Global Project Portfolio Management

By M. Isi Eromosele

Every large global organization is having difficulty controlling its portfolio of projects, due to the impact of internal misalignment. As billions of dollars are invested in a variety of capital and technology projects, the ability to manage these investments is not keeping pace.

Taken individually, each project would seem to be adding value to the organization. However, when evaluated as a group, the result is usually the emergence of a different picture.

Some projects are found to be working at cross-purposes; others are needlessly duplicating each other, still others are implemented to meet outdated business objectives, with all of them competing for the same pool of resources.

A proper organizational alignment has several components, working in tandem to produce greater business performance. The goal should be to match the organization’s project portfolio objectives and the company’s strategies with the realities of its business environment.

It is wholesomely about creating greater value and efficiency by managing the relationships among projects. It is about building the organizational capacity to respond effectively to future events in a company’s industry and preferred marketplace.

Despite today’s uncertain global business environment, a company should use its project portfolio as a vehicle to increase its shareholder value and confidence. A project portfolio is a company’s frontier currency and an overlooked instrument for unlocking latent value.

In order to spend this currency wisely, a shift in mind-set is required as well as a change in strategic thinking. An organization is better served by adjusting the project portfolio to enhance the company’s ability to adapt to changing business environmental circumstances. This enables alignment to become dynamic, rather than static.

The need for organizational alignment is clear and palpable. Organizations are under increasing pressure to perform better and create value. Alignment helps achieve both goals.

Alignment enhances shareholder value and confidence through enabling a company’s ability to better meet corporate objectives, increase efficiency, reduce risk and provide viable options to hedge against an uncertain future.

The Big Picture

A company’s project portfolio is where plans are translated into reality. It is the manifestation of what a company is doing and where it is going. It is where investments are made and resources are allocated. It is the truest measure of organizational intent.

The global business environment is changing at a rapid pace. Do organizations know what the future is going to look like? Do all their projects still make sense? As the business environment continues to shift, will these projects deliver expected payoffs?

The project portfolio is a company’s future currency and an overlooked vehicle for unlocking hidden value, even as the company adapts to the future. Companies are better served by adapting themselves for the future rather than trying to predict their destinations.

In the United States, an incredible 45 percent of investments fail to deliver their intended returns each year.

To mitigate the above phenomenon, a company needs to better connect what it is doing – as manifested by its project portfolio – with what it intends to achieve as articulated in its corporate objectives. This requires precise organizational alignment.

Alignment is a time-honored challenge. Today, it is taking on greater urgency as project proliferation is consuming increasing levels of precious resources without producing intended business results.

The earning-driven economy of today demands greater project utility to capture investor confidence and unlock hidden shareholder value. The evolving global marketplace and its increasingly unpredictable components compound the challenge of meeting stated business objectives, while preparing for the future.

Your organization has a basketful of project activities which it is implementing or about to. Collectively, these comprise your project portfolio. Your portfolio represents your actions and your investments and, as stated earlier, serves as your future frontier currency.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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