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Running a business in today’s market is no easy feat. We know it can be challenging to get timely and relevant advice that addresses your unique business needs and provides you with actionable insights.

That is why we have introduced our business advice column where you can ask our team all the questions you have about managing a procurement, finance or project management function successfully.

Our team of professionals are well versed in the best practices of their respective industries and are happy to share their insights and experience from their time helping businesses reach their full potential. 

Please leave us your name, your email address, and your question and our team will get back to you with a response shortly.

    Ask our experts: Question #1

    As a relatively small company, we have struggled to adapt to the rapid changes in the post-COVID-19 market. Meeting demand on narrow timelines has turned out to be an almost impossible feat. With the pandemic forcing so many companies to make unforeseen purchases, can contracts be put out by private tender without following a tender procedure?

    View answer

    Ask our experts: Question #2

    I have noticed that many businesses, including my own, struggled with ongoing tendering procedures when COVID-19 first broke out. How can I make sure my tendering process is not disrupted by crises in the future?



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    Ask our experts: Question #3

    COVID-19 changed a lot of our processes and not always for the better. What are the key metrics (KPIs) to evaluate procurement performance fairly in this new structure?




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    Ask our experts: Question #1

    As a result of remote working, I find myself having to outsource development projects that were usually done on-site and manage teams in different time zones. This is new territory for me and I would like to know what the most effective approach would be?


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    Ask our experts: Question #2

    I run a small company that really felt the impact of the crisis. When it came time to decide what field to focus our time and resources on I was at a loss and I believe I made a few missteps. What should be my financial priority during a crisis?



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    Ask our experts: Question #3

    What is the best way to improve my small business’ tolerance to financial risk?







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    Ask our experts: Question #1

    My company plans investment strategies at the beginning of every quarter to ensure that we are on track to meeting our financial goals and that every arm is receiving the resources it needs. After the pandemic, the market seems more volatile than ever. In light of this, do we need to adjust our investment strategy or stick it out and stay on track with our goals?

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    Ask our experts: Question #2

    Is PM enough to manage my organisation’s projects or do I need a PPM system?







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    Ask our experts: Question #3

    Are the P3O and P3M3 assessment tools good baselines to evaluate a new PMO function?







    View answer

    Ask our experts: Question #1

    As a relatively small company, we have struggled to adapt to the rapid changes in the post-COVID-19 market. Meeting demand on narrow timelines has turned out to be an almost impossible feat. With the pandemic forcing so many companies to make unforeseen purchases, can contracts be put out by private tender without following a tender procedure?

    View answer

    Ask our experts: Question #2

    As a result of remote working, I find myself having to outsource development projects that were usually done on-site and manage teams in different time zones. This is new territory for me and I would like to know what the most effective approach would be?

    View answer

    Ask our experts: Question #3

    My company plans investment strategies at the beginning of every quarter to ensure that we are on track to meeting our financial goals and that every arm is receiving the resources it needs. After the pandemic, the market seems more volatile than ever. In light of this, do we need to adjust our investment strategy or stick it out and stay on track with our goals?

    View answer

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    The pandemic overturned everything we thought we knew about running a business and it is natural to question the procedures we have in place. Especially if you require additional resources in the middle of scarcities. 

    If you are a private company, chances are, many of your dealings are carried out through private tenders with your existing pool of suppliers. This generally means your timeline from sourcing to completion is swifter. The process can also be shortened through the relationships you have built with your private network. 

    In a public company, all contracts must be put out to tender. Following these procedures can be a hindrance to your efficiency, so reevaluating your processes can help you counteract these effects. An effective source-to-pay suite, a reevaluation of business needs, and leveraging outsourcing, training, and digital solutions can help you stay on track while still ensuring that you benefit from the best prices that a tender procedure provides.

    Managing any project is a balancing act. Managing an outsourced development project drives the stakes up even higher. The biggest challenge is to ensure that your teams are all on the same page. This requires you to develop a streamlined channel of communication that is accessible to all your team members at any time. Digitalisation is your greatest strength to achieve this. Digitalising your data and processes will help you facilitate transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness throughout your operations. The skill of your team and people also plays a huge role in project success. Your project manager/s must have the necessary organisational skills to keep your projects on track. Agile project management can also help you break down your project into more achievable tasks that will gradually take you closer to completion.

    The specific software and tools you leverage will depend entirely on the nature of your project but these are just some of the key areas you should look into for greater success.

