In my last blog, “What is Work and Resource Management: Part 1 – Adapting to change,” I define work and resource management from the perspective of our friends at Ventana Research. This blog features the Ventana Research viewpoint on overcoming hurdles to maximize business value from their whitepaper, “Five Ways to Increase Efficiency and Innovate Faster”.
To be a successful hurdler means having great agility, stamina, and the ability to effectively judge distance between obstacles. Of course, these skills develop over time with a lot of practice—you don’t want to fall flat on your face. Today’s business challenges are tough to overcome and as a result organizations find it difficult to maintain the stamina required to keep up with the competition.
Ventana Research highlights hurdles organizations face and how work and resource management can help. Here are two:
- Work and resources have varied dependencies and characteristics
This fact alone can be intimidating if you don’t have the right tools and processes in place. Keeping track of different projects, people, and schedules can be difficult. This is compounded when you consider your shared resources are using different systems and methods to get work done based on their role. Work and resource management allows you to take the varied dependencies into consideration and make trade-off decisions to ensure your teams are focused on the right work at the right time to compete effectively. Once you establish an effective process, you’ll find it much easier to maintain in the future.
- Teams frequently operate through disparate processes
Many organizations have an array of disparate processes and applications that undercut productivity and create barriers to servicing customers. Leaders should develop effective processes to plan and define activities and tasks as well as have a good understanding of where resources are spending their time. Work and resource management brings together domains that have traditionally been implemented and managed independently. It provides the visibility needed for stakeholders to understand what’s going on, track progress, and course correct as needed.
For more information about the Ventana Research perspective on work and resource management and maximizing business value leveraging a work and resource management approach, read up on the rest of the blogs in this series, listed below:
- Assess the Current State of Your Organization: Part 3 – review processes, take an inventory, align work and resources;
- Advantages of Work and Resource Management Applications: Part 4 – All for one and one for all;
- Work and Resource Management: Benefits to Bypass the Competition: Part 5 – Boost your organization with the benefits of WRM; and
- How to Get Started with Work and Resource Management: Part 6 – 5 simple steps to minimize costs and maximize efficiency.
