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Author  Allan Thomson - Axelos PPM Ambassador

Allan Thomson has over 25 years’ project and programme experience. He has worked with companies such as British Gas and BP in Customer Relationship Programme Management and Risk Programme Management respectively. He joined AXELOS in 2014 and has acted as a Programme Manager and SME (Subject Matter Expert) for PRINCE2 Agile, and as an SME on the PRINCE2 2017 update. He is presently a PPM (Project and Programme Management) Product Ambassador.

February 6, 2019 |

 3 min read

  • Blog
  • Career progression
  • Professional development
  • Programme management
  • Project management
  • MSP
  • PRINCE2
AXELOS PPM Ambassador, Allan Thomson, shares his thoughts on the importance of such research, and why it will be of huge relevance and interest to practitioners and organizations alike.

Staying relevant in changing times

These are turbulent times for many organizations. Recent evidence shows that organizations must transform or change faster than ever before to remain ahead of the competition and survive. It is important to note that these factors are also putting pressure on the workforce to stay relevant and up-to-date. Those who can’t or refuse to keep up are in the danger of losing their advantage in the job market.

One thing is clear, if an organization has nothing to show in it’s learning and development portfolio then the chances are, they are losing out on talent.

The value of certifications

Working towards certification and qualifications brings value to professionals.

It enables them to gain knowledge, expertise, confidence, credibility and above all the skills that can be applied every day in the work place. In addition, having a professional development plan is proof that their career is important to them and they have a long-term plan for growth.|

Perspectives from 2017

From the AXELOS PPM Benchmark Study 2017 it was found that project managers were impacted by changing economic conditions.

They faced the same pressures as the wider business in terms of reduced budgets, delivering greater value, higher productivity and increased outputs. Evolutions in business practices and technology meant that the clients/stakeholders expected projects to deliver greater competitive advantage.

Other significant findings were:

  • Deliver more projects over a shorter timeframe
  • Project risk has increased
  • Advances in technology have made projects more complex to deliver
  • Profit margins have reduced.

The report highlighted the issues and challenges faced by project managers. It was concluded that if organizations wanted to be successful in implementing projects that helped them achieve their strategy, they needed to support their project managers in order to create a culture of project management excellence.

The current and future marketplace

AXELOS wants to understand the current challenges facing the industry including any future trends (e.g. enterprise agility) in the market and how it has changed.
This is why we are now running our 2019 PPM Benchmarking Survey. The aim of this is to find out more about market sentiment, to get a snapshot of attitudes and views from practitioners on the current market as well as views on the future of the profession.

We need your insight

Be the voice of your profession!

The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Your response will be anonymous unless you give us express permission to share your answers.

The survey is open till midnight on Wednesday 20 February 2019 and is available in English, Polish and German.

Your feedback is important to us. Thank you in advance for participating!

Take the survey now - https://surveys.circle-research.com/wix/9/p1870513689.aspx

Read more Axelos blog posts from Allan Thomson

The challenges facing Project Managers

Sponsoring Agile adoption in your organization

Meaningful metrics in ITSM: it’s about the business (stupid)

Implementing a risk strategy within your organization

What are the Traits of the Perfect Project Manager?

7 tips to becoming a better project manager