15 Best Project Management Tools for Virtual Teams

Beginning 2020, the global work environment has witnessed an unprecedented shift in how employees work. In the past, companies offer remote work as one of the perks of a job. But due to COVID-19, work from home has become the norm, perhaps for the long-term for most companies.

In project management, most project teams have also shifted to become virtual teams in how they conduct their activities, from planning and brainstorming to project execution and completion. In this article, we have compiled the 15 best project management software for virtual teams to help businesses and project managers better select the best solution for their project teams for 2021 and beyond.

From being a mere option, remote work is now the first choice among a majority of companies around the world, mainly due to the impact of the pandemic. In fact, experts predict that 60% of office-based workers in the United States will work remotely by 2022. And at the core of a remote working system is the virtual team that relies mainly on technological resources and personal skills to get the job done despite being separated by great distances.

Virtual team statistics manifest the vast benefits this system of work offers. For instance, 75% of virtual teams report that being able to collaborate remotely has enabled them to be more productive in their work. Likewise, 80% of global business policies have shifted to virtual or combined forms of collaborations. Another study found that 32% of virtual teams consider their ability to have a flexible schedule as their biggest advantage.

With a lot of benefits to reap, managing a virtual team can be overwhelming. The success of an effective virtual team lies in a good team and good technology. This is where an effective project management tool comes useful in order to track, coordinate, and collaborate on various tasks among members across different time zones and locations. Here are the top 15 project management tools that every virtual team should have today.

1. monday.com

At the top of our list is monday.com, formerly dapulse. Great for virtual teams, this software helps you manage your team’s workload and improve communication among members. It has a single dashboard that provides visibility on what your team is working on. You can also create tasks, projects, and missions, which you can designate among your team members. Seeing the team’s progress on their tasks lets you plan their workload ahead of time.

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Communication is also centralized as it makes easy work of mentioning members, receiving notifications on desktops or mobiles, and commenting (and giving thumbs up) on their work. Its drag-and-drop feature allows for fast and easy transfer of files and organizing documents. With the goal of being an intuitive and visual software, monday.com lets you easily view schedules, tasks, and workloads for meeting deadlines and effective planning. Search is optimized to let you easily find every update or task that your team is doing.

It has scalable packages that start with a Basic Plan at $8/seat/month. Depending on the features you need, you can opt for premium features through its Standard ($10/seat/month), Pro ($16/seat/month), and Enterprise (quote-based) plans while the number of users can reach up to more than 200. There’s also an Individual plan available for free.

2. Wrike

Wrike is one of the leading cloud-based solutions for enterprise collaborative work management. It scales seamlessly with your team across your organization globally. The app caters to teams, ranging from marketing, creative, project management, product development, business operations, and professional services. Organization is accomplished with ease with its customizable dashboard, core building blocks, request forms, automation, live editing, and file management to help you complete your projects successfully.

Wrike is equipped with features such as a visual timeline (Gantt-Chart), templates, time and budget tracking, and resource management for effective resource utilization and better planning. Its collaboration tools such as Personal Dashboard, communication, proofing and approval, live activity stream, and email and calendar synchronization allow for faster task execution among your distributed workforce and boosts productivity.

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Wrike also gives you visibility through its project and team reporting feature to help you make informed business decisions.

For small teams with 5 users that need a simple and basic solution, you can use the system for free. Meanwhile, its premium subscriptions start at $9.80/user/month for its Professional plan. It also has full-featured plans for businesses, marketers, and large enterprises.

3. ConnectWise Manage

ConnectWise Manage is a cloud-based business solution that offers a unique combination of project management, sales and billing, procurement, customer service/help desk, and more in a single platform. With such a powerful combination of core business systems, ConnectWise Manage not only eliminates the need to use separate solutions but it also seamlessly streamlines all crucial business processes and reduces operational cost.

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With ConnectWise Manage at the center of your business operations, you will have more time to focus on other important parts of your business, specifically your customers. ConnectWise Manage’s ticketing system also ensures clear communication between your team and your customers. Furthermore, dashboards and advanced reporting features help you monitor your agents’ performance and your business’ overall health. In terms of reporting, this cloud-based solution is equipped with robust reporting options to help you make strategic data-driven business decisions.

4. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a work collaboration software for businesses of any size, with a focus on enterprise needs and companies with global teams. It helps you manage IT risk and compliance of distributed teams, including remote work.

A notable feature, its no-code tools let you manage projects from start to completion and automate workflows. You can scale process management steadily, ideal for managers handling multiple projects at once.

Other ideal Smartsheet use cases include content management, IT service request management, product development, resource management, digital asset management and just about any initiative that require team collaboration.

Smartsheet integrates with a wide range of IT solutions, letting you consolidate disparate data and processes across the organization. Popular apps for communication and collaboration, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Power BI and more work smoothly with Smartsheet.

Plans start at $7 per user/month.

5. Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a project management tool that helps you get your work done through effective planning, tracking, and collaborating with your virtual workforce. Planning projects is streamlined with tasks, task lists, and milestones for easy monitoring of your progress. You can also gain control over them through subtasks, recurring tasks, and dependencies.

This cloud-based software leverages collaboration for your employees, clients, vendors, and consultants remotely. Its Gantt charts gives you visibility over reports and in-depth insights for tracking your team’s progress and comparisons.

Zoho Projects

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It has tools for time tracking, identifying and resolving issues, and managing documents that are essential for an organized management of virtual teams.

It has an affordable and straightforward pricing plan. It even has a completely free plan for managing a single project. It’s paid plans start at $25 per month to $100 per month for enterprises. What makes its offerings cost-effective is all the plans allow unlimited users.

6. Replicon

Replicon is a time tracking software solution that has a timesheet capture for accurate recording of time spent on projects and tasks. Since time tracking is crucial for the efficient management of service organizations, Replicon ensures the provision of unified time tracking and expense monitoring data.

TimeBill, ProjectTime, Expense, and TimeOff are the four modules included in the Replicon time tracking suite. With these, Replicon enables teams to optimize time and resource management. Moreover, this platform helps businesses validate billable hours. The result is increased efficiency and reduced administrative overhead which significantly contribute to overall profitability.

The Replicon platform supports the effective management of projects by analyzing and reviewing timesheets to gather insights on time utilization. By verifying operational workflows, Replicon makes processes more straightforward. Enterprises are also able to make data-driven decisions by using the time tracking tools provided by the platform.

The monthly subscription for TimeBill starts at $60/month for five users. Replicon easily integrates with out-of-the-box project management tools, billing systems, HR platforms, and payroll processing software such as QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Oracle, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack, among others.

7. eMaint

eMaint is a comprehensive computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) designed for businesses of all sizes. It comes with tools for work management, asset management, and task management which makes it easy for maintenance teams to map out and finish work orders in the most efficient way possible. It also offers a unified document storage, multi-location inventory visibility, and interactive plans to improve maintenance management.

Aside from the abovementioned features, eMaint also offers real-time notifications, custom dashboards, as well as supplier management. With these, it is easier to ensure that all team members are kept in the loop at all times.

The platform also helps users simplify information sharing and streamline operational processes through its API integration capabilities. eMaint can connect with a variety of external applications such as SAP, Oracle, Sage, and Jira. Moreover, this solution is accessible via desktop and mobile devices for your convenience.

Interested parties can take advantage of eMaint’s free trial to check out its full capabilities. Meanwhile, the full plans start at $33/user/month.

8. ProntoForms

ProntoForms is a no-code mobile forms solution that’s ideal for field teams. The app helps them collect field data and, conversely, allow the headquarters to access and process this data for context and intelligence. It is suitable for most industries, primarily heavy manufacturing, energy, utilities, construction and medical device manufacturing.

The app can help you create online forms for installation, repair and maintenance, EHCS and safety assessment field works. You can also generate forms for employee training.

