PM-Oh Yeah! The Benefits of Outsourcing Your PMO Function

We’ve talked recently about the “as a service” movement and how organizations have adopted the “as a service” model for things like payroll, infrastructure, software, and more! Is it time to do the same for PMO and project delivery? We recently hosted a webinar highlighting exactly that – check it out here!

Before looking at the benefits of this type of service – what is it?

A PMO as a Service (PMOaaS) managed service is provides a partner contracted to deliver PMO or project services to a client by assuming full responsibility for those services to fulfill the client’s needs. In other words, outsourcing your project delivery capability to experts.

So, what are the benefits?

The benefits of PMOaaS Managed Services include four main areas:

1.  Scalability (Up and Down) 

Today, PMO leaders are often restricted by the size of their team. With 81% of organizations citing they don’t have enough project management resources to meet demands according to The PMO Outlook Report – 2024 Edition. This begs the question, “How do you balance portfolio demands with staff limits in place?” Our goal as PMO leaders should be driving organizational value through project delivery. When we have headcount restrictions, we miss opportunity to drive value generation as seen in the below graphic identified as lost value generation. This lost value generation is a limitation a PMO leader can have greater control with by leveraging PMOaaS. The ability to scale a project delivery team up and down based on the demands of the portfolio is crucial to optimizing organizational project delivery.

2. Capability

We, as PMO leaders, are only as good as the team we have. What do we do when a new skill or experience is necessary for a new project? Organizations are often limited in their ability to maintain effective training and growth opportunities for project teams This can directly affect specific projects when certain skillsets that the existing team lacks are required. In organizations today, 77% of organizations are leveraging temporary PM resources, according to the 2024 PMO Research Report. This is often due to a capability gap of existing team members for a specialized project. When leveraging PMOaaS, the capability of your team is customizable based on your specific needs. You’re no longer responsible for trying to train an internal team, as the outsourced team of experts is already required to have the skillsets to deliver on your organization’s needs.  

3. Affordability

It’s often a myth that organizations can’t afford to outsource project management saying things like, “The cost for one or two contract PMs is killing our budget. How do we afford 10 PMs?” However, with PMOaaS, PMO leaders no longer carry the dedicated burden for employed resources and the overhead costs associated with a full-time employees. Other costs are removed as well including; training, recruiting, retention, and more, while not losing the project delivery capability mentioned above. In fact, in reviewing the graphic below, you’ll notice that PMOaaS is at a lower cost and that gap showcases the lost value generation your organization is experiencing by investing in a full-time resource model instead of  leveraging the alternative PMOaaS model at a lower cost with greater value generation capability.

4. Availability

Most organizations think only of the cost to partner with an external service provider when considering outsourcing a function in a business. However, what is the cost of an open project management positions costing an organization? This interactive calculator allows you to take a look at how much money is being lost in the recruitment, interviewing, and hiring cycle done by internal teams for unfilled project management positions. In fact, with 48% of organizations citing that finding experienced project managers a top challenge for them – the cost organizations are spending on unfilled project management positions is not only effecting project delivery capability, but also the company financially. PMOaaS gives you access quickly to the resources needed to deliver on projects and company results, allowing you minimal downtime in project delivery capability.

These four benefits are key to why organizations are leveraging the PMOaaS model in their organization to deliver projects better. If you’re interested in learning more about this service, check out this on-demand webinar for deeper insights into the benefits and how to leverage this service in your organization. 

Interested in The PMO Squad’s PMOaaS offering? Contact us today!