Ever feel like your competition is gaining on you? You’re not alone – fewer than half of organizations have accurate project plans and only one quarter can compare actuals to plans within three business days, according to a Ventana Research benchmark study.
In their new report, Work and Resource Management: Five Ways to Increase Efficiency and Innovate Faster, Ventana Research lays out a blueprint for how to better understand the technology and benefits of work and resource management. They explain how organizations can make a business case for adopting the right software to optimize the customer experience and improve business processes. By taking a unified approach to work and resource management, Ventana Research describes how the business can better define, document, and execute the right work using the right resources.
No doubt, you may already know that you need a more systematic approach to prioritizing work and managing resources. This is especially true if your organization’s goal is to monitor and streamline processes beyond traditional spreadsheets and project management systems.
The study turns up some interesting data:
- Fewer than half of executives (45 percent) have a unified set of processes and applications to manage work and resources and to communicate strategies effectively
- Only about one-fourth (28 percent) say they are able to review project plan details during or after meetings
- Fewer than half (40 percent) say that their project plans are accurate
- A very small number (less than 10 percent) perform work and resource management well
If these results sound familiar – chances are you struggle to meet organizational goals. For effective planning, organizations must be able to compare actuals vs. plan at any time of the day if you hope to promote continuous optimization. Otherwise, plans become static rather than dynamic and flexible.
Businesses need to integrate work and resource plans across all lines of the business. Ventana Research suggests the accuracy of your planning process can be improved by eliminating impediments like task management via email or using spreadsheets for timeline management. To kick the process off, Ventana Research urges organizations to seek out the right applications to unify work and resources so the business can gain an integrated view of all activities.
Key capabilities to look for include the ability to:
- Define and manage initiatives and projects independently or as part of a portfolio
- Define and track to completion tasks and activities across resources
- Define and adjust budgets for projects and activities that are combined into portfolios
Even modest improvements in productivity like the ability to prioritize tasks assigned to resources can help the business justify investing in dedicated software. The win-win: you can minimize complexity and innovate faster.
To learn more about Work and Resource Management, I invite you to take read Patrick Tickle’s blog series on the subject. You can find the links to the complete series Work and Resource Management is Now: 8 Reasons why your strategy might just fail.
