Widex implementerar projekt- och portföljhantering med snabb avkastning

Widex is a family owned company founded in Denmark in 1956. Today, it is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of hearing aids allowing people to connect and communicate easily. Widex hearing aids are sold in more than 100 countries around the world, and the company employs over 4,000 people worldwide.

As a company employing a lot of highly specialized engineers, Widex needed the ability to map resources effectively for development projects across several departments. From antenna design to app and microchip development, more than 400 users spanning 40 different roles needed the ability to better plan and execute to succeed in getting products to market.

Widex was using an outdated project and portfolio management (PPM) system, which was unstable, resulting in lost and incomplete data. Using the system was a cumbersome and slow experience, often resulting in needless extra work and employee frustration. Moreover, the system was not up to the task of supporting continued growth and globalization.

The lack of efficiency was apparent on the bottom line. The task of cross-departmental resource planning was consuming as much as 4,400 man-hours yearly, at an estimated annual cost exceeding $300,000 USD. The organization expected any new system to significantly reduce man-hour requirements, but they were also aiming for returns beyond that. For example, upscaling the workforce with external consultants on short notice would usually incur excessive costs – costs which might be minimized or even avoided entirely with more intelligent resource management and capacity planning.

For Widex, the decision of retiring the legacy PPM system was long overdue. Based on a thorough analysis of the available solutions, Widex decided that Planview Portfolios was the best match for their specified requirements.

“Our cross-functional selection team was presented with several tools, each of them demoed by the given vendor’s experts. Several tools were reviewed more than once. In the end, we chose Planview Portfolios due to the strong functionality, a good user interface and solid international use cases,” says Sune Hermit, Project Portfolio Manager, PMO, Widex.

“We arranged a highly condensed, 2-day workshop with two Planview consultants. Subsequently, we had four ‘solution alignment’ cycles, each lasting one week, where Planview’s consultants would scope, demo, and receive feedback. Following an adjustment of the scope, we had a full day workshop, where the final solution was presented”, adds Sune Hermit.

“Finally, we had allocated time for testing, making final adjustments, establishing projects, resources, etc. I believe a big part of the secret behind our quick implementation is that we opted for a ‘keep it simple’ approach, starting with a very focused phase 1. We are now expanding with project reporting and gate and milestone tracking.”

As of April 2017, and within the space of just four months, Widex rolled out Planview Portfolios across departments such as Global Research & Development, Global Sales and Marketing, and Global Operations.

Since implementing Planview Portfolios, Widex has observed a 30% reduction in man hours required for cross-departmental resource planning. Furthermore, it is estimated that Widex can now save 1 out of every 30 freelance consultants entirely, as well as plan better in the future to negotiate more compelling fees for external consultancy.

Notably, the current implementation is still in its early stages, and it has yet to utilize the full capability of Planview Portfolios.

Widex has already realized several benefits, including:

• Improved user support (in-house and external)
• Faster performance compared to old system
• Extensive reporting and analytics capabilities
• Scalable solution to support future growth
• Updates and improvements every 2-3 months

As Planview Portfolios continues to be refined and to align projects with strategic goals, the realized benefits can be even greater. Widex performed internal surveys before and after Planview Portfolios had been implemented, and the numbers speak for themselves.