Why PM-as-a-Service is more about building partnerships than outsourcing

Mutual growth is the key to a successful partnership. PMaaS must focus on strengthening and supporting the capabilities of our clients.

In brief

• Efficient projects require effective collaboration. To achieve that, PMaaS must be about building partnerships rather than just being an outsourcing function.
• The most efficient partnership is built with mutual growth. We need to focus on strengthening our client’s capabilities and supporting them along the way.
• It is imperative for project managers to adapt and embrace cultural differences to be successful partners in this relationship.

When leaders fall into the trap of micromanaging every new venture, they inevitably find themselves wading through a morass of complicated projects and activities, many of which have little or nothing to do with driving the core business forward. To free themselves from this costly trap, leaders can choose to outsource their services to other companies. Leaders should be leading at the front and not distracted at the back — and Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) is the way forward.

In this article, let us tackle multiple questions: how has PMaaS transformed the way we look at outsourcing services? Is PMaaS a smarter way to do enterprise project management?

PMaaS: Not just an outsourcing solution anymore

PMaaS can be an effective outsourcing solution for any company with a large project portfolio — but it is more than outsourcing.

PMaaS continues to evolve with the market and its specific needs as time passes. Now it is about more than just project management. It has progressed to focus more on building stronger partnerships and working with other companies in an ecosystem.

At EY, we focus on fostering a culture where we value people more than just data, technology or speed. And with that people-centric mindset, when we deliver PMaaS:

• We work with partners rather than clients.
• We are committed in each other’s success.
• We are part of an ecosystem.
• We ideate and strategize together.
• We want to be mutually invested partners.

That is when we achieve successful transformation. In addition, we bring with us the support of our Global Delivery Services (GDS), off-shore, near-shore and on-shore partners, offering our clients the flexibility to scale the team up and down to fit their business requirements. 

PMaaS: An opportunity for mutual growth

The way large companies outsource their services to other companies has changed dramatically over the last decade, and it continues to change. Large corporations with diverse, rapidly evolving projects benefit from having multiple consultants working with them on different projects simultaneously — as part of one ecosystem.

Our core competency is not just offering a strong project management team but in strengthening the project management teams and processes within client organizations. Along with our highly efficient PMaaS team, we bring along extensive experience, whether it is in technology, process or sector-focused niche.

Our approach is to build capability along with our clients. We partner with our clients to support their project management group because we don’t want to replace their teams. At EY, we focus on building what doesn’t exists and supporting what does – and we achieve this with our clients through strong and reliant partnership.

PMaaS: Embracing cultural differences

PMaaS providers tailor their solutions to suit an organization, and it’s a truism that if project managers are unable to work in different work cultures, then the solutions will be ineffective.

While PMaaS may be a good solution for all kinds of organizations, there may be some who benefit from hiring from within. For example, smaller companies may benefit from having a dedicated project manager on staff as opposed to outsourcing to PMaaS.

At EY, we have access to highly capable professionals who have specialized skills, knowledge and experience in complicated environments and with complex technologies. We aim to create partnerships to add value to our clients’ organizations by offering expertise at every stage of their project, from solutions that deliver short-term cost reduction initiatives to those that enable long-term sustainable growth — thus, achieving our purpose of building a better working world.

To conclude

The first time we outsource, we look for efficiency, but that is not the same as a successful partnership. We can get efficiency anywhere, and it is often a short-lived effect. However, we can build a great relationship with our clients by being partners, investing in each other, strategizing and working together in a mutually beneficial ecosystem. We must not aim just at delivering an excellent service but at partnering with our clients to build potential synergy and make them successful businesses in the long run.

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