For businesses, ensuring profitability is a core motive, but their path to profitability has shifted significantly. Historically, they have focused on fine-tuning their operations to enhance the delivery of unique value to their customers. This value-driven approach necessitates an organizational setup to facilitate efficient business functioning at the risk of different functional units operating in distinct silos. As businesses gravitate towards executing projects and not merely functions, mapping workflows across operational units becomes essential. On the one hand, this pushes companies towards adopting data analytics to gain more visibility over their processes. Equally, businesses must realize the need for executive-level project governance instead of somewhat limited-in-scope project management.
CPOs, for looking within and without
Such an escalation appears inevitable when considering the pitfalls of functional silos. With each business head expanding with the increased demand for value and innovation, optimally managing organizational resources requires more effort and investment. While business growth may seem infinite, resources remain finite; one consequence is cannibalizing a less profitable functional area to support a better profiting line of business. Even when backed by the mathematical logic of cash flows and profit and loss statements, such a move is a market-reliant gamble that may not always succeed, worsening any loss of revenues caused by the organizational restructuring.
Internal rearrangements within organizations also require top-tier project management by people with decision-making powers well beyond the usual job description of the average managerial recruit. For businesses to undertake such transformations on an as-needed or ad-hoc basis is reactionary, considering the proactivity required to tackle uncertainties – such as those witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic – and ensure business continuity. Organizations may see the appointment of a Chief Project Officer (CPO) as a case of the chicken bringing the (golden) egg along – and making the business cross the road when necessary. In other words, the officer can identify opportunities for transformations that can lead to virtuous growth.
CPOs, to keep other C-suiters on their toes
Unlike other C-suite roles, a CPO’s utility arises from a certain complexity within the organization and its business. Accordingly, only mid-to-large size firms, which have multiple resource-intense or high-stakes projects running simultaneously, may benefit most from appointing a CPO. As can be surmised, the CPO must have the ability and, preferably, experience to deal with significantly complex business situations, setting a high bar on who can become a CPO. Such skills also help contrast the typical project manager against the CPO, as the former may have the relative luxury of dealing with one project – however complex – at a time.
Another critical differentiator between the two roles is the CPO’s added responsibility of ensuring that the projects assigned the highest priority – and most resources – are a natural fit with the business’s overall growth strategy. In this aspect, the CPO may advise the CEO, providing critical inputs and timely checks on the thrust of business development. At the intra-organization level, the CPO advises the COO, CFO, or CIO on transformative measures such as product upgrades and onboarding new technologies. In doing so, they ensure that these initiatives do not strain the organization’s funds or talent and that their execution will not impact ongoing or incoming projects.
CPOs vs Tech Tools
The growing use of AI-driven tools for many business functions has prompted the question of whether automation can replace organizational roles. Could a CEO or COO, armed with the most cutting-edge project management software, accomplish the tasks of a CPO? Possibly, but given the other hats these officers wear, they may not bring the same clarity and focus of purpose a CPO is likely to possess. Taking a step back, their eye-in-the-sky view of the business makes the CPO the ideal person to choose the project management tools for the organization – should such tools prove necessary.
A project management platform like Whizible can help CPOs create a “single version of truth” from available organizational data. This truth is central to integrating and optimizing the organization’s project-relevant processes for maximum effectiveness. Some key areas in which CPOs can leverage technological platforms include resource forecasting and utilization; cost optimization; managing project knowledge and assets; and tracking time and invoicing. Since collaboration is an inherent feature of these platforms, they can offer a sense of stakeholdership to project managers and others responsible for either achieving project outcomes or reporting on them to the CPO.
Hiring a CPO, in effect, can be a crucial barometer for any organization seeking to establish accountability in its governance of projects. Doing so can send out a statement of intent regarding the organization’s ambitions of prioritizing projects that drive profitability. They can gauge the knock-on effect on shareholder confidence and customer satisfaction, but organizations may also discover hard-to-locate efficiencies. Importantly, they will have a voice of authority to guide them, particularly during crises that require hard-nosed leadership.
