GlassHouse Technologies today announced a new service in its rapidly growing project management practice. The Project Management Office (PMO) Maturity Model helps companies determine if they have the in-house skills, resources and processes to complete major IT projects on time, under budget and in alignment with business objectives.
The PMO Maturity Model is the latest in a year-long series of advancements for GlassHouse Technologies’ project management practice, which the company formed when it acquired New York-based PowerPM in 2005. Since the acquisition, the project management practice has managed more than 50 projects with combined budgets exceeding $500 million, more than tripling its revenues. The project management practice has also expanded from the U.S. into international markets, and from its roots in financial services to healthcare, pharmaceutical and government markets. It counts four of the world’s top-10 investment banks among its clients.
GlassHouse’s PMO Maturity Model strategic assessment service evaluates companies’ in-house project management capabilities against industry-standard best practices in critical areas such as scope definition, project planning and issue reporting. For PMO Maturity Model engagements, GlassHouse does detailed research in each critical area and uses the findings to recommend how companies can manage their projects more effectively. This will often include process implementations and enhancements, technology solutions, people management, and the removal of unnecessary process and technology when appropriate.
GlassHouse’s project management practice helps IT organizations consistently and reliably drive strategic technology initiatives from initiation to completion. GlassHouse provides the full range of project management services, from planning and execution to project control and closing. Within these areas, the company provides services to manage products and programs of all sizes; project staffing; project office implementation and transition; and outsourced project office services.
“Many IT departments in today’s enterprises lack a strong centralized set of proven and automated PPM (project portfolio management) processes and vary significantly in their level of project management maturity,” said Daniel B. Stang, principle analyst at Gartner. “These organizations may or may not have a PMO in place, usually lack an effective PPM system to organize and manage IT project work, and often do not have all the required project management expertise in-house to support critical IT projects. Contract project management services can support an internal initiative to strengthen an organization’s ability to manage and execute projects as part of a PPM initiative, as well as provide an alternative to developing in-house expertise required for disciplined and successful project management and execution.”
The PMO Maturity Model extends GlassHouse’s existing array of project management services, which companies in every market have trusted with their most important enterprise-level infrastructure and application implementations. GlassHouse project managers have managed architecture implementations; data center migrations; server consolidations; product releases; business analysis and requirements projects; outsourcing transitions, and various aspects of mergers and divestitures.
PowerPM founder Sam Lawler leads the GlassHouse project management practice. He founded PowerPM in 2004 as an entrepreneurial venture of four individuals and quickly built it into one of the top consultancies in the financial services market dedicated to project management. After the 2005 acquisition by GlassHouse, Lawler was responsible for integrating the project management business into the company’s overall service offering and expanding it beyond financial services. Lawler has led major technology projects and consulting engagements at some of the world’s largest financial institutions, and has held in-house project management positions at Merrill Lynch, ContiMortgage, Zurich Scudder Investments and Deutsche Bank.
“Our project management services, ranging from our PMO Maturity Model to our management of large programs, give companies a solid assurance that their projects will get to the finish line with favorable results,” said Project Management Practice Director Sam Lawler. “We provide the industry-proven resources and processes that today’s large companies need for their more complex projects. We can also help companies learn how to use their internal resources to manage projects and run their IT infrastructures more effectively. Project management topics like these are growing more important because large project activities are increasing month by month in most of our client environments. Most of their IT resources are tied up in these projects, and we provide the expertise they need to use them most effectively.”
About GlassHouse Technologies, Inc.
GlassHouse is the leading provider of independent services that help organizations solve the business problems of enterprise storage. From strategy through implementation, operations and customer support, GlassHouse partners with clients to achieve predictability and manageability in storage operations, enabling cost control, risk mitigation and increased service levels. GlassHouse clients include UBS, Exxon Mobil, Allianz Life, Virgin Mobile, and The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. More information about GlassHouse is available at www.glasshouse.com.
