10 best project management tools with secure messenger
One of the main challenges which face project leaders is effective project management and communication both among team members and with customers. However, there are not many tools which combine both project management and team collaboration functionality.
Before we start our project management tools review let's see what kind of features are crucial for team leaders:
- Task board (Kanban board or Scrum board)
- Issues and tasks tracking
- Video and audio conferencing
- Private and topic-based chats
- Discussions
- Files sharing and storage
- Possibility to convert messages to issues and tasks
- Time management
- Task boards customizations
- Workflow automation
- Reporting
To make the project management tools selection easier we prepared a list of tools which will make team collaboration and project management process more effective.
Virola corporate messenger
Virola messenger combines functionality both for teams' collaboration and project management. It can be used as a secure messenger for internal communication and collaboration as well as for tracking and managing projects.
Why Virola can be used as a project management tool:
- Hosted on-premises which means that all your business information is kept on a secure server;
- Offers video and audio conferencing tools;
- Allows sending and storing files of any size;
- Supports screen sharing and remote control functionality;
- Kanban board (Task board) is available for tasks assigning and tracking;
- Possibility to convert messages to tasks;
- Private and group chats;
- Permissions management;
- Secure messenger;
- Web API for integration with your business processes;
- Sign-on with Active Directory credentials;
- Task board is integrated into corporate messenger and can be accessed on mobile devices;
Virola is very convenient to use as it offers all functionality in one app. This also makes it secure as there are no external integrations with third-party tools. If you do not need comprehensive features for task management, Virola is the right app for your team collaboration and projects management.
Asana
Asana is powerful enough for any workflow and can be easily adopted by a team of any size. It allows collaborating on projects across the company.
Let's see why you can consider Asana as a project management tool for your team:
- Reporting gives clear understanding of team's performance;
- Workflows builder helps to capture ideas and organize efficient workflow for the team of any size;
- Boards show the tasks in progress, waiting or completed;
- API for integration with other apps;
- Workflow automation;
Asana has powerful functionality for project management and can be the best solution for teams of any size. However, it lacks collaboration features which can be integrated with the help of API. Third-party tools can be used for secure communication, email sending, data storage or ticketing system. In this case the information will not be kept in one place.
Trello
Trello is by right known as one of the most popular task management tools. With the help of boards, lists and cards Trello gives a clear view of tasks in progress, completed ones and what should be done.
No doubt, Trello can be considered as one of the best project management tools for your team:
- With help of cards, it is very convenient to organize tasks on the same board, track them and assign to other team members;
- It is possible to share files, add due dates and other useful information to cards;
- Synchronization across all devices
- Integration with such tools as Dropbox, Google Drive and corporate secure messengers;
Trello offers two-factor authentication and easy data export. However, it requires integration with third-party tools for smooth and convenient collaboration.
ClickUp
Though ClickUp is simple, it is very powerful and is known to be the best project management tool of 2023. ClickUp offers quite a limited free version, but many businesses use unlimited, business or enterprise plans for project management and collaboration.
Let's see why ClickUp is known to be the best project management tool:
- All relevant information is kept in one place;
- Possibility to import all work from other tools;
- Visual widgets for progress tracking;
- All tasks can contain valuable information such as attachments, due date, etc.;
- Integrations with various tools including secure messenger;
ClickUp is ideal for collaboration of remote and distributed teams. With its help organizations can easily find out what their employees are working on, what they have done and what to do next. It can be used not only for software development, but also for human resources departments or educational organizations. This solution is quite multi-purpose and significantly facilitates collaboration for any type of team.
Monday.com
Monday.com is a SaaS company and allows users to track and manage projects via the cloud. It offers a very intuitive and user-friendly interface, so your team can start using it without any training. With Monday.com, project management, collaboration and CRM tools are available.
Here are main reasons why we recommend Monday.com as a project management tool:
- Rich set of features in a free plan;
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface;
- Time tracking and templates;
- Projects progress and reporting;
- Suitable for any kind of business;
Monday.com is the best project management and collaboration tool for businesses of any size. It can be used by IT, HR, marketing and sales teams. At the same time its rich set of integrations allows using third-party tools to enhance teams' productivity and chat in a secure environment.
Jira
Jira is issues tracking and project management software. It is widely used by software development companies working in a scrum environment. It offers a very convenient interface and provides all functionality developers need for successful collaboration.
Let's see the main reasons why Jira is the best project management tool for software development companies:
- Kanban boards and Dashboards for task management;
- Bug tracking system;
- Offers agile tools for scrum;
- Possibility to create automation rules;
- Gives an ability to sync with repositories;
Jira is known to be one of the most widely used among software development companies. It offers all necessary tools in one place. You can easily manage, track and plan work across sprints. For communication third-party tools such as Slack can be integrated.
Wrike
With Wrike it is quite easy to streamline your business processes and implement robust and versatile project management system for successful task tracking, workflow automation and effective collaboration across departments.
Here are the main reasons to consider Wrike as the best project management tool:
- Integrations with more than 400 apps;
- Gantt charts and Kanban boards;
- Detailed analytics;
- 360° project visibility and processes automation;
Wrike is an end-to-end platform that connects every team in your company. It allows building workflows to cover all your business processes and significantly increase productivity.
Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com allows keeping all in one place and easily manage your teams, customers and projects from a single platform. For small teams it is free forever. This approach helps small businesses to grow and take advantage of premium features.
Let's highlight the main reasons to consider Teamwork.com as the best project management tool:
- Pre-built templates;
- Easy switch from other project management solutions;
- Powerful integrations with other apps;
- Possibility to manage multiple projects;
Teamwork.com has the best balance of functionality required for seamless collaboration and tasks management. It offers powerful time tracking functionality which will help you bill every minute spent on a project. At the same time, your clients can easily access and see the reports.
Flow
Flow brings together your tasks, projects, conversations and timelines. It is very intuitive in usage and can be easily integrated with your favorite tools. With the help of the ability to customize projects' appearance, you can easily manage different projects and monitor your team members' performance.
Here is why Flow can be considered as the best project management tool:
- Simple and intuitive in usage;
- An ability to follow any task and get notifications;
- Easy integration for the tools you got used to work with;
- Visually distinctive timelines;
With Flow you can organize your teams effectively, keep track of all activities across the projects you monitor. Though the mobile versions are slightly limited if compared to competitors, Flow offers great features for a very reasonable price.
Nifty
With help of Nifty you will keep all your teams together and will easily monitor their performance and progress. No matter whether your organization is big or small, this tool will fit all your business and collaboration needs.
Here is what makes Nifty one of the best project management tools:
- No need to juggle between tools, it's one app for all;
- Very simple in usage;
- Integration with popular tools for collaboration and secure communication;
- Cost-effectiveness if comparing to competitors;
Nifty offers the balance between features and price. It does not overload team members with complicated functionality. On the contrary, it helps to make the project management process simple and effective.
The bottom line
The choice of the project management tool for your team will depend on your business needs. Whether you need a secure messenger, would like to host everything on your server or require comprehensive functionality for time management, you can easily select the right tool for your team. The list we provided covers different solutions which will be suitable for teams of any size.
All the products offer free versions or free trials which allow testing the project management tool to find out whether it covers business needs or whether it is worth paying for advanced functionality.