The High Cost of Low Performance 2013

Failed projects waste an organization’s money: In 2013, for every US$1 billion spent on a failed project, US$135 million was unrecoverable. If the failing project is a strategic initiative that was expected to drive organizational success, its impact on the bottom line might be even greater than that. High-performing organizations do everything they can to minimize risk of failure by improving their project and program outcomes. They focus on execution and alignment by:

• Maturing portfolio management practices to improve the balance between investment and risk
• Improving organizational agility to allow flexibility and quick response
• Tracking benefits realization past the end of a project through operations to verify return on investment

High performers see 90 percent of their projects meeting original goals and business intent, versus 34 percent for low performers.