As a professional service provider, you’ve helped clients navigate the challenges of completing large-scale and even enterprise-wide projects. Based on your firm’s business initiatives, you’re likely also keenly aware of how complex project management can be. Businesses, especially those that provide professional services, often find tremendous relief in hiring a program manager to help clients navigate these challenges. Your organization may benefit from bringing an enterprise program management office (ePMO) on board, but first, it’s critical to understand the ins and outs of the role.
What Role Does an Enterprise Program Management Office (ePMO) Play?
Unlike a project manager who oversees a specific project, strategic ePMOs are responsible for several, usually interrelated, projects. They complete projects on time and within budget while aligning with the organization’s mission, vision, and goals. An ePMO ensures that projects don’t scope creep, waste organizational resources, and conflict with other mission-critical and revenue-driving initiatives.
Effective ePMOs involves strategic leadership, planning and execution, communication and collaboration, and risk and budget management. To align projects with their mission and goals, ePMOs must think strategically, assess risks, and guide project planning to meet broader business objectives. They ensure that every aspect of a project, from messaging to financial goals, is consistent with organizational standards and supports organizational goals.
Excellent ePMOs are masters of organizational communication and stakeholder management. They understand that for departments to collaborate and managers to make the right decisions, they need the right information at the right time. They also recognize that providing too much or too little information or sharing it too early or late can lead to friction, bottlenecks, and errors. Great ePMOs know who needs information and how to share it effectively for better collaboration and efficiency.
Moreover, the ePMO ensures efficient resource allocation and prudent budget management. When you have multiple large initiatives, having someone in place who can see that one over performing project no longer needs all its designated resources and shift some of them to another project in need is a tremendous value-add.
Why Do Businesses Need ePMOs?
In short, ePMOs translate strategy into action. Managers and staff have many ideas, but effective ePMOs help choose which will best advance the organization’s goals. They show how existing and new projects connect to boost efficiency, collaboration, and outcomes.
The ideal ePMO understands:
- Which department heads should be involved in what meetings
- Which employees are running point for each project
- How specific tasks are being delegated
- How and when financial resource requests should be made
- When and if to involve legal
- How to get the work done and over the line
Skilled ePMOs know the best ways to communicate, facilitate collaboration, and understand organizational processes and culture and use that expertise to ensure projects stay moving toward the end goal.
In their role, ePMOs can often take a step back from daily operations, see the bigger picture, and find potential opportunities for greater synergy between projects. They can also identify redundancies between projects and threats to project outcomes before they emerge. For example, an ePMO may realize that Project Team A will need an increasing amount of resources shared with Project Teams B and C. Before Team A uses up all of the resources and brings the work of Teams B and C to a standstill, the ePMO can intervene by requesting more of the resource in question, finding an alternative, or identifying another solution.
EPMOs often demonstrate their value through the cost savings they can achieve. By continuously evaluating and assessing multiple projects, they can reallocate resources to ensure teams achieve maximum productivity at minimum costs. Having oversight over multiple project budgets gives them more leverage to negotiate better pricing from outside vendors.
Can Your Business Benefit From an Enterprise Program Management Office?
If your business success depends on successfully implementing multiple organization-wide projects, you likely need an effective and skilled ePMO. If your business offers professional services to others, a client-facing ePMO could greatly enhance the breadth and depth of your services.
Still not sure? Talk to us. At 5P Consulting, we help businesses plan and implement their projects effectively with our 5P ePMO services.
Successful businesses are adept at translating strategy into action, and quality enterprise program management is vital to that process. Contact us today to explore how enterprise program management can benefit you and address your other business needs.