Personnel resourcing is an important part of project management, and its importance is even more pronounced in these financially challenging times. As competition gets tougher and the market shrinks, maintaining your company’s position is vital. It is even possible to achieve growth during a downturn. Careful resource planning for projects will give them good margins. It is essential to identify the actual costs of project resourcing in order to secure new jobs at the right price.
As the competition gets fiercer, a company’s ability to win orders may depend on the customer being familiar, or else it needs to stand out in terms of price. Calculating a genuinely competitive price for a tender means also taking into account the project’s staff costs. Silverbucket helps you to compare actually achieved figures with plans and to learn from the past. Accurate, flexible and timely resourcing reduces staff costs. Up-to-date resources give a reliable view of the future, so you can determine the best time to start taking on new projects. Potential resourcing requirements can also be identified and responded to.
Efficient use of resources increases flexibility
It is important that companies are able to operate flexibly in a global crisis. If the resource records are up to date, it is possible to tell who is available for a job at any given time. Silverbucket’s skills management feature allows existing resources to be utilised in an optimal manner. Having employees’ skills profiles in place means that they can be assigned flexibly to a range of tasks in the company, not just in their own units. If it appears that there is not enough work in one team, it is possible to react to the situation in time by means such as transferring people between teams, thus avoiding layoffs.
Sometimes, however, it is necessary to adapt business operations to a downturn by laying off employees, in which case it is important to allocate layoffs appropriately. By laying off people whose skills may be urgently needed, the company’s situation and ability to cope with the crisis can be made even more difficult.
Cost management and wellbeing as a competitive advantage
Silverbucket shows staff costs for projects, and data on the actual figures support cost management. The right price for a service or product can be calculated by planning every project accurately and by utilising Silverbucket's staff cost calculations. The company’s price competitiveness improves and profitability can be maintained even in difficult times.
Wellbeing at work also contributes to profitability. Financial and other crises always have repercussions on people’s wellbeing and views. It really gives a competitive advantage to keep people motivated and able to work during times of crisis. It is important for companies to ensure that their employees’ workloads are reasonable and evenly distributed. Many may also fear for their own future and livelihood. Silverbucket gives its users a picture of the future, showing that there are projects and jobs coming up and will also continue to be.
Upswing will follow
The economy will start to grow in due course. Reviewing past projects in Silverbucket provides important information about things that could be improved and the level of staff costs for each project. Silverbucket clearly shows when the orders are stacking up, and any future recruitment requirements can be noticed in time as the roles and skills required for each project are identified. Projects can safely be agreed into the future, and recruitment processes can be launched in good time.
Resource planning must be carried out, whatever the economic situation. Silverbucket is a great tool for resource and project managers especially during a downturn, when proper resource planning enables teams to operate efficiently and flexibly. A good resourcing tool provides a management team with a clear vision for the future. Every leader wants to successfully guide their business through difficult times to better ones.
