Survey Finds Project Management Offices Gaining Strategic Importance

June 4, 2025 – Broadcom today announced the results of new research, which found 96 percent of organizations are increasing their reliance on Project Management Offices (PMOs) to centralize project management and improve efficiency and value delivery. Driving this trend is a widespread evolution from Agile to Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), which support a more product-centric focus. The survey also uncovered growing interest in AI-driven insights to improve future projections and outcomes.

"The report offers invaluable insights into the expansion of methodologies within organizations to encompass both traditional project management and modern product management approaches," said Brian Nathanson, head of product management, Clarity, Agile Operations Division, Broadcom. "It clearly demonstrates how organizations that embrace this expansion are successfully leveraging Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) to achieve greater efficiency, visibility, and agility – increasing customer value while lowering their own operating costs."

The PMO Provides Strategic Oversight for Transformational Initiatives

Project Management Offices (PMOs) enable organizations to handle the ever-changing landscape of digital transformation, centralizing project management into a singular entity. PMOs increase efficiency, visibility, and agility, all while reducing costs. As part of Value Stream Management (VSM), PMOs enable organizations to enhance efficiency and value delivery, demonstrating ROI to the business.

Investment in the PMO is essential, as most companies (87%) continue to pursue transformational projects. According to the survey, 98% of participants stated the PMO is growing in importance, with 77% noting increased utilization in other areas, and 96% planning to expand their PMO in the future.

Strong Business Benefits Drive PPM/SPM Momentum

The importance being placed on the PMO stems from several key tenets driven by PPM and SPM, including increased efficiency, visibility, and agility. Notably, the top-cited concept is customer value, underscoring the business impact of the PPM/SPM. Organizations are not only focused on internal operational efficiency, but also on how new projects can deliver increased customer value.

Disconnects Between Budgets, Team Dependencies, and Skill Sets Require Improved Project Management

Participants were asked to share the challenges driving the increased focus on the PMO office and PPM/SPM. Several notable trends emerged, including:

• Disconnects between budgeting and critical projects – this is a common problem cited by 64% of respondents and is most likely a result of ineffective project management tools that lack sufficient details to budget accurately.

• Lack of skills and experience – 64% of respondents said lack of available talent is limiting the ability to adopt new technologies and adds time and costs to projects.

• Difficulties mapping project dependencies across different teams – this is a big challenge cited by 77% of respondents. This makes it difficult to accurately predict project execution timelines and skill resource availability.

Leveraging Previous Project Success Drives Need for AI-Enabled Capabilities

It was not surprising to see the majority of respondents respond favorably to the potential role of AI in project management. In fact, 85% of respondents stated that AI would be an ideal solution for analyzing past Agile projects to improve future outcomes. Specifically, companies are seeking AI-powered predictions for project costs, timelines, and resource allocation. Respondents expect AI can also collect and digest incoming data to generate real-time project status reports, ultimately improving stakeholder decision-making.

The full report, "PMO's Growing Strategic Importance," is available here.

Methodology

Business and technology professionals at enterprise companies representing all seniority levels were invited to participate in a survey on their company's PMO office, PPM/SPM practices, challenges, and opportunities for AI-based capabilities. A total of 501 qualified participants completed the survey. All participants had enterprise security responsibilities. Participants were from five continents, building a global perspective. The survey was administered electronically, and participants were offered token compensation for their participation.

About ValueOps by Broadcom

ValueOps® by Broadcom is the leading enterprise Value Stream Management (VSM) platform. With capabilities that bring together Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), Agile Management (Agile PPM), Value Stream Integration, and Enterprise Analytics, only ValueOps uniquely accelerates digital transformation by improving visibility, alignment, and efficiency at every stage of value creation. Learn more.