Portfolio & Program Management

In a world of constant disruption, it is critical for organisations to establish agility in the way in which they respond to the dynamic and turbulent market conditions. This state of flux, creates the need to adapt business strategy and ensure that the required outcomes remain the focus in the organisation’s transformation agenda. We understand the importance of architecting business transformation in a way that allows the Transformation to quickly pivot to the adaptive business strategy.

Managing in times of disruption

Sandie Grimshaw, our PwC global Portfolio and Programme (PPM) Competency leader shares her insight on PPM related topics including: World trends impacting PPM; Why early Benefits Management focus in important; Managing portfolios in disruptive times; The role of technology and data for PPM; Signals to look for that PPM

Hear insights from a PPM Leader, Sandie Grimshaw, about managing in times of disruption | Duration 5:01

Areas of Focus

Portfolio Alignment enables value-based decisions to be made based on long-term strategies and short-term imperatives using agile governance and a series of adaptable processes, tools and techniques to optimise investment and make project selection decisions to achieve the organisation’s strategic vision. Co-ordination of strategic processes and decision making enables a seamless transition from current business state to achieve transformational change. The function becomes responsible for driving businesses to achieve their priorities and expected benefits.

According to our Global PPM Survey, demonstrating a strong portfolio alignment capability can:

Enhance the material influence on realisation of strategy
Reduce 20%-30% of project spending with no negative business impact
Increase senior executive satisfaction
Identify risks and tackle the difficult issues early, changing course where necessary

Our approach to delivering portfolio alignment revolves around three core activity areas comprising:

Prioritise strategic programs through the use of a clear methodology to reduce ambiguity
Execute an organisation's strategy through an analysis of portfolio performance through a deliverability lens.
Realise the outcomes achieved through the program to enable informed decisions on the ongoing composition of the portfolio.

Our industry research coupled with our practical experience of delivering some of the most complex business transformations globally has placed us in a unique position to understand what truly works for the transformations of today. This experience suggests that traditional methods of engagement and project management just aren’t cutting it anymore. The pace of change demanded is faster than ever before, as is the need to engage with increasingly large stakeholder groups. The need for agility, alignment and truly ‘integrated’ decision making is paramount.

PwC’s overarching Business eXperience Technology (BXT) approach was created with the realisation that our interconnected world means that no problem can be addressed with a unilateral solution. BXT offers a contemporary platform for transformation - introducing a suite of integrated accelerators centred around a physical Transformation Hub.

The core function of the Transformation Hub is to enable effective execution of the programs through the combination of expertise and insight to drive rapid mobilisation and solution design, manage emergent risks, make real-time decisions, and accelerate program delivery. This provides rigour, guidance, and leadership to enable navigation through uncertainty and accelerate delivery of customer and business outcomes. We look to establish the following core behaviours to realise this value:

Driving change and engagement: remove organisational silos and create integrated teams that share a clear ‘true north’
Managing to outcomes: eliminate unnecessary activities, and focus activity on value and outcomes
Communicating creatively: highly physical transformation environment for a shared vision by all
Leveraging new technologies: to challenge ways of doing things
Leading with a breakthrough mindset: to create alignment and ownership in complex stakeholder environments
Innovating solutions: to create a culture where disruption is encouraged

Benefits sit at the heart of value led change. It is the proactive measurement activity which focuses on anticipated or opportunistic improvements and returns as you invest in business change.

Our approach involves the rapid and iterative identification, planning, and realisation of portfolio or program benefits. This agility allows for the application of value led change to those initiatives already underway, and supports incremental evaluation of the overall strategic commitment. Underpinned by digital benefit and program management tools, we are able to generate immediate insight on portfolio health while embedding the capability to track and monitor realisation of benefits in the future.

Value led change ensures that:

The benefits of a portfolio or program are articulated, and aligned with the organisations strategic commitment
There is clear accountability and transparency for the realisation of benefits that includes business ownership
There is a continued focus on benefits realisation throughout the life of the program as well as beyond
Forecast benefits are achievable and continue to represent value for money; and
The realisation of benefits is not lost with transition to business as usual.