    The way you invest resources in your business is dependent on a strategy that guides you to achieving your short and long-term goals. It is a fact that the market can change at any time. There is no guarantee that the market conditions that existed when you first formed your strategy will persist when you put your strategy into action. That is why it is in your best interest to prepare to adjust your investments to meet market conditions. 

    Before you change your investment plan, ensure that your new strategy still keeps you on track to achieving your goals. This may require you to revisit your strategies or form entirely new ones. Better yet, your initial strategy can make room for the volatilities you anticipate. 

    Make sure that your investment strategies are flexible enough to respond to market fluctuations while ensuring that these changes do not hinder your objectives.

    The tendering process can be very time-consuming for any business. In the midst of COVID-19, there can be many other reasons for these delays linked to the pandemic business landscape. While it may not be possible to cancel a tender once it has been released, there are steps you can take to ensure that tender processes are more resilient in the future.

    When it comes to procurement, time is of the essence. You need your goods and services to be procured on a reasonable timeline to keep your business running.

    One of the best ways to do this during a crisis is to shift to digital systems. An e-tendering system can make it easier for you and your team to maintain a streamlined procurement process that accommodates disruptions on a macro-economic level. While this is not the only strategy useful in crisis situations, it is certainly a good start.

    Adapting to a crisis looks different for every business. When survival becomes the goal, most other long-term plans and objectives get delayed, altered, or redacted altogether. This means the way you evaluate your business growth and benchmarks for success must also change. 

    KPIs differ from business to business, but in the wake of a crisis, there are a few key factors that can help you ensure that your business is still on the right track.  

    One major factor is the sustainability of procurement. Social and environmental sustainability improves competitiveness and overall organisational health. The resilience and flexibility of your procurement and supply chain to changes in the market is another factor. The integration and transparency of your operations is yet another factor that improves your timelines and lowers the risk of procurement fraud. 

    Your main goal during a crisis is stable and sustainable procurement operations that support crisis management and recovery while maintaining a foundation for future growth.

    It is understandable that any business would struggle to decide the best way to allocate resources during a crisis objectively. It is difficult to measure where your focus should be during times of uncertainty.

    One thing to keep in mind is the long-term strategy of your company. Short-term survival is important but what will help your business recover in a timely manner is preparing for the long term.

    This can take on many forms but some key priorities should be digitalisation, cost optimisation, and value addition. Digitalisation expands the scope of your business, cost optimisation frees up resources and improves efficiency while higher value addition ensures that you retain a competitive advantage and drives up your chances of survival through a crisis. 

    Also, always balance the four Ps of bottom-line optimisation: profit, people, partners, and the planet. Balance these priorities and you can leverage the benefits of a highly sustainable business model.

    Running a small business comes with unique challenges, and a key challenge is resource availability. A small business often does not possess the same financial liquidity and frameworks as a larger business, and more often than not, they do not need it. 

    As your small business grows, you will accumulate more resources to support your growth. In the meantime, building financial resilience is important to ensure the survival of your company through crises and times of market volatility.

    The best way to build resilience and improve risk tolerance is to balance your bottom line with the four key priorities of profit, people, planet, and partners. Making sure each of these priorities is balanced equally will help you maintain a highly sustainable business model that improves your response to financial risks.

    Project management drives a great deal of value and takes up a high percentage of a business’ resources. PM is involved in every single project that comes your way and is necessary to ensure that your projects are a success. PPM or Project Portfolio Management is an entirely different process.

    If your business is planning on launching many projects or is currently initiating many projects then a PPM system may be invaluable. It will help you stay on top of your growth goals and ensure that each project is adding value to your company in the right ways.

    If you choose a digital system to oversee your PPM, you can use this platform to collect and analyse the value that your portfolio of projects is driving and make better, more farsighted business decisions.

    Both the P3O and P3M3 assessment tools provide key points through which you can evaluate your PMO function and improve it for greater success. 

    Whether you are looking for ways to shore up vulnerabilities, improve your delivery, boost the strategic value or enhance the value addition of your project management function, choosing a dependable assessment tool is a great starting point.  

    Make sure, however, that you factor in all the circumstances of your new PMO function. This means ensuring that your team has the required training and that your system has had time to integrate with your processes to deliver the value it is capable of. 

    If you are looking for a swift and accurate project management maturity assessment, a skilled team of project management professionals will leverage industry best practices to assess your project management function. They then use these insights to equip you with targeted and actionable strategies to help you meet unique project management goals.