PMOs in Decline?

  PMO   ProjectsAtWork  

Most companies with Project Management Offices see higher IT costs, but no performance improvements, according to new research, which also identifies key practices that can make a difference.

Project Management Offices (PMOs) fail to help most companies reduce IT cost or improve performance, according to new research from The Hackett Group. In fact, companies with high utilization of PMOs see materially higher IT costs while also failing to deliver projects with higher ROI or better on-time and on-budget performance. The research also found that companies have significantly reduced their use of PMOs over the past three years, in part due to their inability to positively impact performance.

The Hackett Group's research details the flaws that cause traditional PMOs to fail as an IT strategy, and also provides insights into the key PMO practices of world-class IT organizations, which rely on PMOs almost universally and generate superior results, including cost reduction and improved IT effectiveness.

"Since the recession, many companies have simply given up on PMOs, and with good reason," said The Hackett Group IT Advisory Practice Leader John Reeves. "The way most companies implement PMOs, they have become large bureaucratic organizations with myopic viewpoints. Too often they focus on practices that simply create a drag on the …

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