Outlook project management system and alternatives – Two important considerations

There are literally dozens of great project management applications, and Outlook system seems to be one of the most popular packages for job planning, control and tracking. Because today Microsoft is one of the leaders in developing software systems for project planning and management, MS outlook is used by many employees in hundreds of thousands of offices around the world. You can hardly find a person who hasn’t ever tried MS Outlook for managing tasks and projects.

Meanwhile, there are people who prefer programs alternative to Outlook PM system. Why? There are two reasons which are interrelated with each other:

• Expensiveness. Microsoft Outlook program as a multi-user solution that requires installing SharePoint technology and Windows Server to create a collaborative working environment for users. While SharePoint technology is a free software package, MS Windows Server is a costly solution that requires a considerable amount of money. If you decide to install Windows Server, you will have to pay for licensing, administration and maintenance.

• Functionality. It’s not a secret to anyone today that functionality of project management Outlook system is not unique, because today on the market there are dozens of alterative solutions that have the same or even more powerful functionality. As a smart buyer you will take this consideration into account and try to compare MS Outlook with other software packages. You are likely to write a list of the required features and then make a comparison with reference to this list. Once it is done you will see that some alternative solutions are more powerful than Outlook system yet they are available at moderate prices.

Therefore, a cost-effective decision will depend on these two reasons. When you decide on using either MS Outlook project management system or alternative solutions, you need to take the listed reasons into consideration.  It won’t be hard for you to find and download a free trial edition that is available at one of Microsoft’s websites. As to alternative solutions, you can try VIP Task Manager and compare this software to Outlook download edition. VIP Task Manager has a demo version that you can download for free.