Companies Using Project Management Approach Are More Profitable

In today’s global market, companies are looking to improve their systems and processes to become more competitive and profitable. One way they are trying to do this is by establishing project management as a core competency throughout the organization. But why they are so motivated to implement a enterprise project management approach? Here are some reasons:

• Losing market share due to increasing global competition

• Poor cost vs. profit ratios resulting in falling or stagnant stock values

• Competition with faster time-to-market

• Changing economic conditions that force downsizing

• Effective use of fewer resources caused by downsizing

• Implementing new technology to become more efficient

• Managing changes brought on by dynamic growth

• New executives who have seen it add value elsewhere

The list of organizations attempting to integrate project management disciplines and best practices into the way they manage their businesses is expanding daily; however, those who have succeeded in doing so is significantly smaller.

The solution for many of these companies is positioning. By positioning, the group charged with the implementation of project management should be in the upper levels of the company. It is critical that all levels of workers and managers see that the executive level supports it without hesitation. Without support from the top, it won’t get off the ground. Executives or people in charge of the project management implementation should do three activities:

• Choose the right project mix – which will leverage the company’s best resources to bring large, measurable value to the stakeholders.

• Ensure the correct scope – align projects and content cross-functionally. Many of today’s projects have technical scope relevant to a single, functional area, but lack the organization-wide policy, measurement and content changes necessary to have a significant impact on organization goals.

• Execute quickly, in the correct sequence – Executives must understand and convince the organization to adhere to the organization’s project capacity. Project managers can effectively monitor project execution to ensure that out-control situations are quickly recognized and acted upon.

Author

Giana Rosetti

Giana Rosetti is an electrical engineer and a PMP certified with a successful track record directing projects and programs at Project Management Office (PMO) level with a combined knowledge of engineering, research and analysis.