Can Teamwork software make your remote team more productive?

Changing workplace needs have fuelled the proliferation of tools like Teamwork. This software allows you to brainstorm ideas with colleagues, keep track of important project deadlines and responsibilities, and provide feedback, no matter where your team is located. In doing so, it optimizes team productivity, efficiency, and harmony and equips them to do their best work.

But, what is Teamwork exactly? And is it the best collaboration tool for your organization's needs? Here, we deep dive into the features and benefits of Teamwork project management software, and check out its competition.

What is Teamwork software?

Teamwork is a popular project and team management software. It offers an all-in-one solution for running projects effectively, including planning, time tracking, resource management, and budgeting.

Over 20,000 companies globally use Teamwork¹. While it's certainly used by smaller teams, it's most ideal for mid-size to large teams running complex projects. Many different industries use Teamwork, from SaaS product teams to not-for-profits. However, it's important to note that Teamwork markets itself as being a tool for client-facing projects, rather than internal ones. As such, it's most commonly used by agencies, creatives and marketing teams, and those in the professional services industries.

What role does Teamwork software play?

The purpose of the app, according to Teamwork, is to 'run your client work in the only platform that's actually built for it’. That is, the platform has been specifically engineered to allow teams, freelancers, and clients to collaborate and communicate in one centralized hub. You can use its range of features to do everything from accelerate the onboarding process and improve team collaboration to manage project workflows. This allows your team to operate as a well-oiled machine and complete their projects — on timeline and budget.

Teamwork is also designed to replace many of the tools already used by teams, such as project management, budgeting, and CRM tools. Research shows the average small to medium business uses anywhere between 172 to 255 apps². Not only can this quickly become expensive, but it can be highly inefficient as communication can easily get lost. All-in-one tools like Teamwork allow organizations to lighten their tech stack and streamline their processes.

Teamwork software features

So, what makes Teamwork different from other project management software solutions? Some of its key features include:

Time tracking³

The time tracking feature allows you to track every second of your project so you can understand where your time is going. You can also track billable hours and set cost rates for each team member to add more transparency to your invoices.

Automation⁴

Features like project templates and workflows allow you to automate repetitive daily tasks and reduce bottlenecks. You can also turn any task into a project template, so that your processes become more effective over time.

Project reports⁵

Track your project progress in light of important metrics, such as project health, time, and profitability. You can also capture this data in powerful visualizations and reports to share with key stakeholders.

Resource and workload management⁶

With so many moving parts involved in any given project, it's useful to get a birds-eye view of the project as a whole. By managing your team's capacity and forecasting resources, you can scope any issues before they arise and keep project timelines on-track.

Task management

By setting tasks and sub-tasks, and assigning them to team members, you can break your active projects into more manageable chunks. You can also use custom tags and fields to filter your task list, and quickly locate the information you need.

Integrations

Teamwork connects with a wide range of other popular tools, from messaging and accounting tools to CRMs and a team password manager. Integrations include HubSpot, Slack, ClickUp, and the Google Suite.

Team collaboration

Gone are the days of lengthy email chains where important details can get lost along the way. The app features an impressive suite of collaboration tools, from proofing, file sharing and comments to the handy Teamwork chat feature.

Easier onboarding

Using intake forms, you can get new clients on board faster. By gathering key details, requests and feedback up-front, you can save yourself valuable time throughout a project.

How Teamwork can benefit your organization

So now that you've heard about some of Teamwork’s key features, you might be wondering how this translates into real-world benefits for your organization. Here's how a project management solution like Teamwork can improve the daily lives of your employees, project managers and team leads alike.

Increase business profitability

According to The Total Economic Impact™ of Teamwork study conducted by Forrester Consulting, companies see an ROI of 437% when using the tool⁷. This comes down to improving the output of team members, improved planning, and replacing more expensive tools.

Reduce employee stress

Research shows that for 50% of employees, poor communication is a major source of stress in the workplace⁸. Not only that, poor team communication can impact an employee's confidence, decrease job satisfaction and make them consider looking for a new job⁹. By having a central hub and streamlined collaboration, organizations can improve employee wellbeing and engagement, and boost retention rates.

