;at said, with more focus everywhere on
cost, organizations and managing directors have
started to think more about how they can optimize resources. Every penny you spend needs to
be something you can get ROI from. With this,
you’re starting to see more people look for missing functions in the organization. Eventually, these
organizations will realize they need a portfolio management o;ce to govern their projects.
Ms. Lawler: Because they’re run with a very low mar-
gin, nonpro;ts are extremely cautious about where
they put their money. ;ere are a lot of organizations
that are still a bit afraid that portfolio management is
just overhead; they don’t completely appreciate that by
spending a little bit of money you save a lot of it. I am
seeing it more in other industries, though. Certainly
in the ;nance sector, for instance. I’m also seeing it
used now at utility companies and, increasingly, in a
number of government departments.
What’s your vision for the future? What’s next
for portfolio management?
Ms. Clarke-Holliman: First, I think bene;ts realization management will take on greater importance.
Unfortunately, no one wants to be accountable for
canceling projects. ;at’s a huge struggle due to the
emotional ties team members have to complete all
started work. Even on large programs, I have been at
odds with leadership to cancel work when the ultimate pushback is to keep employee morale positive.
Second, I think innovation-focused portfolios will
increase signi;cantly, as executive boards are realizing
they must formally allocate resources in order to differentiate themselves. At Medtronic, gaining market
share is a key focus. Medtronic is a huge company, but
very small competitors tend to lead in this space. We
can no longer be happy with a “me too” mentality when
it comes to providing unique products and services.
Ms. Lawler: I think we’ll see more and more executives starting to see where portfolio management
sits and realize the linkage with key strategic functions in the organization. For instance, we’re talking
about bringing together environmental sustainability, risk compliance, strategic planning and myself
because these roles should be supporting and leveraging each other. At the moment there’s still a lot of
silos across functional areas, but across the industry
I’m hearing the terms strategic initiative management and strategic execution a lot. ;at’s probably
a conversation that will keep growing.
Mr. Mishra: In my view, organizations exist to
create value for their stakeholders, and portfolio
management practices support that value creation
process. Because more and more organizations are
tasting the success of portfolio management practices, I think the days are not far o; when we’ll start
seeing more chief portfolio o;cers. PM
“Because more
and more
organizations
are tasting
the success
of portfolio
management
practices, I think
the days are not
far off when we’ll
start seeing more
chief portfolio
officers.”
—Asit Mishra, PfMP, CGI,
Bengaluru, India