Project Portfolio Management Market Report: Q&A with Software Advice

We have the pleasure of inviting Market Research Associate, Eileen O’Loughlin at Software Advice onto our blog. Software Advice has recently conducted an analysis, and survey of the general market for Project Management solutions, incl. Project Portfolio Management (PPM) services such as our Forecast product.

Moreover, we will be hosting a Twitter chat in September in collaboration with Software Advice. Follow our respective accounts, or @pmotchat for more information shortly.

The survey suggested, among other things, that 31% of the sampled businesses are still carrying out the project management administration manually on a day-to-day basis. Though 37% say they want a more robust system, 18% want a single dedicated system and 16% want to streamline and automate different processes. Furthermore, it showed the top requested features in a modern PPM software system, based on a sample of project managers; the results were as follows:

Together with Software Advice, we went to their group of researchers, and asked a few further questions for a Q&A:

Q: What is your expectation regarding other types of businesses (besides digital) realizing the benefits of PPM solutions?

A: Our research shows industries that tend toward a higher project management maturity, for example IT services (and related software/technology fields), professional services organizations and marketing firms, are good candidates for project portfolio management (PPM) software. These organizations are juggling multiple project requests and often struggle with limited resources. PPM software can not only improve resource planning and scheduling, but can provide the degree of transparency and project governance needed to coordinate project efforts across the organization.

Businesses looking to implement portfolio management should first ensure they have identified a business strategy and have a dedicated business unit or PMO in place to oversee PPM process, prior to investing in a PPM solution.

Q: Are there any specialized features needed that are not yet supported by general PPM software companies, or is it basically just a matter of marketing, and showcase the opportunities?

A: Critical capabilities that every portfolio management solution should provide include advanced resource management, project tracking and reporting. The ability to customize dashboards and reports according to the audience is huge as not every stakeholder will have the same needs (or wants), and this can vary from project to project. Additionally, it’s important for PPM solutions to offer integration options that allow businesses to further configure the software according to their unique industry needs.

Q: How do companies ready themselves (project managers, and team members) for the introduction of digital project management?

A: Businesses should always have basic project management (PM) processes in place before investing in PM software; otherwise, they are looking at “garbage-in, garbage-out.” The software is a tool and as such, will only work as well as the data put into it. Once teams have basic and repeatable PM processes in place, they can look at solutions that will streamline workflows and increase efficiency. Most vendors offer free demos and trials—take advantage of that! Try out multiple tools and make sure that the people who will be using the software in their day-to-day activities, i.e., project managers, project teams etc., have a chance to interact with the product during the trial. Their feedback is important as they will be the ones who will benefit the most from implementing a solution.

Dig deeper into the details of the market analysis report, IT Project Management Tools - Buyer Report 2016, here.

Thank you, to Madeline Enos, Media Relations Specialist, Eileen O’Loughlin, Market Research Associate, and the rest of the team at Software Advice. Remember to join the Twitter chat in September!

Eileen O’Loughlin is a Market Research Associate at Software Advice. She joined the team in 2015 and covers the project management, project collaboration, and professional services markets. Eileen received her B.A. in English Writing and Rhetoric from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX.