Interim international project management has become an essential means of executive service for the growth of companies, especially as concerns their international expansion.
13 October 2022
Contracting the services of a project management specialist is a need companies can meet in different ways. Adding a project manager to their structure has been the most common formula for years. However, interim management is proving to be a more competitive formula as it does not overload organisations’ permanent structure, among other reasons. This change in approach to project management is turning interim management companies into the preferred service providers for strategic projects.
There are significant differences between contracting a project manager, an interim manager and an interim management company, and they’re not simply economic ones. The first is a professional who joins an organisation’s structure to execute projects. The second joins a company’s structure temporarily for the duration of a specific project. Finally, interim management companies offer executive management services with the utmost flexibility and a series of guarantees and added-value factors that cannot be provided by independent professionals.
International project management requires something more than just multinational experience, which is what an interim manager or interim management freelancer could provide. Companies want a whole set of services as well as a support structure that guarantees the achievement of goals. To this end, the best organisations specialising in flexible management services (another term used for this specialty) are included in international networks comprised of the leading companies in each of their countries. This is the case of EPUNTO Interim Management with Valtus Alliance, which is present in 13 countries with more than 60.000 senior interim managers who are all leaders in their areas of specialisation. According to a study published recently by the Interim Management Business Institute on 45 companies specialising in interim management in 50 countries, those who contract this service particularly value the fact that these providers belong to international networks or groups that specialise in interim management, particularly the business owners consulted in Europe and Oceania.
Although a rather uncommon situation, another benefit of contracting specialist companies is the guarantee of an immediate interim manager substitute for a service if the original candidate does not turn out to be ideal for the achievement of the specific goals due to certain circumstances. A company contracting this type of service not only does not overload its labour structure, it also benefits from the talent, knowledge and experience offered by these professionals. They are people who are used to successfully overcoming extraordinary and quite delicate situations normally related to change management. Having to replace a key executive within a company is one of the most well-known situations for the application of interim management services. However, there is another more common case which is having to rescue or restructure a company linked to what is known as “turnaround”. These are cases where the management comprising the permanent structure was not able to adequately manage the company which means the intervention of the specialists offered by interim management companies is so important because they have already been through such critical circumstances in one or more sectors and oftentimes in several different countries.
By order of priority, the most frequent reasons for contracting interim management are:
- Change management and general management or specific role-related management.
- Business or business division restructuring or rescue, supply chain management and procurement.
- The temporary replacement of an executive to manage special projects.
- Cost reviews and reductions.
- The launch or reinforcement of new products and services.
(Source: “I International Study on Interim Management” 31/03/2022)