Improve productivity

In their study, one interviewee claimed that Teamwork saved their company an average of 150 hours over 250 projects per year, which equals one week saved per person¹⁰. While this will vary across companies, it's safe to say that eliminating unnecessary meetings and communication can lead to significant time savings.

Run projects more efficiently

Research shows that 80% of project professionals spend at least half their time on rework¹¹. Teamwork empowers project managers to do their job more effectively by equipping them with project planning and resource scheduling tools.

How much does Teamwork cost?

Teamwork has a range of pricing plans available, for small teams through to larger organizations. You can get started with its basic features for up to five users for free. The next level up in the Teamwork Pricing Plan is the Starter Plan for US$5.99 per user/month, which includes dashboards, templates, automations and more.

At US$9.99 per user/month, their Deliver plan offers more robust project management, with project status reports and team management. Its most popular plan is Grow, which includes workload and capacity management, advanced budgeting, and powerful reports for US$19.99 per user/month. Teamwork also offers more scalable packages for larger teams upon request (but these prices are not publicly listed).

As far as project management software goes, Teamwork's pricing is fairly comparable to other options like ClickUp and Fraze.

Reviews of Teamwork software

Want to know what real Teamwork users have to say about using the tool for collaboration and workload resource management? Check out these reviews from individual users¹².

Use case: Software company

"We carry out all our projects, internal and external, on Teamwork. Our entire organization uses it, divided into teams and departments with their own security accesses and permissions. On billable projects, we take advantage of Teamwork's built-in billing feature, which although basic is very sturdy and sufficient for most invoicing needs. The included timer feature helps a lot for our technicians in the field to track the exact time they use on a specific project for billing and time compliance requirements. Finally, we also use Teamwork via reporting for our KPIs and project trends for the entire organization."

Jose, IT support manager.

Use case: Agency

"Our entire organization uses Teamwork, and I highly rely on it every single day. We use it to organize clients as well as projects within each client. It helps us track the progress, know what the next steps are, keep communication organized, and track time for billing purposes. There is a bit of a learning curve at first, but once it is implemented it helps things run so much smoother (especially compared to Zoho, Asana, Basecamp, etc)!"

Anon, marketing team lead.

Use case: Community health

"We use [Teamwork] to manage all projects on the go, planning and organizing events and tasks. We add assignees tasks and time estimates as well as approvals, reporting, scheduling, and rescheduling in our organization. It has been our team's communication centre whereby they discuss projects and tasks ahead of us."

Suzi, director of product marketing.

Use case: Enterprise business

"Teamwork has given great consistency in project management. It is very easy and smooth to use. It helps me to modify any kind of tasks in order to provide better planning. It syncs with our devices in an extraordinary way. We have managed to keep our team in good shape and use it as a means of communication."

Maria, account manager.

Use case: Startup

"Our web design/development department uses Teamwork to manage our projects where we build new websites, primarily WordPress sites, for clients. It allows us to collaborate externally with clients (gathering assets, collecting feedback, grouping conversations into one place) and internally with all members of the team (tasks, communication, milestones, and assets). It makes all the communication easier since it's centralized in one location, and the tool itself is very easy to use."

Anon, marketing strategist.

Combine Teamwork software with Fingerprint for Success to improve collaboration

It's one thing to have collaboration and communication tools in place. However, at the end of the day, a project management software is only as effective as the team using it. In order to get the most out of software like Teamwork, it's important to first understand the people you are working with. How do they like to communicate? In what work environment are they most productive? What motivates them?

As a revolutionary performance and collaboration tool, Fingerprint for Success (F4S) uses powerful data to answer these crucial questions. Backed by more than 20 years of evidence-based research, we provide precise insights to rapidly understand your team members' unique work styles.

Here's how it works:

• On day one, a new employee creates their Fingerprint for Success account, much like they would with any other tech tool.
• They take our highly accurate Work Style Assessment, which measures 48 traits that influence their energy levels and motivation for certain tasks.
• Then, they get placed in their team, where they can learn about each of their colleagues’ unique communication and decision-making styles. As a result, they quickly get up to speed on their teammates — many of whom they may never meet in person, if they're working remotely.

Once an employee is inside F4S, there are plenty of other advanced features they can use to gel more effectively with their colleagues.

