Microsoft Project vs Wrike

August 10, 2023 | Author: Adam Levine
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Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is a project management software program developed and sold by Microsoft which is designed to assist project managers in developing plans, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets and analyzing workloads. The application creates critical path schedules, and critical chain and event chain methodology third-party add-ons are also available. Schedules can be resource leveled, and chains are visualized in a Gantt chart.
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Wrike
Juggling multiple projects? Wrike makes it easy and efficient for you. It lets you easily adjust plans on the Gantt chart, optimize schedules in the workload view, create custom reports, track time and much more — all with a few mouse clicks.
Microsoft Project and Wrike are both project management tools that offer a range of features to help teams plan, execute, and track projects, but they differ in their approach and functionality.

Microsoft Project is a comprehensive project management software that provides advanced tools for creating project plans, managing resources, tracking progress, and analyzing project data. It offers a rich set of features suitable for complex and large-scale projects, making it popular among project managers and organizations that require detailed project scheduling and resource management capabilities. Microsoft Project is a desktop-based software, which may require installation and licensing.

Wrike, on the other hand, is a cloud-based project management platform that focuses on collaboration and team productivity. It offers intuitive task and project management features, allowing users to create and assign tasks, set due dates, and track progress. Wrike emphasizes real-time collaboration, file sharing, and communication, making it ideal for teams that need to work together remotely or across multiple locations. It also offers integration with popular communication and productivity tools.

See also: Top 10 Project Management software
Microsoft Project vs Wrike in our news:

2021. Citrix is acquiring Wrike for $2.25B



Citrix, a company known for its network security and desktop virtualization software tools, is looking to expand its presence in the collaboration space through the acquisition of work management platform provider Wrike. The deal, valued at over $2 billion, aims to enhance Citrix's offerings in the digital work management domain. Wrike's platform serves as a comprehensive tool for tracking project dates, managing dependencies, allocating assignments and resources, as well as monitoring time. Additionally, it offers collaboration features that facilitate conversations, asset creation, and decision-making. Citrix has recently been focusing on its Citrix Workspace, a solution that integrates various collaboration tools. The technology and expertise brought by Wrike are expected to greatly contribute to the advancement of this product.


2020. Wrike launches new AI tools to keep your projects on track



Project management service Wrike has announced a significant platform update during its user conference. The update introduces various AI capabilities aimed at ensuring individual projects stay on track and meet deadlines. Additionally, new solutions have been introduced to cater to the needs of marketers and project management offices in large corporations. With the latest enhancements, Wrike can now predict potential delays and notify project and team leaders of any indications of potential issues. AI-powered task prioritization assists users in identifying the most crucial tasks that require immediate attention, facilitating project progress. Another noteworthy addition is the support for optical character recognition, enabling users to scan printed and handwritten notes from their phones and attach them to specific tasks (available on iOS only). Moreover, voice commands (via Siri on iOS) and smart replies resembling Gmail's functionality (available in English for iOS and Android) have also been introduced.


2019. Microsoft Project becomes user-friendly


Microsoft Project may be renowned as the most famous and legendary project management software, but it can hardly be described as simple and user-friendly, especially when compared to many of the new cloud services available, such as Asana, Basecamp, Trello, or Wrike. Recognizing this, Microsoft has undertaken a massive redesign of the system. As you can observe in the presentation video, the focus is on simplicity, aiming for a user experience so intuitive that even a child could navigate it. However, the developers have also successfully incorporated several new features, including a kanban board, resource management, budget analysis, and time and expense tracking. Furthermore, Microsoft Project is now available as a subscription service, with a cost of $10 per month per user.


2018. Wrike integrates with Microsoft Teams


The project management tool for Office 365, Microsoft Planner, may not have gained significant popularity yet. As a result, integrating the team messenger Microsoft Teams with the well-known project management service Wrike makes perfect sense. This integration offers several benefits. Firstly, it enables companies to utilize single sign-on for user accounts, streamlining the authentication process for Office 365 and Wrike. Secondly, within any Teams chat, users can easily add a Wrike tab that provides access to the desired project, allowing them to interact with task lists and view timelines. Tasks can be shared with the Teams chat for discussions and collaborative efforts. Additionally, Teams chat enables automatic receipt of project notifications from Wrike. Establishing the connection between Wrike and Teams is a straightforward process, requiring just a few clicks within the Teams Store.


