SaaS PM/PPM ROI for a CIO of a Mid Market Company

You promised yourself you wouldn't do it.  You wouldn't look at your Blackberry during the Monday morning project update and prioritization meetings.  You just can't help yourself and decide to do a quick check of the company's stock price.  Ouch, down another 7%.  That will teach you for breaking your promise.

It isn't that you don't care what your directors are telling you, it is just that you can't DO anything with the information.

Every week it is the same thing.  Every project is "OK" everyone is "working hard", and every new initiative is "high priority".

You have questions in your head that you don't dare speak because you know that nobody has the answers.

How many projects are in Yellow or Red status?

What roles are being under/over utilized?

What projects are running over on hours?  On budgets?

What are my customer's priorities and how are we doing meeting their objectives?

What does my portfolio look like by strategy?  By customers?  By organization?  By location?

What projects absolutely need my attention today?

Do I have the right mix of people to meet my commitments?

and the biggest one...

How do I directly relate my budget to our outputs so people can see exactly what won't get done (and the impacts) of the massive budget cuts being rumored.

Time for a new tack.  Time to setup a single, web based, and quantitative.  You are going to bury once and for all works like "OK", "working hard", and "doing fine".  From now on it will be organized, quantifiable, and responsive.  Your people may not like it at first but when they see how many jobs you saved relative to the other divisions, they will understand.

At a Glance:  How the SaaS PM/PPM Saves YOU Money:

Cancel and Fast Track  projects quickly Projects at risk or in fact going over their allotted budgets and timelines can be quickly put on hold or cancelled while high business value projects with the best returns can be prioritized and optimized.

Meet goals while lowering staff levels Going through mandatory budget and staff cuts?  VPMi has demonstrated improve efficiency and project accountability with less staff.  Supply and Demand resource reporting shows how many people (by role) you need to meet your demand.  What-if allows you to eliminate functions and people under/not utilized.

Eliminate expensive redundant systems Consolidate and eliminate expensive project, time, help desk, and other tracking systems.

Start for free today No large capital expenses for software or servers.  Free to try for 30 days and unlimited users.  Cancel at any time.

Lowest competitive cost for full PPM Low monthly costs (less then 1/2 of next nearest competitor).  Average end user only pays $10/month.

No servers to purchase and setup Eliminates servers, software management, procurement, setup, maintenance, and energy costs.

No software footprint or compatibility/upgrade fees Browser based and delivered via the internet so no desktop costs for average user.

No dedicated technical support needed on-site Software service is web-based and supported remotely as part of the low user cost.

Works with tools you own and know saves training and startup time and money Integration with Microsoft Project insures quick transition from existing plans to VPMi.

Security is extraordinary and requires no further investment Uses banking standard for secure communications and guaranteed service levels insure users have access to their work.

Eliminate wasteful meetings Eliminate needless meetings with online collaboration and status reporting.

One source of reporting and projects saves teams time and the company money Manage more projects with the same number of people.

Improve customer loyalty through project portal and collaboration for more follow on engagements Enter issues and feedback online 24/7 with email updates to eliminate confusion and project administration.  Customers can also enter change requests and new project requests for improved opportunity capture/delivery.

No capitalized purchase expense No need to capitalize the expense (software as a service).

Save money when auditing projects Projects are easily audited saving time/money in compliance functions like Sarbanes Oxley.

Teams can utilize best practices without spending money building their own processes Utilizes the Project Management Institute best practices for easy recognition of forms and terminology to project teams.

Thanks for reading and let me know if any of you have any feedback on your own SaaS PPM efforts!  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Warm Regards,

Nick Matteucci, Co-Founder www.VCSonline.com
VPMi = Simple + Sensible + Supportable SaaS Project Management

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