charts available, many people would like to be able to have more customizable visuals within the program.

Microsoft Project: Options and Pricing for the Modern Business

There are several different options within Microsoft Project that suit different size businesses.

For cloud-based solutions, you’ll be paying either $30 or $55 per month, per user. The price depends on the features your business needs.

For on-premise solutions, you’ll be paying a one-time price (per PC) of either $590 or $1160. Again, the price varies depending on the services you need.

It’s no surprise that the price is what turns many people away from Microsoft Project. However, while there are other project management systems that can even be used for free, such as Asana, these systems can by no means stand up to the features that Microsoft Project offers.

Who Should Be Using Microsoft Project?

Obviously, Microsoft Project is not just for your average content marketing team. This system is not cheap, and it will only be right for you if you’re willing to go all-in with project management.

The Microsoft Project system will be most useful for content marketing teams with a large number of people involved—really, any large content team in need of better organization.

This system was designed with large corporate companies in mind, so it won’t be the right fit for every content marketing team.

However, even medium-sized teams who are seeing rapid growth would likely benefit from using Microsoft Project, especially those within a larger corporate environment or with an international spread.

 

As we’ve seen above, Microsoft Project is an incredibly useful tool that has countless numbers of features and options for project management.

It’s one of the most widely-used and well-known options available, so it’s even likely that some of your team members already know how to use it.

While Microsoft Project does have the downside of being relatively expensive and difficult to use at first, its benefits far outweigh these points.

By far, Microsoft Project is one of the most comprehensive project management tools available.

Could this be what you need to put your beehive buzzing?