2016. Wrike launched project management tool for marketers



Project management service Wrike is actively exploring opportunities to cater to specific industry verticals through specialized products. In line with this strategy, the company recently introduced its first vertical solution called Wrike for Marketers. This decision was driven by the fact that 40 percent of the company's new revenue already originates from the marketing vertical. Naturally, the product was developed to align with the unique workflow typically found in marketing, encompassing elements such as briefs, requests, assignments, reviews, and approvals. Recognizing the prevalence of Adobe tools like Photoshop and InDesign in creative work within marketing agencies, the Wrike team created an extension for the Adobe Creative Cloud. This integration seamlessly incorporates some of Wrike's features directly into Adobe's tools, enhancing collaboration and streamlining workflows.


2016. Microsoft unveiles Project Server 2016, inpired by Cloud



Microsoft has made an announcement regarding the general availability of Project Server 2016, a solution that brings significant project and portfolio management (PPM) benefits to our on-premises customers. According to Microsoft, Project Server is engineered to perform and scale just like their cloud service, as it is built using the same underlying code. In terms of functionality, the release of Project Server 2016 shares many similarities with its 2013 predecessor. However, it introduces enhancements in resource management, such as the inclusion of resource engagements with heat map displays, and improves the transparency between project planning and line planning. Additionally, the Resource Plan feature has been removed from the Project Web App interface, as it is now integrated into Microsoft Project 2016. Microsoft has also introduced a content pack for Power BI Dashboards, which seamlessly integrates with their cloud-based Project Online offering.


2015. Project management service Wrike raised $15M



The project management and collaboration platform, Wrike, has successfully raised a Series B round, securing $15 million in funding. With the workplace undergoing significant digital transformation, Wrike recognized a dilemma faced by its customers. They were presented with a choice between complex enterprise IT solutions that proved impractical or simplistic tools and applications that lacked scalability. Wrike's CEO and Founder, Andrew Filev, stated, "Our objective was to bridge this gap by offering an enterprise product that focuses on seamless integration and scalable customization. This way, each customer can easily tailor Wrike to align with their unique business objectives." Filev further highlights that Wrike's recent introduction of new customization options has enabled the platform to gain considerable traction in the enterprise sphere. Typically, incorporating personalized features into services like Wrike has proven to be a cumbersome process.


2014. Project Management app Wrike improves customization options


Work management and collaboration service Wrike has introduced its latest offering, the "dynamic platform," allowing users to customize the service according to their specific needs. With the new Custom Fields feature, each project can be configured to track relevant information such as budgets, priorities, or custom statuses. Whether you belong to Product Development, Marketing, Finance, or any other team, you now have the flexibility to tailor your projects precisely to your requirements. Please note that this feature is exclusively available to Wrike Enterprise customers. Additionally, Wrike has introduced the Table View feature, which functions similar to a spreadsheet, facilitating project planning and organization. Furthermore, Wrike has expanded its integrations by including popular tools like Evernote, Wufoo, Zendesk, and more, enabling seamless connectivity and collaboration across various platforms.


2014. Wrike allows to convert any web page into task


Popular project management service Wrike has introduced a clever Chrome extension that enables users to annotate the web. With this extension, Wrike users can not only gather information from any website but, more importantly, when their team members visit the same site, they will see associated tasks linked to it. This functionality is reminiscent of web annotation tools; however, the integration of these capabilities into productivity applications sets Wrike apart. Alongside this, Wrike has introduced additional features, such as the ability to include external parties in Wrike projects. The company emphasizes that this feature is particularly significant for agencies that collaborate with their clients.


2013. Wrike turns into Google Wave


Do you remember Google Wave? It was a collaboration super-app that Google discontinued. However, not everything that Google shuts down is a bad thing. That's why it's not surprising that other providers are adopting the best practices from Google Wave. Take, for instance, the project management service Wrike. Last year, Wrike introduced real-time collaboration editing for task and project pages. And now they have introduced a new "playback" feature that allows you to track text changes. So, if you were offline or busy with other tasks for a while and then return to a task, you can quickly review the complete change history of the task from start to finish. Additionally, you can revert the task to any of the intermediate versions. If you take a look at the Wrike interface now, you'll definitely be reminded of Google Wave.

Author: Adam Levine
Adam is an expert in project management, collaboration and productivity technologies, team management, and motivation. With an extensive background working at prestigious companies such as Microsoft and Accenture, Adam's in-depth knowledge and experience in the field make him a sought-after professional. Currently, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, owning a thriving consulting and training agency where he imparts invaluable insights and practical strategies to individuals and organizations, empowering them to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. You can contact Adam via email adam@liventerprise.com