The swift growth of commanding markets (Traditional domains – Fintech, Retail etc, of the world) appears to have eclipsed the non-traditional emerging markets, which typically grow slow and steady. PPM is one such story. A more intriguing fact is not many know that such a market/domain exists. Hence, I attempted to outline my learnings about this less known yet promising market, the evolving business models and some fantastic off-the-shelf offerings in this space.
In the IT services industry, the most common position seen in Projects is Project & Program manager. These individuals are typically responsible for successfully delivering the projects/programs while adhering to cost, schedule, and scope. These are also known as triple constraints in the Project Management world. These roles originate from an umbrella term – PPM (Project & Portfolio Management). Let us deep dive into what this acronym signifies and why this is important.
PPM:
A large organization has numerous projects running to fulfil some or the other organizational goals at any given time. PPM deals with the effective management of an organization’s projects. The objective of PPM is to ensure that suitable projects which potentially resonate with the company goals and strategies are selected, prioritized, funded and included in a broad Portfolio and monitored from time to time. All the projects in the Portfolio may not be successful; most likely, some could fail. However, the Portfolio is meticulously designed, so the Portfolio delivers even if some projects fail.
To make this even simpler, let us draw an analogy with the way Portfolio works in the Equity market. In the Equities, we often pick stocks of different businesses operating in the industries like Banking, Retail, Software, Chemicals, etc. We know that not every stock we choose will give a run-up. However, we will ensure a basket of stocks is selected so that even if some tank, the combined outcome of the Portfolio is positive. The mastery lies in crafting the right Portfolio.
Back to our topic of PPM, Portfolio Managers are the ones who prepare the basket of projects so that there are no competing resources between the projects and ensure the Portfolio contributes to the strategy/vision. And for the ease of management, we have roles like – Project, Program, Portfolio Managers/Directors to oversee all the day-to-day activities.
PPM Core Capabilities & Evolution:
The core capabilities under the PPM umbrella include – Innovation Management, Roadmapping, Resource Management, Demand Management, Portfolio Management, Budgeting, Milestone & Deliverable tracking, Tracking Risks, Issues, Actions & Decisions, and Project Analytics & Reporting, Timesheets, to name a few.
More often than not, these capabilities are built and managed in-house at the project level. However, managing these can be challenging, time-consuming and resource-intensive, coupled with a significant opportunity cost, especially if these are not the project’s core goals. Moreover, it is an expert skill in itself. Therefore, many companies have embraced the model of building an internal CoE (Center of Excellence) to cater to rising outsourcing (internal) demands for competency. The SMEs from these CoEs are deployed to projects on a need basis.
Given the PPM processes are part of all industries and domains, this makes a solid case for a sizable Total Addressable Market (TAM). A more prominent model gaining traction these days – some SaaS companies have capitalized on this opportunity to offer COTS (Commercially off-the-shelf) PPM products to crack this problem. Some prominent players offer an integrated PPM suite, while small players have offerings addressing some targetted PPM capabilities. Not to forget, the top tier service companies do offer PPM solutions as part of their enterprise automation suites.
Moreover, the meat of all these products/offerings is to provide use cases across AI/ML and automation alongside the core PPM abilities.
Market Potential:
Over time the adoption of PPM products boosted after companies started to examine if it makes sense to build in-house or buy the capability – the classic ‘Build’ Vs ‘Buy’ decision. The demand will only shoot up if the companies realize the imperative to focus on core competencies to stay relevant in the competition, if not ahead.
The market research agencies estimate the PPM market is between $4- $6 billion, with a 6-8% CAGR. PPM is considered a horizontal market where its usage is across the traditional industry verticals – Banking, Finance, Retail, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Construction etc., with Banking & Finance verticals leading in the adoption.
Challenges:
Any software adoption calls for strong behavioural and change-management exercises from all the relevant stakeholders. The prerequisite for successful implementation is to understand the current gaps and streamline the PPM processes in the existing system. Moreover, starting small (get one’s leg in the door) with a few PPM competencies may prove fruitful and viable rather than taking a big-bang approach. However, there is no hard and fast rule, and it depends on case to case basis and the demanding priorities.
PPM Vendors:
Below is the list of PPM Vendors (including big and small players). Note that this is not an exhaustive list.
| S.No | Vendor | Portal |
| 1 | Asana | https://asana.com/uses/project-management |
| 2 | Atlassian | https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/work-management |
| 3 | Broadcom | https://www.broadcom.com/products/software/value-stream-management/clarity |
| 4 | Microfocus | https://www.microfocus.com/en-us/products/ppm-it-project-portfolio-management/overview |
| 5 | Microsoft | https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/project/project-management-software |
| 6 | Monday.com | https://monday.com/project-management |
| 7 | Oracle PPM | https://www.oracle.com/erp/project-portfolio-management-cloud/ |
| 8 | PlanView | https://www.planview.com/ |
| 9 | SAP | https://www.sap.com/india/products/project-portfolio-management.html |
| 10 | Servicenow ITBM | https://www.servicenow.com/products/business-management.html |
| 11 | Wrike | https://www.wrike.com/use-cases/project-portfolio-management/ |