Project management is a professional service that oversees the planning, design, as well as the construction stage of a shopfitting project, which is from the beginning to its end. Effective project management is an essential element of transforming your retail environment. Most shopfitting ideas start as a shop owner’s DIY ideas. However, it’s only with proper project management that your ideas can be translated over to real life. Project management is a powerful tool in any shopfitting project for the following reasons:
Increased Risk Assessment
The nature of a successful project is taking risks. Even so, these risks have to be managed. Project management consists of processes to identify, assess, manage, and control risks way before problems arise. Unclear objectives, excessive rework, and poor communication are often culprits of unsuccessful projects. However, effective risk assessment allows small businesses to take calculated risks, which allows them to tackle any problem in the early stages of the shopfitting project.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
It goes without saying that customer satisfaction is possible only if a project is finished within scope, time, and budget. Project management provides tools that allow a relationship to flourish between a client and a project manager. Project management methodologies make certain that projects are delivered on-time with higher completion rates, which automatically leads to greater customer satisfaction.
Guaranteed Quality the First Time
Quality is essential in achieving a successful shopfitting project as well as gaining a competitive advantage. Project management is meant to identify, manage, and control quality. Shop owners can benefit from high levels of expertise that comes with project management. This ensures that the completion of a quality project is achieved the first time, which saves you time and money.
Realistic Project Planning
Without proper planning, you could set over-ambitious budget estimates and delivery timelines. Project management is necessary as it allows timely and efficient goal setting in terms of what can be delivered, for how much, and by when. Effective project managers have the ability to negotiate achievable deadlines across stakeholders, management, and teams. Keep in mind that an overrunning project is bound to cost more.
Improved Financial Management
Project management ensures better project definition, better estimations, better tracking of the shopfitting project’s actual cost against the budget, not to mention, more formal budgeting. All this precision leads to better financial predictability and control.
Leadership
Other than installing fixtures, a shopfitting project involves other elements such as electrical compliance, welding, lighting, plus, some refurbishment may be necessary. That’s why you need project management; to bring leadership and vision, coaching, motivation, and direction to your project. It also ensures clear lines of accountability, and that there’s no confusion about who’s in control of whatever activity is going on in a shopfitting project.