Wayne Philpott knows more than a thing or two about successful project management. He has seen pretty much all there is to see during his 28 year long career at Hitachi Data Systems. As a manager in the Programme Management Office, Wayne is responsible for ensuring all project activity is delivered successfully, on-time, every time. When Wayne started at HDS almost three decades ago, the project management landscape was a very different industry from what it is today. “ In the beginning, project management as a discipline was solely defined by the individual project managers. We had to conceive and develop to ensure success for Hitachi Data Systems as an organisation and fundamentally for our customers.” Wayne continually looked for new ways to enhance project provision at HDS and developed initiatives ranging from the ordinary to the radical in his quest to ensure project success rates stood at 100 per cent, delivering on even the most demanding customer requirements. In 2001 he created the Programme Office within the company, an industry-leading move at the time. Wayne and his team worked tirelessly to develop the Programme Office, its staff and their capabilities including adding PRINCE2® as a basic requirement. Everything Wayne and Hitachi Data Systems have done has been focused on improving project success. So, what exactly does their project expert mean when he says… “In 28 years I’ve never seen a company like Acando.” Prior to Acando partnering with Hitachi Data Systems, the company worked with a range of suppliers to help them find the best project managers to work on the projects they deliver. “ WITH ACANDO, I HAVE ONE POINT OF CONTACT WHO CAN TALK AT BOARD LEVEL, REPRESENT LARGE PROGRAMMES PERFECTLY AND UNDERSTAND EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED. HE HAS MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.”

1. HITACHI DATA
SYSTEMS ENHANCES
PROJECT PROVISION
Acando Case Study

2. Wayne Philpott knows more than
a thing or two about successful
project management. He has
seen pretty much all there is
to see during his 28 year long
career at Hitachi Data Systems.
As a manager in the Programme
Management Office, Wayne is
responsible for ensuring all project
activity is delivered successfully,
on-time, every time.
When Wayne started at HDS almost three decades
ago, the project management landscape was a very
different industry from what it is today.
“ In the beginning, project management as a discipline
was solely defined by the individual project managers.
We had to conceive and develop to ensure success
for Hitachi Data Systems as an organisation and
fundamentally for our customers.”
Wayne continually looked for new ways to enhance
project provision at HDS and developed initiatives
ranging from the ordinary to the radical in his quest to
ensure project success rates stood at 100 per cent,
delivering on even the most demanding
customer requirements.
In 2001 he created the Programme Office within
the company, an industry-leading move at the time.
Wayne and his team worked tirelessly to develop
the Programme Office, its staff and their capabilities
including adding PRINCE2® as a basic requirement.
Everything Wayne and Hitachi Data Systems have
done has been focused on improving project success.
So, what exactly does their project expert mean
when he says… “In 28 years I’ve never seen a company
like Acando.”
Prior to Acando partnering with Hitachi Data Systems,
the company worked with a range of suppliers to help
them find the best project managers to work on the
projects they deliver.
“ WITH ACANDO, I HAVE ONE POINT OF CONTACT WHO CAN TALK AT BOARD
LEVEL, REPRESENT LARGE PROGRAMMES PERFECTLY AND UNDERSTAND
EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED. HE HAS MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.”
As a result, Wayne sought a company that could
be relied upon for project delivery in the short and
long term so that he could focus on delivering the
increasing number of innovative new projects.
Up stepped project management specialist Acando,
who helped Wayne navigate some of HDS’ most
challenging projects yet. Wayne was immediately
impressed by Acando’s outcome focused approach,
which included immediate attention on project
success and continual engagement to ensure
measurable cross-project results.
“ We chose Acando as they invest time upfront,
understanding how to drive project success so that each
project and project manager could achieve value and
the best possible delivery. Now, when project demand is
turning I have a single partner I can rely on to deliver the
best result.”
Acando’s team at Hitachi Data Systems provides a
proven capability for project delivery extending
up to programme direction. Acando handles both
challenging and routine deliveries many of which are
global, high profile, critical and operate within complex
stakeholder environments.
“ With Acando, I have one partner who can talk at
board level, represent large programmes perfectly and
understand exactly what we need. They have made a
huge difference.”
However, the HDS story is not only about the Acando
people working in the Programme Office to deliver
projects. Wayne also recognises the added value
Acando offers to drive continual improvement in
project results. Acando has engaged widely to
improve engagement, governance and the support for
projects to ensure that Hitachi Data System continues
to deliver truly best in class projects.
“ Acando is there to help us deliver
successful projects. It is a real
partner that we value and
we look forward to continue
working with them in the future.
That’s why in 28 years I’ve never
seen a company like Acando.”
“ Our projects are tailored often to customer needs,
technology or industry trends. We found that the
suppliers at the time often approached project
managers with a blanket approach and often struggled
to recognise some of the subtle nuances associated
with our projects. Whilst their approach worked to
some extent it required additional internal effort to
ensure success“
“ In 28 years I’ve never seen
a company like Acando.” “
With a greater number of increasingly diverse projects
being managed each year, Hitachi Data Systems
needed to ensure it had a flexible, proactive and
responsive Programme Office that could react to new
and exciting projects, fast.

3. PROJECTS | PROGRAMMES | ANALYSIS
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