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Align project management with organizational strategy using TouchBase

January 31, 2024

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Living in a project economy, most organizations run projects just like any other activity of the company – leading to misplaced priorities, poor execution, and missed business impact.  Unfortunately, many managers do not see the link between organizational strategy and projects.  The situations turn worse when managers use spreadsheets, documents, and emails to manage projects – I call this as the ‘bits & pieces approach to project management’ instead of meticulously investing in a Project Management Software or a PM Tool!

Let us first connect the dots.

Professionally run enterprises start off with a clear ‘Mission’ or ‘Purpose.’  Their leaders then agree on ‘Values’ that represent the ‘ways’ their business is conducted – be it with their employees, customers, vendors, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders.  Leaders then outline strategies or the externally-focused thinking – what the company must pursue, and it does not!  Depending on choice of pursuits, different strategic business units (SBUs) or portfolios are envisaged.  Such SBUs undertake programs and/or projects to deliver against the goals and objectives agreed upon.

The Mission-to-Business Impact Pyramid

It is no longer a rocket science to infer the strong coupling of organizational strategies with a powerful online project management software or PSA Software for professional services organizations.

How does a Project Management Software enable strategic alignment?

Product/Services & Project Lifecycle Management

Organizations undertake diverse projects to deliver unique products and services.  The lifecycle for engineering professional services and that of a project in the IT industry are as different as chalk and cheese!  Further, the lifecycle for an FMCG product is different from a Pharma drug.  When a professional services company undertakes projects, they also vary in terms of complexity, size, and value.  Business leaders must ensure that the management of programs and projects are tailored to fit – thereby driving faster business value.

A top-rated Project Management Software or a PM Tool like TouchBase can be ‘configured’ in line with the industry, products, and services offered by its customers.

Prioritization of Programs & Projects

Business enterprises are constrained by resources – financial and people.  Organizations can undertake only a limited number of programs and projects.  For example, a professional services company must decide the markets they want to operate in, kind of customers to pursue, the size and value of projects to undertake – all these must be closely linked to organizational strategies and goals.  It is not uncommon to see leaders and managers struggle through the process of evaluating and selecting the ‘right’ projects to pursue.  Statistics paint a grim picture about how much money is wasted through ‘wrong’ decisions – leading to loss of stakeholder value!

A best-in-class Project Management Software or a Project Management Tool like TouchBase empowers senior management with granular and meticulous project evaluation parameters along with robust workflows to ensure that decisions are taken in a collaborative manner – and swiftly.

Optimized Capacity & Resource Management

Revenue is influenced by external factors over which business leaders have little control.  However, they could look to resources to optimize costs.  Resources form a major chunk of project costs for companies in the professional services and IT industry.  Senior leaders cannot afford to have sub-optimal resource utilization – they are a drain on organization’s growth and profitability.  Business decision-makers must ensure a real-time mapping of customer demand and internal resources.  Resource allocation must be meticulous and transparent.

A Project Management Software or a Project Management Tool like TouchBase is designed to capture business demand and resource management with workflows built-in to enable faster and smoother resource management, while keeping a close tab on costs.

Demand & Capacity Conundrum

Accurate Revenue Recognition and Zero Revenue Leakage

A significant challenge for leaders in both the professional services as well as IT industry is ensuring accurate revenue recognition.  While project teams focus on the technical and people-management aspects of projects, finance teams have a hard time to ensure accurate revenue recognition.  It is very common to observe cases where work is delivered but revenue is not recognized.  The situation is further complicated with different accounting rules associated with revenue recognition – which the project teams detest!

Another challenge is to ensure zero revenue leakage generally associated with scope changes and scope creep.  It is believed that projects could lose up to 10% by way of revenue leakage.

With a Project Management Software or a PM Tool like TouchBase, project managers and finance managers could define business rules based on which revenue is recognized, workflows ensure that teams are involved in work that the customer pays for, and automated customer invoicing does the rest! 

Project success is not complete without getting paid for – profitably!

Governance

Governance is about right decisions and right execution in the right way by all concerned.  Considering that programs and projects involve significant investment, leaders and managers need access to project health dashboards and real-time analytics.  They must constantly scan the business environment and feed relevant insights into their programs, and projects – so that immediate modifications or course corrections are recommended.  For such a dynamic level of governance, information access, data integrity, and transparency via latest project health dashboards across stakeholders is vital. 

A PPM Software seamlessly interlocks strategic goals and objectives with programs and projects – information flows smoothly from portfolios to projects and vice-versa.  A Project Management Software drives overall ‘confidence’ across the management so that they can take ‘trust-worthy decisions.’

Closing Comments

A top-class Project Management Software is no longer a nice-to-have.  In today’s VUCA world, if leaders are not just focused on survival, but want to chase profitable growth, a Project Management Software is a great investment that starts rewarding you from day one!

TouchBase Project Management Software is designed to connect your strategic goals with ground-level business value!

Srikanth PV

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Srikanth PV comes with two decades of global corporate and consulting background across industries with diverse roles including Strategy, Leadership, and Management. Currently, Srikanth is Head, PPM Content Management at Kytes focused on content management strategy aimed to empower customers create and enhance value through its flagship digital solution - Kytes PSA. Srikanth is also a former member of the Board of Directors of PMI Bangalore Chapter.

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