On-Demand PPM Solves Multiple Requirements for CIOs

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - July 8, 2008) - With demands on CIOs at an all-time high, IT organizations must remain agile in the face of mounting requests and changing corporate strategies. CIOs are turning to tools such as on-demand Project Portfolio Management (PPM) software to manage these increasing demands.

On-demand PPM solutions are fast becoming an essential part of the "CIO toolbox" because they enable better and more accurate decision-making, and provide increased visibility into the entire project portfolio within and across organizational boundaries. Additionally, on-demand (or Software as a Service - SaaS) PPM solutions are far less expensive and quicker and easier to implement than installed PPM solutions.

A Standish Group survey on IT projects revealed that 46% of projects are not completed on time or on budget and 19% of all projects fail -- leading to $80 billion to $145 billion in waste.

Because of issues like these, the 2007 Gartner Forecast: "Hot Markets in Enterprise Software, Worldwide, 2006-2011" reports that PPM software is expected to grow 12% per year as adoption becomes more widespread.

PPM vendors including SaaS PPM provider Innotas (www.innotas.com) are seeing their customers using PPM in a variety of ways to solve a wide variety of issues. Examples include a new CIO who needed project immediate visibility along with a better way to measure project success; another who needed the ability to work more closely with the business to improve project prioritization and on-time delivery; and another who wanted to streamline global operations across more than 5500 users.

Increase Project Visibility

In the first case, Forbes IT Executive Mykolas Rambus, who had recently joined that company, quickly realized he had no visibility into IT projects, and there was no consistent process to complete projects. He needed information quickly, and also needed a mechanism to better predict and monitor IT project success. "IT has to deliver business value. To do that consistently, you have to start with transparency," said Rambus. "Visibility is the name of the game."

The Innotas on-demand PPM solution provided Rambus with a standard template and best practices for collecting and analyzing project data. And, because the software is offered on-demand, implementation took only 30 days. Soon after, Rambus realized that 75% of IT resources were being spent on infrastructure maintenance, and only 25% were dedicated to business growth. Rambus has been able to reverse the trend, now focusing 75% of resources on projects that drive business growth.

Improve On-Time Project Delivery

SaaS PPM applications are also changing the way organizations approve, plan and deliver projects inside and outside the enterprise, and are significantly increasing ROI on project investments.

Jerry Hodge, Sr. Director of IS at Hamilton Beach Brands, needed a software solution to ensure that projects were completed on time, on budget and on scope. His IS department supported a number of business units, and demand for projects had exceeded the human resources available to do the work. Projects were being managed on spreadsheets and there was no means to accurately assess what work was being done. In 2006 only 40% of projects were completed on time.

Hodge said, "We initially thought our infrastructure team was spending one third of its time on projects, one third of its time on break/fix incidents, and one third on other service requests. After deploying Innotas on-demand PPM, we discovered that the team was spending far too much time fixing things that were broken and not enough time advancing the projects that were most important to the business."

As a result, he engaged outside vendors to handle break/fix type work so his IS team could focus its energies on projects that create the most value for the business. Last year, 70% of projects were delivered on time, and this year Hodge expects to deliver 90% of IT projects on time.

Standardize Flow of Information Across Organizations

SaaS PPM also provides a newfound agility for CIOs. UST Global CIO Tony Velleca set out to create a new system for the company, called "SynergyOne," designed to integrate PPM information with the company's CRM, HR and financial software solutions and to provide a single, integrated flow of information across UST and its customers.

UST chose the Innotas on-demand PPM solution as SynergyOne's core application to better manage all of the company's customer projects, process, and service delivery requirements associated with the new system.

Deployed to nearly 5500 users and managing more than 900 projects, Innotas enables project managers at UST to more easily handle the resource allocation, account and project management, time and expense tracking and issue management that are core to the company's service operations.

About Innotas

Innotas provides the only on-demand Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solution specifically designed to meet the needs of IT and IT Services organizations. With Innotas, managers and team members improve collaboration and can more effectively and efficiently manage IT initiatives, projects, and resources. For CIOs and executives, Innotas delivers deep visibility, automation, and analysis of the project portfolio, and improves resource planning and utilization. Our customers, including Crayola, Forbes, Hamilton Beach, Jo-Ann Stores, WorldVision and many others, span a wide range of industries including financial services, healthcare, retail, technology, telecommunications and energy. For more information please visit www.innotas.com or contact us at +1 415.814.7700.

Contact Information: Contact: Martin Levy Martin Levy Public Relations 206.851.7256