Project Management as a Service

Adaptable and cost-effective project management resources

Despite the value in investing in project management resources, project management continues to be branded as an expensive service that can be done by an in-house resource in addition to their actual project role and responsibilities. What is overlooked when these decisions are made is the risk this creates for the project and business. Some of these risks we have covered in a previous article about how investing in project management resources (and therefore not investing) can impact business revenue. This is not only numbers but also that which can’t necessarily be quantified - business reputation and trust.???

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As experienced project managers we obviously find this scenario frustrating because we see how much businesses could benefit from project management, by getting the right people, in the right place at the right time.?

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What if we said that a business could benefit from project management practices and experts without the high price tag? That a business can pick and choose what project management resources they need and only pay for that???

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Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) makes it possible for organisations to reap the benefits of project management practices (link to LinkedIn post about this) without the high price tag and without cutting on quality.??

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Why organisations can benefit from PMaaS providers??

Turning to a PMaaS provider is the quickest, most efficient and cost-effective means of tapping into a wealth of expertise in one sweep.??

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Moreover, offloading project management responsibilities to project management experts leaves your in-house teams to focus on their own expertise they are bringing to deliver their work responsibilities. You wouldn’t want an IT architect to be spending their time bogged down with project management tasks, that’s not why you hired them in the first place.??

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Here are some benefits of hiring a PMaaS provider:?

- Increases stakeholder confidence owing to experts involved who are experienced with project needs.?

- Cost-effective and flexible because requirements can be scaled up and down, no overhead costs such as full-time employment.?

- Adaptable to changing needs.?

- Access experienced project managers without the overhead burden.??

- Reduction in operational risks; an experienced PM can identify potential risks and mitigation strategies.?

- Cost predictability and transparency: billed for what you need and use, which helps with managing project expenses.?

- Save on human resources because there is no need to carry out a hiring process.?

- Gives existing project teams resources (support, tools, methodologies) to hit the ground running.?

- Resources are allocated efficiently.?

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PMaaS are tailored, on-demand project management resources based on what a client needs.?

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What PMaaS do you need??

We can’t tell you what you need in this article, but we can give you some idea of what service you may be looking for. And if you are looking to better understand what your specific project management resources needs are, we are always available for a chat.??

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In general, project management can be categorised within two main roles: project management office (PMO) and project specific management.??

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PMO is often part of an organisation’s permanent structure. It is a team with several responsibilities related to overseeing and standardising project management practices across the organisation. This can include responsibility in ensuring that all projects are contributing to the organisation’s strategic goals, optimising resource usage across the organisation, governance and transparency, change management and management of large scale and complex projects. A PMO is an on-going role.??

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It’s also important to realise that not all PMOs are equal. An organisation’s existing capacities and resources may influence what responsibilities its PMO can undertake. A PMO may choose to handle one responsibility and not another because of the lack of resources (financial or human). Without realising it, limiting PMO responsibilities could be considered as a risk (perhaps even make sure it’s recorded as one in a RAID log). Coincidentally, outsourcing a PMaaS provider to ‘fill in the gap’ is a risk mitigation and one example of how a PMaaS provider can be an optimal solution.??

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But not all organisations have or even need a PMO (or maybe not yet).??

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Some businesses may have very straightforward project activities such as product development and pilot projects. These are often projects that need a full-time project manager for delivery, but thereafter no longer need the project manager. As such, specific ad hoc, short-term projects are another type of project management service that organisations can greatly benefit from PMaaS providers.??

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Some advice when looking for a PMaaS provider?

If you have chosen to go down this path of outsourcing project management expertise here are a few points to keep in mind.?

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First and foremost, experienced project management providers are in a better position to advise and determine what is the most fitting project management resource an organisation needs. This is not just about PMO or project specific services. It’s also everything in between, such as options that you may not have thought of, but experienced project managers would be able to identify. This leads us to probably the one major tip we will share.?

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Seek project management advice as early as possible. This does not automatically bind you to hiring a PMaaS. Instead, a good PMaaS provider will provide you with feedback with no commitment so that you can make the final decision.??

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Okay, perhaps there is one other thing we want to share.?

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A project can be delivered on time and within budget, but it may fall short of value expectations, which is an important component when analysing project success. This can also be understood as project benefits post-completion, which is about ensuring that the expected value is achieved. To reduce the possibility of a project not providing the benefits it was expected to, is why change management needs to be considered, not only for project planning but also when researching what PMaaS provider.??

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And to finish, a detail that is important to consider that can have a significant impact on what PMaaS provider to go with is about the working environment: on-site, hybrid and remote work. The additional benefit of a PMaaS provider like us is that our services are adaptable to your organisation’s working environment. We can comfortably and easily work as a fully online project management provider (hence the company name ‘virtualPMO’), or be on-site for those businesses that require this, and everything in between.??

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Conclusion?

The flexible nature of PMaaS providers means that the type of service offered can range from full PMO role and responsibilities to specific PMO tasks to support and strengthen an organisation’s existing PMO team. It can also mean providing project specific expertise for those stand alone, ad hoc projects. In the end, PMaaS removes any excuse preventing businesses from accessing the benefits of project management resources. Better yet, our PMaaS offering gives decision makers more reason to turn to high-grade project management expertise without breaking the budget.?