When businesses merge, they have the option of either choosing one service to stick to, or combining both operations so that they complement one another. The latter has been carried out to great effect by the PM-Partners group.

Founded in 1996, PM Partners was a combination of three individual businesses. Each had a specific specialty: consulting, project management training and project management delivery. The former two came together in 1999, becoming a trifecta in 2007. On an annual basis, the company delivers $1.7 billion worth of projects, reviews and establishes PMOs (Project Management Office) and trains over five thousand professionals, while continuing to expand vastly.

Director Pete Swan, a co-founder with 25-plus years of industry experience, says the company has “doubled its business” between 2007 and 2011. They are aiming to double it again by 2017, and are on pace to achieve this by 2016.  “We do this by making it easy for our customers to do business with us, hiring great people and by staying focused on what we are good at” says Swan.

“There are essentially two things that PM-Partners does,” says director Pete Swan. “We run projects and PMOs for people, and help companies run their projects and PMOs better.”

In the interest of improving projects, PM-Partners takes a variety of responsibilities. The company routinely supports or takes on outsourced PMOs from other companies, provides diagnostics to improve projects, and guides companies or individuals in doing so.

Fulfilling this wide range of tasks requires nothing less than fully competent staff, which the company consistently provides.

“We’re the most highly certified and accredited project management training company in Australasia,” proclaims Mr Swan. “We provide a range of courses and certifications, with all the courseware built and owned by us so we can quickly customize if necessary for our customers.”

“Project management is a transient capability that is often underestimated especially when we are talking about business transformations. Project disciplines are still missing or ineffective in many organizations,” explains Swan, “so many projects are still started without adequate justification or planning, and too often given to inexperienced people that are left to run complex undertakings.”

This results in many projects becoming part of an alarming industry statistic where approximately 70% of projects are classed as failures.  Failing to deliver the desired benefits.

However world class organizations, he says, achieve a success rate around 90% by attending to these issues by either partnering with a specialist, building sustainable capability or a combination of both. PM-Partners, for one, matches the right capability and experience to each project by degree of complexity. Concentration on their chosen field also helps their service stand out.

“We use a tried-and-tested approach,” states Mr Swan. “it works and ends up costing our customers less money.”

An equally crucial component to competence is teamwork. A natural reflex from a company formed through mergers, it nevertheless serves them well.

“It’s very rare in today’s business to find one person with all the answers,” says Mr Swan. “We give clients one person that’s accountable, supported by our service delivery managers and other expertise. Our project managers have instant access to a broad range of specialists and experience.”

The company themselves has similar access to a wide variety of expertise. They have cultivated many important business relationships throughout their tenure, placing a premium on involvement with industry associations.

“Trusted relationships and partnerships are essential to any business,” elaborates Mr Swan.  “Industry associations provide independence and validation regarding things like accreditations, qualifications and new ways of doing things, bringing the best global practices into one forum.”

Their thorough attention to efficiency has earned PM-Partners a lofty list of accreditations. Organizations such as the Australian Institute of Project Management and the Institute of Business Analysis have co-signed their practices – among many others.

“We’re accredited by all the leading industry bodies in our sector,” declares Mr Swan. “Every eighteen months, we search the industry for a new accreditation to add to our portfolio. We decided a few years ago to become to most accredited specialist in our field, offering our customers unbiased advice and choice.”

“There’s more compliance and scrutiny in the market than ever before,” says Mr Swan. “Our clients also have increasing operating costs and expectations, making for an increasing gap between ability to deliver and requirement to deliver.”

Many projects were shelved during the GFC, creating either a backlog of change demand or unfortunately some corner cutting, necessitating reviews and recovery work in a wide array of projects.  “We are busier than ever regarding project health checks and new projects as a result of this…”

For more information on how we can help you achieve project success, call us on 1300 70 13 14.