TrueContext

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You get a workflow builder, an integrations manager, and reporting & analytics. The core feature—the mobile forms app lets you dispatch forms to the field digitally even offline. It has maps and time stamps, a smart filter, data routing and document scanning. Likewise, it can capture photos with OCR and sketches to highlight details.

ProntoForms integrates with key business systems such as CRM, ERP and EHS, including popular solutions like Salesforce, INTELEX, Google Workspace, box and Web Hooks.

Pricing is from $15 per user/month.

9. Polaris PSA

Polaris PSA is a professional services automation (PSA) software solution designed for professional services organizations. It automates core business processes including project management, resource management, and time and expense management. Polaris PSA employs artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to ensure that processes are consistently executed across all projects. This ensures efficiency as actionable recommendations are automatically provided by the analytics tool to keep projects on track.

To check real-time project updates, you can use the SmartBeats tool which ensures that every task is updated on the Polaris PSA platform. Through this tool, teams can easily check the status of every project and make adjustments as necessary. SmartBeats also displays the expected completion dates of all tasks thus helping your team make informed decisions. To further enhance project management, Polaris PSA also allows the integration of historical data from your CRM platform to your current project.

The Polaris PSA platform is fully configurable, which means that your organization can define your framework and methodology for managing projects, financials, and other resources. The SmartBudget tool creates bid scenarios to optimize revenue, and ensure that there is a contingency plan for every possible event outcome. Pricing for Polaris PSA Basic, Standard, and Complete plans starts at $29 per user per month.

10. elapseit

elapseit takes collaboration among virtual teams to a different level. This is because it enables users to access project management, resource allocation, finance management, and even employee tracking tools in a single interface. Thus, it is possible to manage resources, track project progress, monitor employee productivity, and handle invoicing without relying on multiple software solutions.

What’s more, elapseit has workflow automation options. It forwards tasks to members according to your preset dependencies. On top of that, the platform comes with custom notifications that help you alert each team member about new tasks added to their queue.

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And for a better overview of their projects, elapseit comes equipped with different project visualization tools. These include Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and Project Pulse reports. The solution has public API integration capabilities as well to allow users to customize it as they see fit.

elapseit offers different plans depending on your project management needs. Its Resourcing plan, which focuses on resource management and time tracking, costs $14/user/month while the Complete plan, which includes all the feature’s project management features, costs $21/user/month. For businesses that have customization and API needs, there is also an Enterprise plan that is available by quote. A 10% discount applies for those who choose to have these subscriptions billed annually.

11. Celoxis

Celoxis is a unique business solution available in both cloud and on-premise. It is a one-of-a-kind blend of project management and resource management tools housed in an intuitive interface. The product provides advanced modules for resource allocation that is useful for detailed capacity building. These include timesheets, built-in timers, expense trackers, and shareable multiple dashboards that can be assigned to people. These, too, are highly customizable and can be configured to an organization’s needs. The same is true with the automation tools that Celoxis provides. Users can even create their own using custom fields, routing rules, and escalation procedures.

The product also has robust analytics and reporting tools. It is fitted with customizable drill-down charts for advanced analytics and visualization. Moreover, reports are also downloadable as PDFs and Celoxis can be configured to send automatic reports to the right people in preferred intervals. Also, there is a free client portal that users can give third-party collaborators access to. This enables teams to keep other stakeholders in the loop.

Celoxis

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Celoxis is also fitted with other communication and collaboration tools that resemble the look and feel of popular social media platforms. This intuitive design allows for easy adoption and out-of-the-box functionality. These tools include @mentions, activity streams, and discussion spaces, among others. The platform is also plug-in-play as it can work seamlessly with other applications. This means when you adopt Celoxis, you don’t have to restructure your software stack architecture. It integrates seamlessly with software solutions like Salesforce, Slack, Google Drive, and Zendesk, among many others.

The Cloud Celoxis version is priced at $24 per month per user. On the other hand, the On Premise Celoxis version is priced at $450 per user. In order to subscribe to either of the deployment plans, one needs to have a minimum of five users.

