We spent some time with Alfred Mackey, Senior Vice President at PFES, to discuss the company's successes and insights gained working with clients across industries.
What Would You Consider to be PFES’ Biggest Success over the Last Year?
Our ability to retain and effectively leverage our internal subject matter experts (SME) continues to create significant growth in market share. We've found that personnel with 2-5 years of experience can be effectively managed using the following controls:
- Engaged SME mentorship
- Clear and well-developed job descriptions
- Annual goals, objectives, and performance feedback
- Individualized training and development strategies
- Enthusiastically spotlighting successes and contributions
What is the Top Request from Clients?
We have had a significant number of requests to identify process improvement opportunities within existing work management systems to lessen the demand on resources without compromising the effectiveness of governance. Clients were interested in identifying new process improvement approaches that are more agile without losing focus on annual investment objectives.
And How Did PFES Help Identify Those New Process Improvement Approaches?
During our readiness reviews we were able to:
- Achieve constancy with industry best practices
- Obtain requested efficiencies
- Support the clients during roll-out across the entire organization
More and more clients are realizing the value of being able to transform reliable data into information that can enhance decision making and generate successful business outcomes.
Over the last two years we’ve noticed that a large segment of our clients is not leveraging Business Intelligence (BI) tools to help support Project Management and Project Controls. Many utilities still utilize legacy ERP systems or data warehouses to analyze organizational data.
Today, we inquire about what types of visualization tools our clients are using and look for opportunities to provide solutions that can help them better understand organizational performance. We have also developed an assessment to introduce a variety of benchmark data into the conversation that helps explain the difference between the owner’s processes and industry best practices.
Data Management is Crucial in Today’s Climate. How Does PFES Manage Data?
The architecture of our data management process remains a critical business driver for confirming that all data sources are acquired, validated, stored, and protected using enhanced protocols. The foundation of these enhanced proposals provides confidence to our internal and external end-users that the data provided is safe to access, accurate (up to date), and readily accessible.
We have improved the processes using industry best practices for maintaining data integrity:
- Enhanced Access Standards
- Storage requirements for:
- Local
- Network
- Cloud
- Security/Privilege Standards
- File Structures Requirements
Project Management and Project Controls are Central to PFES’ Offerings. Have You Seen an Increase in Demand for These Services?
Over the last five years, specifically in the Power Delivery market, we’ve seen an increase in demand for outside service for Project Management and Project Controls.
Increased development of renewable generation sources continues to drive up the need for grid expansion and, in turn, the need for project professionals.
How Do You Expect Public Infrastructure Funding to Impact Business at PFES?
We anticipate that the approved infrastructure spending bills will support the continued growth and prosperity for all Americans. Access to capital for upgrading existing steel production facilities within the US and landfill remediation initiatives will reduce impacts on US aquifers.
Any New or Emerging Technologies that Are Playing a Particularly Central Role in PFES Projects?
Continued investment with Oracle has enabled us to increase market share by demonstrating our ability to utilize very powerful capital and portfolio management tools throughout the investment lifecycle.
