The G20 represents global and multilateral governance principles, and as the world congregates in South Africa for the latest G20 summit, the relevance of ESG – environment, social and governance – is at the forefront of strategic conversations. Yet, while many sectors have incorporated ESG outcomes into their projects, the ICT industry is often still an outlier, where ESG measures remain afterthoughts.
Is there a way to change this? Yes, by using project management to thread ESG effectively into every IT project, purchase and service, says Nexio's Head of PMO, Mudzunga Mashamba.
"Our clients want to match their ESG goals with their IT projects. So, we start with that end in mind, looking at client initiatives as part of their IT services or demonstrating the impact of our solutions to their requirements in meaningful ways, not just ticking boxes. The project management office is a natural conduit for creating this balance."
The PMO's role in ESG
Some enterprises want to focus on energy saved and carbon removed or reduced. Other enterprises want to use regional suppliers, especially SMEs. Many want to support youth development. Demonstrating ethical conduct, governance frameworks such as King IV and V, and regulatory compliance is crucial.
Private and public sector organisations need to meet several such requirements, driven from executive mandates but owned by different groups. ESG requirements can quickly become complex and layered, and the natural response is to deal with them later.
But Mashamba remarks that as ESG becomes more relevant to strategy and investor relations, organisations want to see a conscious focus on these matters.
"Many of our clients started to raise this issue. They have ESG requirements, and they want these to be part of the plan from the start. It wasn't just a question of how we deliver ESG-worthy work. It's about how our work meets the client's ESG KPIs. Do we know what those are and how they could fit into what we do, whether it's delivering new technology or applying managed services? That is where the PMO steps up."
The project management office (PMO) is the natural orchestrator of enterprise projects, setting guidelines, benchmarks and processes, as well as training, governance and performance monitoring. Nexio uses its PMO as the hub for its technology deployment both internally and for clients. It soon developed into a PMO as a service function that handles the complexities of IT delivery, including consistent and meaningful ESG.
"To really deliver, we need to partner with clients and learn about their initiatives, especially those that we don't know about and might not be explicitly spelled out in the scope."
Strategic ESG
PMOs are the hubs that connect ESG activities, from governance to performance and reporting to cross-functional integration. By using the PMO as a central and integrated part of delivering IT projects and services, Nexio has the right people around the table from the start to develop ESG alignment. This approach helps companies demonstrate how their technology investments meet ESG needs, including:
- Energy savings
- Equity scorecards
- Skills development
- SME support
- Sustainability
- Risk management
- Performance monitoring
"You no longer have ESG thrown somewhere at the back where it becomes a nuisance portfolio or an add-on. By using the PMO, ESG becomes part and parcel of our delivery engine. ESG becomes intentional, not like a sixth toe. We can show how we deliver projects that show strategic value," says Mashamba.
Digital technology enjoys massive strategic importance in organisations, considerably influencing factors such as their suppliers, regulations, governance, sustainability, energy, security and many more factors that define ESG. Investors scrutinise these benchmarks, which are also increasingly central to positive business outcomes.
ESG is not just a requirement – it's an expression of healthy operations that incorporate people, planet and profit. PMO as a service threads ESG throughout pivotal IT projects and services, says Mashamba.
"Integrating ESG principles into project methodologies, governance frameworks and performance metrics, Nexio’s PMO, for instance, ensures that every initiative contributes to both operational excellence and societal impact having the three ESG dimensions through one delivery engine. The PMO unburdens the organisation of a scattered approach to meeting the ESG objectives. In this way, we and our clients can continuously evolve our thinking to have the tools, techniques and a mindset relevant for the digital AI era with ESG at the heart of it."
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