IMPORTANT UPDATE: Microsoft Project Online Retirement scheduled for September 30, 2026. From this date Project Online will no longer be accessible, however we can help you transition to Planner Premium and the Wellingtone Accelerator+ or to Project Server Subscription Edition.
What is monday.com?
monday.com is a cloud-based platform that allows users to create their own applications and project management software using Work OS. Launched in 2014 the company is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
I’m sure you’ll have seen some of their adverts; they tend to play before my Microsoft Project and Planner videos on YouTube, so you probably think they sponsor us (they don’t). However, I see why the adverts lure users in; it looks so shiny! I wouldn’t be surprised to get home to find my goldfish had signed up to use it.
But why am I talking about monday.com? It’s because we regularly come across organisations that have adopted Microsoft 365 as the primary cloud-powered productivity platform yet individuals and teams still manage to sneak in a variety of third-party, overlapping platforms & solutions including the likes of Smartsheet, Asana and Wrike in addition to monday.com. However, before we explore the advantages of a single platform and the drawbacks of a ‘pick and mix’ approach, let’s zoom out and examine the broader context.
Over the past five years, Microsoft 365 has seen significant adoption across various industries and sectors globally. As of May 2024, approximately 3.7m companies worldwide rely on Microsoft 365 for everyday productivity. It’s the world’s most popular productivity platform, with millions of users globally depending on it to collaborate. If you’re reading this article, you probably use M365 in your organisation.
The benefits of a single platform, Microsoft 365, over monday.com
IT departments work hard to ensure that the platform and the related apps are deployed correctly because they want everyone to use the same platform and apps and be in the same cloud. This provides several benefits, including:
- A cohesive unified experience
- Integrated apps that enable collaboration
- Streamlined IT Management
- Cost efficiency via Enterprise/CSP licensing agreements
- Enhanced security and compliance
You could consider an organisation that has widely adopted Microsoft 365 to a well-manicured lawn. However, having mowed my lawn earlier today, I can tell you one thing for sure: I don’t like weeds–I hate them. From experience, this is typically how IT departments feel when they’ve chosen to standardise on M365, only to discover that the PMO, marketing, or product development team(s) have signed up to monday.com, Asana, or Smartsheet etc.
For IT, this means multiple ‘clouds’ to consider that can create technical, security, and cost issues—and more.
What are the disadvantages of adopting monday.com in a Microsoft 365 Organisation?
Choosing to deploy monday.com or one of the other third-party apps as a project management tool in an company that widely uses Microsoft 365 presents several disadvantages:
- Learning Curve: for those mostly familiar with the Microsoft platform, monday.com, Smartsheet or any other third-party project management apps will take some getting used to.
- Integration challenges: Integrating monday.com with existing systems and tools can be complex, especially for organisations already deeply invested in Microsoft 365. Ensuring seamless data flow and avoiding silos can require significant effort and resources.
- Cost Concerns and Redundancy: The cost of licensing monday.com can be a concern, especially if the organisation is already paying for the equivalent apps within their Microsoft 365 enterprise agreement. Justifying this additional expense can be difficult, and if the perceived benefits don’t outweigh the costs, this becomes redundant expenditure.
- Security Compliance and Privacy: Before adopting Microsoft 365, IT departments often undertake rigorous due diligence to satisfy their concerns. While monday.com and other apps may also offer robust security features, some IT departments might have concerns about compliance with specific industry standards or regulations and perhaps even find it challenging to ensure that monday.com meets all their security protocols.
- Data Management and Control: Managing and controlling data across both Microsoft 365 and monday.com can lead to governance issues. IT departments must prioritise centralised control over data for efficient governance, backup, and disaster recovery. Using an external tool like monday.com can complicate these processes and reduce the IT department’s ability to ensure data integrity and security.
Is it worth getting monday.com when you use Microsoft 365?
In short, NO, but I get why you’d consider it. You’re on YouTube searching for videos on project management apps, and the first thing you see is a monday.com advert. Naturally, this raises questions like, what’s better, monday.com or Microsoft Project / Planner for the web? Where do I get a feature comparison? But when you’re already invested in Microsoft 365, I can tell you that monday.com, Smartsheet or any other third-party app is not the project and task management solution you’re looking for.
Opting for a non-Microsoft solution when you’ve invested in M365 would be akin to turning up at a Star Wars convention dressed as Spock. You’ll get weird looks and ultimately it’s just an illogical choice. That’s one for the Trekkies.
Therefore, if you have access to M365, be like Spock and follow logic. Ask your IT department what apps are already available to you. The chances are you already have access to Microsoft Project for the web and Planner, especially if you belong to a larger organisation, as the Project and Planner licenses are typically bundled into your enterprise agreement.
If you’re worried about which solution better fits your use case, you can rest assured that the two solutions offer similar features. In short, monday.com, Smartsheet and Microsoft Project / Planner aren’t that different in their ability to serve you. The Microsoft apps have an advantage because of their overall integrated platform story and the fact that they keep all your data in one unified cloud.
So, whether you’re exploring project and portfolio management solutions or have implemented a third-party solution like monday.com by stealth or mistake, consider migrating to the Microsoft alternative. Get in touch to see how we can help you migrate today.
