Centralize Your Projects - Keeping all records in one working environment is an essential element of streamlining project costs, experts say. As Nowogrodski explains, companies are running their businesses with separate "islands" of scheduling, budgeting and e-mail. "Tight budgets are definitely requiring management to look at efficiency," said Avinoam Nowogrodski, CEO of SaaS provider Clarizen. "SaaS provides no software, no hardware, no maintenance costs. Connecting the different activities to create the efficiency to get the job done at any given moment, this is what Clarizen is doing. Using tools such as Outlook, Excel and e-mail can make the project lack of focus and waste worker productivity.

"E-mailing spreadsheets around is really inefficient―a lot of time consolidating statuses," said Phil Gross, business operations manager for the Intuit QuickBase group. Gross said a "central repository" such as Intuit QuickBase allows companies to keep track of project tasks, resulting in less surprises and an easier time keeping costs in line.

"You want to centralize all deliverables and projects," agrees Tim Low, VP of Marketing for SaaS-provider Daptiv. One way to centralize projects is to use a template. Low advises using the same language and terminology in terms of process. "Leverage the work you've done previously and improve on the work going forward."

Increase Collaboration - "All of these collaboration capabilities and ease of access really drive reduction in time, which translates into cost savings," Low said. "Incremental improvements of seconds and minutes drive major benefits as far as cost and saving time."

And know who's playing, added Nowogrodski. "By understanding all the parameters of the project, who is exactly the team, what are the documents we're using, all of this will increase the efficiency and increase the odes of success of the project." Meanwhile, Gross notes that QuickBase allows you to share resources and amortize your cost over a large pool.

Maintain Visibility - "If you have visibility you are able to make much better decisions faster," Nowogrodski said. By receiving alerts, people are able to respond effectively to task priorities, keep updates focused, and maintain productivity costs. "You need to have visibility on what's important for you," Nowogrodski explained. "Otherwise you're wasting resources, time and money and not be able to save on costs."

In QuickBase, you can make use of the dashboard features to know which tasks are being accomplished and when, Gross said, adding that e-mail notifications are also a key piece of productivity management in the program. "It provides for a way for a team to work together on a process so there's accountability, visibility and all the things you need for success."

In QuickBase, you can set the permissions to be different for internal workers and third-party vendors, Gross explains. "If I'm working with external vendors they don't necessarily have to know who they're bidding against."

Create Clarity - "If you want to streamline your costs, you have to have clarity on what you want to achieve, and then you know the costs are justified," Nowogrodski explains, noting that the name Clarizen stands for clarity and Zen.

"Being really clear and able to communicate with your internal and external employees is a key driver of a cost of a project," Gross said. You need to know immediately if workers are off track rather than wait until the next status meeting, he explains. "If you don't give people direction, they go off like a herd of kittens." Being able to report status is crucial to avoiding time and excess labor costs. And it's important to be on time, on budget and hit business objectives.

Low advises addressing bottlenecks and resource constraints before they've impacted your project.

Choose Projects Carefully - Choose projects with less infrastructure overhead, or use a program that lets you avoid infrastructure costs, Gross advises. Low said Daptiv lets companies analyze their portfolio in an "apples-to-apples" way, focusing on strategic savings, rather than execution savings. "Select projects that drive the highest impact to the organization," he advised.

Gross suggests choosing carefully which projects to start up in the first place based on potential return on investment. The question to ask: "Is this the right project to do given our limited resources?" Gross suggests watching out for a project's maintenance costs. "If there's an ongoing investment in managing and updating, that's a big concern.

Brian T. Horowitz is a freelance technology writer based in New York. He regularly follows innovation, mobility, and the convergence of technology and health. He has contributed to more than 20 publications, including Computer Shopper, InternetNews.com, Fast Company, FOXNews.com, NYSE Magazine, and USA Weekend, as well as other consumer and trade publications.