F4S team dashboard

F4S features for next-level collaboration and productivity

Team culture, affinities and differences:

‍With F4S’ Culture Map, employees can see how their motivations stack up against their colleagues, and measure the overall 'feel' of the team.

F4S team culture example

The Team Affinities tool further illuminates this common ground, while Power of Differences highlights potential areas of friction.

F4S team affinities example

F4S team differences

Zoom integration: By connecting Fingerprint for Success with your Zoom video conferencing software, you can get real-time insights into your colleague's communication styles. Whether they learn best through reading, seeing or hearing, you'll have that information at your fingertips so you can tailor your presenting style accordingly.

F4S zoom integrations show how each team member prefers to communicate from hearing, seeing, reading and doing

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Google calendar integration: Coming soon! You can also access information about collaborators' communication styles ahead of time, by integrating F4S with Google Calendar. This way, you can come to meetings prepared, based on attendees’ preferences.

By pairing a project management software like Teamwork with F4S, you can foster cohesive teams and supercharge your company’s progress.

How does Teamwork compare with the competition?

With so many project management tools available, how do you know if Teamwork is the right option for you? And how does it stack up against other popular project management platforms, like Wrike, Smartsheet and ClickUp? Let’s dive right in.

Wrike

Wrike is a team collaboration tool designed to streamline workflows, and organize work across multiple departments. It goes beyond basic project management features, with advanced dashboards, automations and integrations. Wrike prides itself on being the most versatile solution, with a range of project views to choose from, including Kanban, Gantt charts and tables.

Pricing: Wrike's pricing is fairly accessible and scalable. It has a free plan for teams just getting started. More advanced plans start at US$9.80 per user/month for teams of 2-20 people, and US$24.80 per user/month for teams of 5-200 people.

Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a modern work management solution that helps teams work better together at scale. Features include multiple views, workflows, reports, and dashboard. Smartsheet is particularly popular with IT professionals due to its powerful no-code capabilities. However, it's also used by project managers, marketers, financial services, government agencies and more. One of Smartsheet's biggest benefits is its flexibility — you can use it for everything from simple project plans to large, company-wide initiatives.

Pricing: The price of Smartsheet depends largely on the size of your team. You can get started for free with up to two editors, or access Pro features for up to 10 users for US$6 per user/month. The more robust Business plan costs US$22 per user/month, and there are also Enterprise plans available upon request.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a popular project management software option for both individuals and teams. Billed as the 'one app to replace them all', it could be described as a hybrid of a productivity app and a team collaboration software. Features include project tasks and goals, dashboards, chat, and whiteboards for team brainstorming. It also has a Docs feature, which is designed to replace Google Drive. Millions of companies worldwide, ranging from freelancers to large enterprises, use ClickUp to organize their projects.

Pricing: ClickUp has a range of price options available for different sized teams. With basic project management features, its free plan is designed for single users. At US$5 per user/ month, its Unlimited plan is best for small teams, while the US$12 per user/ month Unlimited plan is ideal for mid-size teams.

How to choose the right work management software

Beyond comparing the collaboration and task management features, there are a few important questions you should ask yourself before choosing your software, including:

What is the pricing model?

Some apps offer a 30-day free trial, but charge hefty prices thereafter. It's important to understand how the software prices its services to understand whether it's sustainable long-term.

What is the interface like?

Is the software easy to navigate, or is it cluttered and confusing? In order to ensure that your entire team, including employees at all levels, will be able to use it, an intuitive project management software is essential.

Can it be customized?

Whether you're looking to add your own custom branding and color themes or simply create your own templates, some organizations require more bespoke solutions than others.

What other software can be integrated?

Perhaps you already use other tools with essential features that you can't do without, like accounting or marketing software. It's essential to check that these apps can 'talk’ to your work management software, so you don't wind up with siloed data.

What’s next for work management software?

With the AI industry expected to be worth $15 trillion by 2030¹³, it's safe to say this emerging tech will play a starring role in the future of work management. Project management tools are already leveraging machine learning to further optimize workflows and accelerate productivity — for example, ClickUp AI and Notion AI. When it comes to innovation in the software industry, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

However, what will be equally important is the human element. Increasingly, companies are realizing that in order to retain top-performing staff, they must adopt a personalized approach to the entire team. This means understanding what motivates each employee, and empowering teams with these insights, too.