Companies that have transformed their business processes to meet the rigors of the digital world are far more competitive. They move faster, target customers more precisely, create better products and use technology to streamline every business process. Digital transformation is affecting almost every sector of traditional business, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Project Management profession these days.
The digital transformation is already yielding widespread organizational benefits. According to Altimeter Group’s State of Digital Transformation Report, 41 percent of companies that digitally transform see increased market share; 37 percent see increased customer engagement in digital channels; 37 percent have higher employee morale, and 30 percent see increased customer revenue.
With our Project Management training program, you can gain a thorough understanding of project management and learn how to manage complex projects.
And now, the digital wave is affecting project management’s day-to-day operations. Digital project managers, or those who embrace technological innovation and advanced digital techniques, gain a more comprehensive understanding of the project management lifecycle and understand how to leverage people, processes, and technology to assist their organizations in achieving digital transformation. The landscape is rapidly changing, and project managers must learn to adapt.
Modern Project Management Ideas Produce Better Results
Project management in the traditional sense has never been easy. According to a Harvard Business Review study of 1,471 IT projects, five out of six had a cost overrun of 200 percent on average and a schedule overrun of nearly 70 percent. When projects fall behind schedule and go over budget, it affects everything from internal IT rollouts (imagine an order processing system that can’t keep up with sales) to customer-facing product rollouts (imagine a mobile software upgrade meant to curb security vulnerabilities delayed by days or even weeks).
Digital project managers use digital know-how to help their organizations transform into high-performance machines. According to PMI, high-performing organizations complete 89 percent of their projects, while low performers complete only 36 percent. And what distinguishes high-performing project management teams?
They reconsider traditional project management methodologies such as waterfall and embrace more flexible concepts such as Agile, in which products are delivered in functional stages and collaboration among team members and customers are emphasized. According to PMI, 71% of businesses have already adopted Agile approaches, and Agile projects are 28% more successful than traditional projects.
They embrace quality control and continuous improvement philosophies such as Lean Six Sigma, in which process improvements are built into a phased approach of “Define, Measure, Analyze, Control, and Improve.”
They learn to use project management tools like Microsoft Project to manage resources and assignments throughout the project lifecycle, keep management up to date with fine-tuned reporting, and learn to manage budgets, timelines, and risk.
They keep their skills sharp by leveraging statistical, analytical, and data visualization skills through the use of pivot tables, interactive dashboards, charts, Power BI, and other tools.
They understand how Big Data can help them improve their project management processes. Data is everything, and they know how to use Hadoop and Big Data analytics platforms to improve their understanding of customer preferences and other key insights. According to a recent survey, more than 85 percent of respondents have started programs to create data-driven cultures at their companies. As a result, there is a lot to gain.
The Advantages of Digital Marketing Know-how
Project managers are also learning to take cues from their counterparts in marketing. Digital marketers are experts in a wide range of digital skills, including SEO and pay-per-click strategies, as well as fine-tuning social channels, email, and content marketing to better understand customer motivations. After all, digital channels are critical to product sales, influencing 92 percent of B2B purchasing decisions. Similarly, digital project managers can learn these techniques to gain insights into what happens when products leave the development organization and enter the real world.
PMs should also learn SEO to understand how customers react to different messages, content, and positioning. PMs who embrace this way of thinking are better prepared to create product functionality that meets the needs of the end-user, and understanding how the right code and content can influence SEO results leads to better marketing results later in the process (57 percent of B2B marketers say that SEO has the greatest impact on lead generation). Content is equally important, with 45 percent of all companies reporting that content marketing is highly integrated with SEO strategy, as it can mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful campaign. Finally, these marketing skills can aid in improving the customer experience, which is consistently ranked as the number one leading driver of digital transformation.
