PMO’s Significance from a Strategic Point of View

PMO’s Significance from a Strategic Point of View

Overview – The PMO Obligation

With the advent of globalization and digitization in the modern business world, several organizations are struggling hard to hold their position and value in sync with the accelerated pace of change. In this environment of uncertainty and rapid growth, the capability of businesses to conceptualize and implement strategic initiatives and innovations can stand as their key differentiating factor.

However, successful implementation of strategic initiatives necessitate a highly focused and phased approach that could overcome the challenges related to leadership and effective engagement. This is where PMO comes into play. A program or project management office (PMO) plays a crucial part in actively supporting the enforcement of key strategic programs and change management capabilities to ensure the achievement of target impact.

The Role of PMO as a Strategy / Change Implementer

Several research articles and publication issued by The Project Management Institute (PMI) have emphasized the need of PMO as a key supporting factor to an organization’s strategy and vision. However, PMOs must enhance their capabilities and processes if they are to effectively support senior business leaders and serve as real-time enablers of strategic changes in an organization.

The key to success for a PMO is to establish a strong level of integration within an organization based on the following factors:

PMO Imperatives for Critical Support Function

Focus on critical initiatives: Deliver true operational insight to senior leaders through meaningful milestones and objectives for strategic initiatives. This sort of focused approach encourages clarity and course correction about evolving issues and leads to the fullest possible realization of impact.

Institute smart and simple processes: Establish program level routines that track these milestones and objectives, communicate progress and help identify issues early without adding undue burdens or usurping the businesses and functions executing the work.

Foster talent and capabilities: Cultivate and nurture the appropriate technical, strategic and business-management and leadership skills and capabilities within an organization.

Encourage a culture of change: Actively build organization-wide support and commitment to strategic initiative implementation and change management as a real competitive differentiator.

PMO Impact – Strategic Initiatives and Financial Results

PMO is instrumental in driving the crucial alignment between projects and organizational strategy. According to the research studies, PMOs have been effective in delivering the following results towards the strategic initiatives of the organizations:

  • Decreased failed projects by 31%.
  • Delivered 30% of projects under budget.
  • Demonstrated 21% improvement in productivity.
  • Delivered 19% of projects ahead of schedule.

Conclusion:

PMOs are still maturing from portfolio level to the individual projects and continuing to strengthen the influences between organizational project management and business value. The more integrated PMO and involved the executive team is, the better the results.

High-performing PMOs are perceived as an integral part of strategy implementation. They take the ownership of driving specific priorities that complements business goals. Several statistics and facts confirm that PMO, itself, is equipped with high level of decision-making authority and holds the power to influence C-suite level professionals. Certainly, there are multiple opportunities to improve existing project management practices to meet the ever-growing demands of the business landscape. To this end, the PMO function will continue to evolve, mature and stake its claim as a strategic imperative for successful organizations.

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