UMT360 Blog

Blog Posts from the Leader in Strategic Portfolio Management

Why Settling for Mediocrity in Strategic Portfolio Management is a Recipe for Disaster

Mediocrity in Strategic Portfolio Management(SPM) is a ticking time bomb that is threatening the success of organizations everywhere. The cost of failure is staggering, with recent studies showing that up to 70 to 90% of business transformation projects fail[i] due to poor portfolio management. This equates to billions of dollars wasted on subpar results, drained …

From the Ancient Pyramids to Behavioral Mastery: Tracing the Metamorphosis of Project Portfolio Management

Investment has always been a driving force behind humanity’s biggest achievements, from conquering new lands to building thriving empires. Consider Christopher Columbus, who sought investment from all corners of Europe in his quest to find new trade routes to Asia. Despite being rejected by most investors, he eventually secured funding from the Spanish crown and …

The Future is Here: How AI and ML are Revolutionizing Project Portfolio Management

Strategic portfolio management (SPM) is the process of making decisions about the selection and allocation of resources to achieve an organization’s strategies.  This involves balancing the organization’s investments to maximize their potential benefits, while considering cost, capacity and risk limitations. In SPM, decisions have to take into account the organization’s immediate, medium and long-term goals. …

The New Building Blocks: Core Competencies

With the collapse of Taylorism, which focused on task and process improvement, the natural inclination is to look for another structure to replace it. Unfortunately, there is no universal answer. Organizations must realize that they require a new paradigm that allows them to optimize across many divisions in parallel. Project Portfolio management (PPM) theory is …

The Magic Formula Of Uncertainty

Five connected underlying structures, leading to uncertainty In times of great uncertainty, many organizations drop their long-time strategy and discipline, freeze their investments, and wait for a return to normal. That’s ineffective because it focuses on the what’s happening, and not what’s causing it to happen.  Too often, in too many organizations, strategic planning and …

A Formula For Investment Success – Customize Your Investment Journey

Not all investment types are created equal, so they can’t be treated as if they were.  However, organizations are often uncertain of the need to customize their investment process, and as a result, they don’t appreciate the benefits of a robust portfolio management approach. That’s a mistake, for two main reasons.  Firstly, portfolio management is …

Why The Portfolio Management System Stalled

Recently, companies have shifted their attention to business transformation or optimization in order to improve their current operations and extend their opportunities. This is a significant shift, moving towards a future focus instead of attempting to get the most out of the present through disciplines like process and task optimization or reengineering. This is a …

360 Portfolio Insights v6.9 – Product Update 9

We’re pleased to announce the availability of 360 Portfolio Insights v6.9 – Product Update 9 (PU9). Product Updates include all previously released public updates and private hotfixes. We strongly recommend that any patch and release is validated in a non-production environment first before being applied to production environments. UPCOMING CHANGES: Starting with v6.9, ‘SharePoint Connected …

360 Enterprise Connect v3.7

We’re pleased to announce the availability of 360 Enterprise Connect v3.7. We strongly recommend that you validate these updates once they become available. Here is a list of changes that have been introduced with this update: Visit the UMT360 Product Version History page for version details.

360 Portfolio Insights v6.8 – Product Update 8

We’re pleased to announce the availability of 360 Portfolio Insights v6.8 – Product Update 8 (PU8). Product Updates include all previously released public updates and private hotfixes. We strongly recommend that any patch and release is validated in a non-production environment first before being applied to production environments. UPCOMING CHANGES: Starting with 360 Portfolio Insights …

UMT360 solution positioned in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools™

UMT360 software is positioned in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for for Enterprise Architecture Tools™. This is the first time UMT360’s solution has been included in Gartner’s Enterprise Architecture MQ, having already been positioned in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Strategic Portfolio Management report. UMT360 is one of only two companies listed in both reports, reflecting our belief that true …

The science behind managing the investment in business transformation

Enterprise investment management is still waiting for the fundamental tenets to be established. In McKinsey’s recent global survey, 31% of their business transformation were successful. At the same time, successful organizations have realized only 67% of the potential financial benefits their transformations could have achieved. Moreover, nearly 80% of the loss occurs in the investment …

Digital Transformation and Strategic Portfolio Management: From Ambition To Implementation

Transformation has always been a subject of fascination for business leaders. The interest in business reengineering and business transformation really went into overdrive in the 1980s. And the current focus on the digital transformation trend is merely the latest in this continuing saga. To be clear, business transformation represents management ambitions and strategy. But it …

360 Portfolio Insights v6.7 – Product Update 7

We’re pleased to announce the availability of 360 Portfolio Insights v6.7 – Product Update 7 (PU7). Product Updates include all previously released public updates and private hotfixes. We strongly recommend that any patch and release is validated in a non-production environment first before being applied to production environments. UPCOMING CHANGES: Starting with 360 Portfolio Insights …

360 Enterprise Connect v3.6

We’re pleased to announce the upcoming release of 360 Enterprise Connect v3.6. We strongly recommend that you validate these updates once they become available. Here is a list of changes that will be introduced with this update: Added the ability for users to control security for individual Objects Introduced a new interface which provides bi-directional …

Importance of Strategic Portfolio Management Highlighted In New Research Report

A recent report initiating coverage of UMT360 by 451 Research asserts that strategic portfolio management (SPM) is key in helping organizations “capture what success looks like, understand current and future states in terms of architectures and business capabilities, and align different stakeholders to get there.” The report examines UMT360’s ability to deliver SPM capabilities to …

UMT360 Strategic Portfolio Management Solution positioned in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

UMT360 software is once again included in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Strategic Portfolio Management report. Gartner’s 2022 report also provides a stark warning to organizations that disruptions should not be ignored or dismissed, but rather expected when planning and executing strategy. The report goes further, predicting that that by 2025, organizations that don’t apply a …

360 Portfolio Insights v6.6 – Product Update 6

We’re pleased to announce the availability of 360 Portfolio Insights v6.6 – Product Update 6 (PU6). Product Updates include all previously released public updates and private hotfixes. We strongly recommend that any patch and release is validated in a non-production environment first before being applied to production environments. Here is a list of changes that …

UMT360 Client Showcases Solution At Business Architecture Innovation Summit

UMT360 client Cargill will present at the 10th Annual Business ArchitectureInnovation Summit on Thursday, March 24, 2022, at 3:55 pm EDT, discussing the different ways the company performs and utilizes assessments they generate using UMT360’s Enterprise Connect solutions. Due to the complexity of their business environment, Cargill requires business capabilityassessments at multiple levels, by function, …

UMT360 Acquires Western Principles

Bellevue, WA, February 23, 2021: UMT360 is proud to announce the acquisition of Western Principles Consulting, Inc., a leading Canadian-based Project Portfolio Management (“PPM”) consulting firm. Founded in 2005 with headquarters in Vancouver, BC, Western Principles has successfully conducted PPM implementations across Canada, including Microsoft’s PPM systems and UMT360’s strategic portfolio management software suite, in …