Enterprise portfolio management

UMT360 Blog

Mastering Enterprise Portfolio Management Under Uncertainty: Strategies for Overcoming the 7 Key Challenges and Making Better Decisions

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 22, 2023

How organizations can overcome uncertainty by adopting an unsatisfied mindset, hedging strategies, and shifting to variable costs while recognizing the value of acquiring better information for accurate decision-making. Are you tired of feeling powerless in the face of uncertainty? Do you wish you could take control and make the most of the opportunities? If so, ...

UMT360 Positioned for its Strategic Portfolio Management Solution in the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Strategic Portfolio Management

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated July 19, 2023

We’ve been telling the world for years now that Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) is the key to accelerating business transformation. And now we’re happy to announce our inclusion in Gartner’s new SPM Magic Quadrant. Gartner’s first ever Magic Quadrant on Strategic Portfolio Management has positioned UMT360 for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. ...

Gartner® 2018 Magic Quadrant™ for IIPA Recognizes UMT360 as a Visionary

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated June 22, 2023

For the seventh consecutive year, UMT360 is once again recognized as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications (IIPA). In its 2018 report, Gartner recognizes UMT360 for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. The full report can be found here (Gartner subscription required). According to the Gartner report: ...

UMT360 Named A Visionary In Gartner® 2017 Magic Quadrant™ for IIPA

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated June 22, 2023

UMT360 has once again been recognized as a Visionary in Gartner’s 2017 Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications (IIPA). This is the sixth consecutive year that UMT360 has been recognized by Gartner for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. The full report can be found here (Gartner subscription required). According to ...

New tools and techniques turn project management into strategy execution

Ben Chamberlain

Updated July 19, 2023

Gartner recently published its Market Guide for Strategy Execution Software. If you’re a Gartner client, you can access it here. The report speaks to the “execution gap” that many organizations are struggling with, and the main culprit seems to be a reliance on traditional tools and processes that keep project success rates stuck at around ...

Things Will Be Heating Up At Ignite Next Week!

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated June 22, 2023

Close to 20,000 people will gather in Chicago for Microsoft Ignite during the first week of May. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there, but we’re particularly interested in connecting with anyone who manages or depends on Microsoft Project Online and Project Server. If that sounds like you, and you’re planning on attending Ignite, please ...

The Enterprise’s Biggest Challenge – Bridging the Planning & Execution Gap

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 22, 2023

A recent UMT360 webinar attracted about 200 project management professionals interested in learning more about how today’s PMO can bridge the planning and execution gap. Judging from the responses to our poll questions during the presentation, nobody doubts that there is a gap. But it’s clear that many organizations are not quite sure what may ...

Enterprise Architects: Mastering Digital Investment Management

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 22, 2023

We asked the audience attending a recent UMT360 webinar – comprised mostly of Enterprise Architects (EAs) – a few questions. I learn the most when I hear directly from the professionals in our industry, so I thought I’d share a few of the results that I found particularly illuminating. “There is one prerequisite for managing ...

Mapping the Road from Investments to Value Realization

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated July 7, 2023

(Part five of a series on the forces helping to drive a tactical to strategic transformation of the PMO.) Effective planning and execution of strategic initiatives requires that processes, technology and implementation all be synchronized with company strategy. Organizations that ignore these dependencies risk not being able to implement even moderately complex programs. Project Gantt ...

Linking Resource Allocation To Strategy

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 26, 2023

(Part four of a series on the forces helping to drive a tactical to strategic transformation of the PMO.) For many companies, the allocation of resources is driven from the bottom up. Allocation decisions are often disconnected from business capabilities, are commonly based only on one year of data, or are guided by a simple ...

Evolving From Tactical To Strategic PMO

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated July 20, 2023

(Part one of a series on the forces helping to drive a tactical to strategic transformation of the PMO.) For decades now, the PMO has been typically focused on tactical execution. Which is what made the keynote address at this year’s PMO Symposium – by one of the world’s foremost authorities on competitive advantage – ...

Survey Results Hint At Big Challenges for IT Transformation

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated June 22, 2023

A big thanks to all the attendees of the IT Portfolio Management Conference in Chicago who stopped by the UMT360 booth. The event was a fantastic opportunity to connect with IT leaders looking to transform how they manage enterprise IT investments. Many of the folks who stopped by the UMT360 booth participated in our 2014 ...

Just What is a Strategic PMO?

Paul Rosien

Updated July 20, 2023

UMT360’s recent webinar schedule has focused on enabling PMOs to be strategic. Great topics, with some world-class PMO professionals including Learning How to Establish a Strategic PMO with Carl Souchereau from SNC Lavalin T&D, and Changing the PMO Status Quo with Frank La Rocca from ConEd. In fact, we’ve seen so much interest in the ...

Calling All Strategic PMOs (And Those Looking to Become One)

Paul Rosien

Updated June 22, 2023

Back in July, we ran a successful webinar discussing what it takes to create a strategic PMO. The webcast, led by Carl Souchereau, formerly of TransAlta and now Project Director at SNC Lavalin, provided practical advice around mastering the important yet tactical aspects of project management as well as taking strategic responsibility for managing the ...

Key Issues Shaping IT Investment Strategies: Interesting Results from Recent Webcast Polls

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 22, 2023

As the enterprise performance crisis pushes IT investments back to the top of IT leadership concerns, we ran three surveys aimed at understanding where the market is at with respect to IT investment strategies. The questions, asked during the live webinar, Why Integrated IT Portfolio Management Matters, conducted on July 29th, 2014, focused on the ...

The Power of Regular Portfolio Reviews and Dynamic Reallocation

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated July 19, 2023

During a recent UMT360 webinar covering How to Become a Strategic PMO (see archive here), we found that only 1% have regular dynamic reallocation reviews via automated processes. Another 39% have regular reviews, but require manual, time-intensive efforts to collect and standardize data. UMT360’s message to PPM practitioners is that this is their opportunity to take ...

