Top Rating for cplace in Expert Review

Evaluations help companies find the right project management software among the multitude of vendors. cplace received top marks in the expert evaluation by projektmagazin (a German project management magazine) and is one of the top software solutions.

Assessments Provide Guidance in the Vendor Jungle

“We are very happy with cplace’s excellent performance in this assessment,” says Navid Heidemann, Head of Product at cplace. “This success is due to the fact that cplace is not a standard software in the traditional sense but is designed for flexibility. Under the motto ‘Flexibility by Design’, our customers receive a platform with pre-configured PPM solution modules that they can modify and combine according to their needs,” he explains. “In this way, they can design a solution that fully meets their specific requirements. They do not have to adhere to a standard imposed by the software. This promotes user acceptance while increasing the value to the entire organization.

Finding the right project management software is often a time-consuming and tedious process. A web search using the term “project management software” results in approximately 9.5 million hits. Even software portals are not always helpful: Depending on the portal, up to 180 or more tools are listed. In this context, evaluations and software tests have proven to be useful in the search for a suitable PPM solution.

Organizations Should Embrace Diversity

But before companies can begin evaluating software, they must first gather, analyze and prioritize their project management needs and then define company-wide standards. The larger the organization, the more diverse the planning methods and processes that need to be considered. The highest common denominator, also known as the intersection of all requirements, then becomes the company standard. Specialization and customization should be allowed where appropriate and necessary.

If the standards are imposed externally, e.g. by a PPM software, and the specifics of the company are not taken into account, this will have negative consequences: If users do not get the solution they need to work efficiently, they will sooner or later turn to other tools outside the prescribed standards. This leads to siloed solutions, more Shadow IT and hinders cross-functional, enterprise-wide project and portfolio management.

This is where the cplace platform comes in, providing customers with customizable PPM solution building blocks and solution templates to map their specific processes. At the same time, they do not have to give up the benefits of standard software with a central database as a single source of truth.

AI in PPM Solutions

What does the future hold for the project management software market? The answer is – of course – artificial intelligence, which is already being used in some tools today. Most AI solutions only offer basic functions such as text manipulation, translations or summaries – functions that have become standard. cplace Citizen AI goes far beyond that. The combination of generative AI (GenAI) with Citizen Development creates something unique. This is not a mere optimization, but a true innovation leap: Technologies are combined and used in a way that is only possible with cplace.

What makes cplace Citizen AI so special?

The combination of Low-Code (Citizen Development) and GenAI not only enables automation and efficiency gains for repetitive tasks, but also provides concrete support for the really tricky challenges in project portfolio management: in setting deadlines, in the form of intelligent suggestions e.g. for project changes, in visualizations or in comprehensive automation.

Here, too, cplace follows a seamless approach: cplace Citizen AI fits perfectly into existing solutions and enables intuitive integration into specific application cases via wizards and tools. The result goes beyond pure efficiency gains: cplace revolutionizes the way PPM problems can be solved and defines the next-generation of project and portfolio management.

Fostering User Excitement for AI

But first, there are challenges to overcome. For example, it is important to comply with data and information security regulations. This applies not only to the input and output of personal data, but also to the protection of trade secrets and copyrights. Another issue is the acceptance of the results provided by GenAI.

Since projects are by definition unique, transferring results from one project to another can be problematic. Finally, a certain amount of project management expertise is based on experience, which is difficult for AI to understand or learn. As a result, artificial intelligence and the sometimes sophisticated algorithms in the tools are met with great skepticism by users.

Therefore, cplace follows the approach that the user controls and masters the use of artificial intelligence. “Instead of providing selected AI features, we offer cplace Citizen AI as a tool to integrate AI into existing or new processes. Customers can decide for themselves in which use cases AI should be applied,” adds Navid Heidemann. “With cplace Citizen AI, we empower users to seamlessly integrate GenAI into their workflows, automating repetitive tasks and enhancing efficiency while maintaining human expertise at the core.”, Navid Heidemann continues.

We spoke with Navid Heidemann, Head of Product at cplace, about “The Future of Project Management: How KI is paving the way for cplace Citizen AI”.

Read the complete interview here