Introduction

I trust the last two quarters have been productive, fruitful and brought good and healthy business to you all. G X Consult has, since our last newsletter, enjoyed the upturn many of us have been waiting for since 2008. New contracts and expansions in the UAE and Far East were followed by global framework agreements with two FTSE 250 companies, and our business strategy is materialising in terms of opening offices in the Far East and Scandinavia, in addition to once and for all anchoring our company soundly within the camp of management consultancy.

Maybe the latter point requires some explanation. GXC grew up the technology route, and has since its start been true to and strong in delivering large-scale technology, IT and Telecoms projects / programmes / portfolios. As an evolutionary discovery, we realize that the changes we deliver have become of such magnitude and complexity that technology was becoming only instrumental to our value proposition. Delivering large-scale change is about organisation, its about process, its about people as much as about systems and IT, applications, infrastructure and telecoms. As such, we needed to rebrand and to remodel, a change which was successfully implemented in 3Q.

One of the objectives of amalgamating new business models with the legacy was also to become more sector neutral. We’ve done IT and Telecoms, we’ve delivered in Financial Services for years, we have over the last 6 years built a solid trackrecord in retail and supply chain. With the mobilisation of our new global services team, we will now ensure that the sectors Oil & Gas and Energy will get the focus they deserve, and to further strengthen this model as we hit 2011. G X Consult unlocks the resource pools of skilled multi-discipline personnel in Oil & Gas,, and ensures supply of experienced and field-proven resources to our clients anywhere in the world regardless of location and conditions.

With all the best wishes for the last weeks of 2010, and a rewarding 2011,

The Off-shored PMO, can it be done?

Since outsourcing became a relevant topic in the boardrooms in the 90’s, 20 years later, we see high maturity in the outsourcing services of real estate / facilities, IT infrastructure, contact centres and IT applications, followed by Finance & Accounting, HR and procurement outsourcing. The models are mature, there are strong successes in these processes and the cost/quality efficiencies are undisputed in a world becoming flatter and flatter through globalisation and global arbitrage opportunities.

But how about professional services which traditionally are considered face-to-face services, such as PMO, can they be outsourced and / or offshored? The answer is yes, as long as a strong framework is applied to ensure the change is managed properly to ensure return on investment without degradation of quality. To send out a PMO function, one would have to deliver a project management maturity study to find out where in the world the maturity of project management is in the organisation. Usually, this exercise takes 2-3 weeks. Assuming the levels of maturity are appropriate, one could commence the project immediately. Alternatively, one would need to put in place a project to firstly deliver the appropriate maturity before embarking on contracting the service out.

One global technology solutions provider we worked for were able to contract out 25% of their project management resources to an offshore centre, reducing TCO of project management with over 12%. And increasing their project management quality enterprise wide.

At G X Consult, we have over 20 years of business experience – 15 of them in global project management. Our trackrecord from some of the largest companies out there and our accreditations within project and programme management make us a strong discussion partner and advisor in the world of project management. As part of our service portfolio, we can deliver project management maturity studies, increase project management service quality levels and participate, lead and direct initiatives to cut costs and not necessarily quality.

Logon to www.gxconsult.com and request to be contacted or send an e-mail to contact@gxconsult.com to learn more about the project consultancy services we can provide.