Streamlining Task Management: Can One Tool Fit All?

Throughout my career, working in both financial institutions and fintech companies, one consistent theme has been the use of "Task Managers" (or "Case Managers"). At their core, these systems function as task inboxes, assigned to one or more employees and often following a structured workflow. Despite their importance, you might expect task management to be standardized across organizations, but the reality is much more fragmented.

Task management is handled by a variety of tools, each serving different purposes.

• General productivity tools: Such as Outlook’s task manager, Notion, SharePoint, Confluence pages, and often even shared Excel files.

• Specific productivity tools: Such as Officient or Personio for HR tasks or JIRA, which is often used by Product and IT departments.

• Custom-built solutions: Many companies develop bespoke task management systems or extensively customize tools like JIRA to fit their unique needs.

• Complex BPMS solutions: High-end Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) like TIBCO BPM Work Management, Pega, or IBM Case Manager are used for specific, complex workflows such as credit origination and customer onboarding. However, the high costs of licensing and implementation often limit their use to these areas.

• Business-specific applications: Many business software packages include some form of task management, like ERP systems (SAP, Odoo), CRM platforms (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot), and financial services tools like core banking platforms, fraud detection systems, KYC (Know Your Customer) and sanction screening tools, AML (Anti-Money Laundering) detection engines…​

Despite the widespread need for task management, there’s no industry standard. This fragmentation often leads to inefficiencies, especially when employees are managing tasks across multiple departments or systems. Ideally, every employee should have a unified task inbox, centralizing all tasks — whether from HR, Finance, IT, or Sales. Instead, collaboration relies on emails, ticketing systems (e.g. ServiceNow, JIRA Service Desk, Freshdesk…​), and various task management tools, making it challenging to track tasks, especially when colleagues are out of the office or have changed roles. How often do we end up manually sending reminder emails for tasks that have been missed or delayed?

So, why isn’t Task Management more unified, similar to emails or calendars?

The answer lies in the complexity of tasks, which vary far more than emails or calendar items. Creating a one-size-fits-all solution is difficult. Additionally, the adoption of a single, firm-wide task manager requires strong discipline and the integration of all current case management systems into this central tool.

Task management needs also differ across organizations:

• Team Tasks: Simplicity is crucial. Users need a tool that is quick and easy to use with minimal controls.

• Business-Critical Processes: In more structured, business-critical workflows, such as regulatory compliance or customer onboarding, the task manager must be highly customizable, often triggering automated processes.

Balancing flexibility and ease of use with control and rigor makes it challenging to develop a unified solution. Companies may prefer decentralized, adaptable tools for certain areas, while others require centralized, tightly controlled solutions. Advanced CRM or BPMS tools can potentially bridge both needs, but their expensive licensing models often make them inaccessible for lower-value tasks. A cheaper, powerful alternative that could become an industry standard would be incredibly valuable.

Despite the wide range of task management tools, most share some core functionalities, such as:

• Task Creation and Editing: Tasks typically include a title, description, assignees, creator, timestamps, priorities, tags, and lifecycle status. Attachments and comments are also common features.

• Task Assignment: Tasks can be assigned to individuals or teams, ideally with workforce management capabilities for balancing workloads and reassigning tasks when needed. Employee hierarchy should also be factored in to manage workloads effectively.

• Linking Tasks: Related tickets or tasks can be linked to each other.

• Task Filtering and Searching: Users can filter tasks by assignee, status, or tags.

• Exports and Reporting: Tools often allow data exports or generate reports.

• Task Monitoring and Reporting: Detailed statistics on pending tasks, SLAs, execution times, bottlenecks, and capacity forecasts.

• Task Workflow Management: Control over transitions between task statuses, ensuring validation and triggering integrations or webhooks as needed.

• Alerts and Reminders: Notifications or reminders to ensure tasks are completed on time

• Notifications: Various notification methods (e.g., email, SMS, Slack, WhatsApp) for task updates or critical stages.

• API Integration: Many tools enable task creation via API, facilitating automation and integration with other systems. Task management tools should also trigger external business processes when tasks reach certain stages.

• Audit Trails: A log of all updates and changes made to a task.

• Security and Permissions: User profiles that determine which tasks a user can see or modify.

As task management and collaboration tools continue to evolve, the need for solutions that balance flexibility and control is growing. AI and machine learning are beginning to automate routine tasks and identify bottlenecks, while cloud-based solutions offer scalability and seamless collaboration across departments.

However, a fundamental challenge remains: How do we bring all tasks under one roof without sacrificing the unique needs of each department? As the workplace becomes increasingly collaborative, the demand for task management tools that integrate with broader business processes will only grow.