siliconindia | | June 20189wasted every 20 seconds collectively by organizations around the globe due to the ineffective implementa-tion of business strategy through poor project management practices. This equates to roughly Rs 1 lakh 28,000 crores wasted a year. The study shows that on average organizations globally waste 9.9 percent of every dollar due to poor project performance and India loses 8.1% of every dollar* invested by businesses, pointing to a significant opportunity to drive financial per-formance. (*Figures are U.S. dollar amounts, but represent a percentage that applies to any currency.) Source : Pulse of the Profession® 2018In an era of increased financial scrutiny, shifting competitive pressures, and business disruption from evolving technology, the survey results point to five critical factors that can help organizations drive performance through more effective implementation of a strategy. Executive Sponsor Engagement is the Top Driver of Effective Strategy Delivery The top driver of projects meeting their original business goals is an actively engaged executive champion or sponsor. However, at the same time, organizations report an average of 38 percent of projects not having active executive sponsorship, which points to the need and opportunity for executive leaders to be more engaged in the delivery of the strategy. Greater Connection between Strategy Design and Delivery Executives often fail to recognize that effective project and program management is what delivers on strategy. More than one in three organizations (35 percent) report not having strong alignment of initiatives and projects that directly delivers against strategy. This indicates the need for C-Suite executives to better recognize the full potential of project management to execute strategy and to ensure they are leveraging the right programs to deliver against the strategy directly. Optimize Investment in Strategy Implementation Organizations often prioritize investment in developing the strategy over proper execution. There appears to be a significant disconnect between executive leaders and project managers on strategy implementation funding. While 84 percent of executive leaders believe they are effectively prioritizing and funding the right initiatives and projects, only 55 percent of Project Management Office (PMO) leaders agree. This suggests that organizations might not be leveraging the optimum focus and investment to deliver against strategy. Leverage Disruption ­ Don't Just React to It ­ Get Agile In a world with an accelerated pace of innovation, disruption is the new normal. So, it's not surprising that 83 percent of project managers report digital transformation has either moderately or dramatically impacted their work over the past five years. What's key to success in today's business environment is leveraging an agile approach with project management and delivering against strategy through ongoing evaluation of shifting market dynamics, new technologies, and innovation. But while 71 percent of organiza-tions report greater agility over the last five years, only 28 percent report have high organizational agility over-all. Though agility is increasing, the pace of change is inconsistent. In fact, from a broader organizational per-spective, only 40 percent of organiza-tions report prioritizing the creation of a culture receptive to change. Looking forward, organizations that can leverage disruption and remain agile can drive both financial gain and competitive advantage. Define and Track Success Metrics The survey showed that on average, around half (52 percent) of projects experience scope creep and roughly half (48 percent) are not delivered on time, leading to substantial financial losses. Defining success measures upfront helps ensure projects stay on track, and meet budgets and goals. A higher level of maturity of pro-ject management practices is seen in India in sectors viz. IT, automotive and financial services compared to capital-intensive industries. The pri-vate sector also reports a higher level of induction of project management than the public sector. The effectiveness of Project Management could be rightly concluded through a famous old proverb "A stitch in time saves nine." In an ever-evolving business environment and a vibrant global scenario, a right timed step taken today can not only take care of several future problems but also save cost and optimize the outcome for an organization. Project management facilitates action rightly at each level during project execution both at micro and macro level. Raj Kalady
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