12. Daylite for Mac

Daylite for Mac is a CRM for small business, or organizations with up to 100 people, using Mac or iOS device. It is suitable for sales and marketing workflows and project or task management, allowing you to close more deals or merit project success. It adapts to the needs of a variety of industries such as real estate, financial services, consulting, marketing & advertising, manufacturing, and software development.

As a CRM, the software lets you keep track of client-account communication, personalize messages by having access to relevant notes, emails and calls in one place and keep tasks moving by spotting bottlenecks or pending issues. The software is also useful for client onboarding.

Daylite for Mac

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Likewise, its reporting tool can generate key marketing metrics such as close rates, lead sources and win/loss reasons.

As a project or task management solution, Daylite for Mac has the tools for team collaboration, task monitoring, workflow automation and permission control,

It integrates with built-in Apple apps and features like Apple Mail, Apple Calendar, Siri, FaceTime and TouchID.

Pricing starts at $39.99 per seat/month.

13. Bridge24

Bridge24 is a professional reporting and exporting toolkit that connects with Asana, Trello and Basecamp. Ideal for small and large projects, Bridge24 lets you generate charts and reports off your Asana, Trello or Basecamp data to give you the project’s big picture or gain insights or new perspectives on tasks.

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It features advanced reports and interactive charts with multiple views and powerful filters. It also lets you view, sort, filter or group tasks with visual reports for more informed decisions.

For new perspectives on tasks, you can switch modes between power grid, Kanban board or calendar. The app also lets you export project data in CSV or Excel and access and filter tasks. You can also add custom fields, comments and task history.

Pricing starts from $25 per month for 5 users.

14. Fiix

Fiix is an AI-based CMMS software for work orders relating to asset performance and maintenance optimization. It can scale to business requirements of any size

Fiix consolidates data, workflows, teams and tools in one location, giving you key insights over asset monitoring and preventive maintenance. Organizations swamped with thousands of job orders, assets and their parts will find Fiix able to manage work order management, asset management and inventory management with ease.

Furthermore, you customize work request portal where uses and guests can sort, search and monitor work orders from their mobile phones or desktops. It also allows you to edit and upload multiple CSV-based work orders fast and with accuracy. Likewise, you can create work orders and customize them with QR codes for mobile scanning.

Fiix also lets you arrange assets, users, purchases and tasks by location and receive real-time KPIs by site.

The app is a good long-term tech buy, as it integrates with most business systems such as accounting, ERP, project management and inventory software.

A freemium is available to 25 active PMS. Plans start from $45 per user/month.

15. ManagerPlus

ManagerPlus is a manufacturing equipment management software that helps you track assets, inventory, equipment, facilities and more. It suits large enterprises needing to put order in their preventive maintenance, inventory management and asset management processes.

As an asset management system, ManagerPlus helps you gain better visibility over work orders and maintenance schedules, spot operational issues and track costs and expense associated with labor, parts and orders.

For inspections, you get to visualize work status of tasks such as those are completed, pending, failed or in progress. Meanwhile, you can track inventory in multiple locations, do a remote audit or assign inventory to work orders.

ManagerPlus is also ideal for vendor management and facility management.

An API tool allows you to integrate the software with almost any other systems. Pricing starts at $85 per user/month for a fully featured cloud-hosted solution.

Getting the Right Software

It boils down to your needs when choosing the best-fitting project management software. The good thing is, you can try several or all of these apps by opting for the vendor’s freemium or free trial offer. For instance, monday.com has a free plan that you can explore first before subscribing to a plan. The factors to consider, among others, are the UI, ease of navigation, flexibility to adapt to users’ different levels of tech skills and, of course, pricing.

If you are a large company and want to explore more options, you can head on to our guide to the best enterprise project management software.

By Stephanie Seymour

Stephanie Seymour is a senior business analyst and one of the crucial members of the FinancesOnline research team. She is a leading expert in the field of business intelligence and data science. She specializes in visual data discovery, cloud-based BI solutions, and big data analytics. She’s fascinated by how companies dealing with big data are increasingly embracing cloud business intelligence. In her software reviews, she always focuses on the aspects that let users share analytics and enhance findings with context.