It’s not unusual for even the most adept project manager, with the firmest grip on organisation, to fall victim to the occasional overwhelming workload. This is especially true for managers who always say “yes” to more work, aiming to demonstrate their value, or to impress the stakeholders in a project. If you are taking on too many jobs though, it’s inevitable that you will end up with deadlines chasing faster than you can outrun them.

Collaboration is a fundamental requirement for delivering any project successfully. Project professionals and their teams cannot possibly hope to plan and execute their projects without involving contractors, suppliers and stakeholders. Projects that fail will invariably suffer a breakdown in collaboration between one or more parties.

As the Premier League title race draws to a close this weekend all eyes will be on the World Cup, and more to the point whether everything will be ready in time. Later this week, Brazil’s President, Dilma Roussell is set to declare Sao Paola’s new stadium officially open. With the acknowledgement that things tend to run a little late in South America by habit, perhaps things will be judged to have been a great success?

However, to say that this would be disguising a multitude of sins would be something of an understatement. Chaotic at best, disastrous at worst, the 2014 preparations have seen anti-world cup protests, damaged relations with FIFA, not to mention an awful lot of building work left to be done. We’ve taken a look at the success of this particular project, comparing it against key questions raised as part of the PRINCE2 methodology.

It is inconceivable for a project to succeed without collaboration between all parties responsible for its delivery. This has always been the case but today, more than ever, the size and scale of many of the projects being undertaken around the world are just too big and, more often than not, too costly for a single organisation to fund and manage.

Don’t know your yams from your tweets? Clueless about Ning and Ping? Fear not, for we aim to demystify social media and social enterprise so you can find tools that suit projects and pockets.

We’re often told of the value of ‘going the extra mile’ in the course of our interaction with customers. But what does the phrase actually mean? It’s surely about going above and beyond the call of duty.

As we have discussed in previous blogs, e-learning as a format is extremely easy to update and re-think should you find newer, more relevant material for your employees. If you’ve already got a course in place, you are given a perfect platform to expand, streamline or revamp wherever you see fit.

In order to stay ahead in customer service, innovation and adaptability must be at the forefront of any coherent business plan. The companies with the most successful, effective customer service teams are those that are constantly seeking perfection through new technologies, consumer behaviour and the practices of their competitors.

Some are born with excellent customer service skills and some need to have customer skills thrust upon them. Either way, if you want a successful business with a profitable client base, you cannot live without them.

We’ve established that customer service is a vital component to any successful business and previous blogs have offered all manner of suggestions with regards to good practice, tailoring it according to the needs of clients, dealing with complaints effectively and pitfalls to avoid.