What is Portfolio Management?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

Ask ten people to define portfolio management and you’ll likely receive ten different answers. Of the various definitions, most will focus on some sort of aggregate reporting across portfolios or highlight alignment of spend with strategic priorities and selecting the optimal project portfolio under varying budget constraints. I believe firmly that neither definition aptly describes ...

UMT360 Announces the Release of UMT360 Portfolios

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

UMT360 today announced the release of the newest module in its leading Enterprise Portfolio Management solution – UMT360 Portfolios. UMT360 Portfolios connects siloed portfolios (e.g. project, application, IT Service and business capability) to build a dynamic blueprint of a company’s operating fabric. It provides three breakthrough EPM models to help CIOs, Portfolio Managers and PMOs visualize ...

Four Additions Named to the UMT360 Team

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

UMT360 is excited to welcome four new individuals to our Bellevue-based team. Ashok Kuraganti has been named Vice President of Sales. He brings to UMT360 extensive sales experience with organizations including Siebel, Oracle, Niku, SalesForce and ServiceMax. Jeff Parmenter has joined our sales team as a Bellevue-based rep. Jeff has previously sold enterprise software working ...

Key Digital Models for CIO Management of Applications Investments

Ben Chamberlain

Updated July 19, 2023

Gartner’s recently released 2014 CEO and Senior Executives Survey found that growth and IT are executive’s top priorities and those surveyed are talking about digital. In Gartner’s announcement of the survey, VP and Gartner Fellow Mark Raskino said the CEO’s who say technology-related change is important to them, must now invest in that insight. “Make the tough ...

The CIO as Chief Investment Officer

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 22, 2023

I was reading a blog from a while back on the HBR Blog Network called “The Four Personas of the Next-Generation CIO.” It was amazing to stop and think about how much has changed since the blog was written a few years ago. While the issues for the CIO remain basically the same as in the ...

The Difference Between Project and Product-Based PPM

Ben Chamberlain

Updated July 19, 2023

A move is on to shift from project to product-based thinking which allows a business to focus on aligning investments with business drivers and adjust to quick shifts in the marketplace. A buzz really started when Gartner addressed the topic in a Matthew Hotle and Bill Swanton report which came out in November 2013. UMT360, ...

Senior Executives Focused on Growth and IT

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

Analyst firm Gartner has released the results of its 2014 CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey and it finds that growth is on the minds of executives. A third of respondents ranked it as their top priority with IT also high on the list. In Gartner’s announcement of the survey, vice president and Gartner ...

The Trifecta of Business Value Erosion

Ben Chamberlain

Updated July 19, 2023

Despite significant investments in PPM, it is failing to deliver the anticipated results. Both Gartner and the Standish Group have reported low project success rates and UMT360 research finds that today companies are failing to realize up to 46% of the planned business value from project portfolios. UMT360’s Chief Product and Marketing Officer Ben Chamberlain ...

UMT360 Seamlessly Extends Project Server

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

Built on SharePoint, UMT360 is the only Enterprise Portfolio Management solution offering seamless integration with Project Server. Our customers who also use Project Server have found that UMT360 is helping them get more from their PPM. “We wanted one source of information; we wanted a common language; we wanted to be global; and we wanted ...

Project & Portfolio Financial Controls for Microsoft Project Server

Ben Chamberlain

Updated July 19, 2023

In March, UMT360’s Chief Product and Marketing Officer Ben Chamberlain presented a webinar showing Project Server customers how UMT360 can help them gain complete financial intelligence across their project portfolios and increase ROI. Ben discussed how UMT360 helps eliminate the need for Excel and standardizes investment governance controls across the PPM lifecycle, streamlines capital planning, ...

PPM in 2014 is All about Value

Ben Chamberlain

Updated July 19, 2023

When looking at PPM in 2014, there is one dominant trend – a focus on value. Speaking at the recent Microsoft Project Conference in Anaheim, Gartner Analyst Donna Fitzgerald told a standing room only crowd that what clients are doing today, simply isn’t good enough. Improvement depends on an ability to deliver value. Fitzgerald used ...

Save the Date – Upcoming UMT360 Webinars on Getting More Value from Your Portfolio

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

Registration has just opened for two upcoming UMT360 webinars. Register today and learn how to deliver more value for your organization. March 18th – Rationalize and Get More Business Value from Your Applications Ben Chamberlain discusses how UMT360 helps businesses rationalize operational costs and modernize their portfolios of they have the agility to successfully meet changing ...

The Slowdown of the Project Idea Machine

Mike Gruia, Co-founder

Updated June 22, 2023

IT spending is back up. Gartner reports the average IT spending increased by 4% in 2012 and is expected to increase by another 3.1% this year (Gartner Market Databook 4Q13 Update) reaching $3.8 trillion. The revival in IT spending suggests that progress is proceeding quickly so it may come as a surprise that many believe ...

The Evolution of Portfolio Analytics

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

UMT360 CEO Mike Gruia talked a bit about the history of UMT360 when he introduced Gartner’s Donna Fitzgerald recently at the Microsoft Project Conference in Anaheim. Below is his introduction during which he discussed UMT’s history in the evolution of portfolio analytics. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with portfolio topics for the last 20 ...

UMT360 for Project Server Data Sheet Now Available

Ben Chamberlain

Updated June 22, 2023

Built on the Microsoft SharePoint Server, UMT360 helps companies get more value from their Project Server investments. It helps companies digitalize investment planning and controls to gain complete financial transparency across their project and program portfolios. Check out the new UMT360 Data Sheet – Project and Portfolio Financial Intelligence for Microsoft Project Server. If you ...