There can be no doubt as to the critical importance of effective communication management in terms of successfully facilitating not only the ultimate success of any particular project, but the meeting of criteria as far as planning, cost and deadlines are concerned.
Most project managers would admit that around eighty percent of their time is spent communicating in one form or another with the various members and groups within the project team.
Today, much of the communication needed occurs through a wider range of media than ever before.
This means that a project manager has to manage communications effectively before being able to organize the smooth and efficient progress of any project.
With a greater than ever number of people tending to be involved in large-scale projects and a far more diverse range of methods of communication, this is no small feat.
Added to this is the very real probability that many of the related parties advising on or developing aspects of the project might be based many miles apart - even on different continents.
Another issue which will have to be addressed is the screening of communications, and this may also require a range of means by which data can be screened.
Clearly, some communications will be of a more critical nature than others will, and it will be necessary for any communications management program to be capable of prioritizing information and ensuring that it is delivered to the right person, in the right format, and with the appropriate priority handling.
Naturally, it is not simply the collation and screening of communications which will need to be handled effectively, but the distribution of that information to the various parties who will need to be informed.
Any project manager may admit to being partially little more than a glorified errand boy, passing notes from one party to another! However, the complexity and dynamism involved in large scale, international projects can result very easily in breakdowns in communications, and it will be crucial for any project manager to know that the chosen system will be capable of handling multiple streams of information, in multiple formats, delivering that information to the right person, in the right format, and all taking into account the priority for each transmission.
It's a great deal to expect, but entirely necessary, since the likely success of any project is necessarily reduced the greater the frequency of communications errors, delays or failures.
The importance of this issue makes the selection of software programs a fundamental issue in managing any project, especially a large-scale one.