Project management software usually is not for the faint of heart, but advancements in technology are allowing companies to embrace project management in a more aggressive manner than ever before.
That's the view of Alexander Forbes' chief information officer (CIO), Brad Eliot, who says the face of project management within organisations is changing dramatically as CIOs feel the pressure to do more with less.
EPM (enterprise project management) products help companies collect and make sense of data to assess the status of projects in the business. Once seen as the poor cousins of the IT world, they are now shaking off their once dowdy image to deliver powerful business benefits, including driving strategic initiatives and improving project success rates.
“The current global recession is placing additional pressure on financial services institutions to have agility in their business and systems,” said Eliot. “Companies are increasingly relying on software tools to make project information visible and understandable, so that managers and teams can make the up-to-the-minute decisions as an organisation's internal or external conditions change.
“The bottom line is that EPM helps companies to stay on track with their overarching business objectives by associating projects with the corporate themes they support - like increasing market share, optimising profitability or operational effectiveness.”
While these tools have been available for a number of years, they simply haven't been enough. Many organisations have complex projects, happening in diverse locations, starting at different times. And this demand for more integrated planning has resulted in the arrival of a new breed of enterprise solutions, says Albie Bester, who heads the Information Worker division at Microsoft South Africa.
Before Alexander Forbes embarked on its recent EPM initiative, information was stored in various places across the business and project management processes and tools were not standardised. Steven Skolnic, head of the Alexander Forbes EPM Office, says the introduction of EPM has first and foremost ensured the availability of accurate data and reports on all projects.
Working with local project management specialists UMT Consulting SA, the company implemented an EPM system that will align and integrate its project management system with its project delivery framework, processes and templates.
“We're not only able to collaborate with distributed project teams and track resource utilisation, but we are seeing improved project communication and the ability to manage risks, issues and knowledge about projects in a centralised location,” said Skolnic.
Duncan Barnes, a sales executive for UMT Consulting SA, believes that between 30% and 50% of the energy companies expend on projects is wasted through various inefficient processes and poor decisions.
“At Alexander Forbes, internal IT staff and business users are now well equipped to plan ahead. They see each project, who's working on it, start and estimated finish dates, the current phase of the project, and business hours and costs,” said Barnes.
“For the first time, their senior managers have a holistic view of operations that allows them to save time and money, and rationalise processes.”
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