I N T E R V I E W W I T H P A O L O P U L C I N I

A R E A S O L U T I O N S A L E S L E A D - M O D E R NW O R K P L A C E , M I D D L E E A S T A N D A F R I C A

A T M I C R O S O F TDestination.

Could you introduce yourself for thePM World Journal readers please?

I know, last month PMI TR Chapter organized PMSummit event and you explained "ModernWorkplace in Digital Age". Could you evaluate theevent and give detail information about ModernWorkplace in Digital age?

I am the Modern Workplace Lead for MiddleEast and Africa at Microsoft. My role, in a few words, is to ensure that weas Microsoft, are bringing the full value of ourproductivity and mobility solutions toour customers.

In one word, impressive. Aside from theorganization and venue, which were bothoutstanding, I was impressed by the contentand attendance. The experience, combinedwith the drive to innovate among theattendees and the speakers wasoverwhelming and contageous.How did you find the project community inTurkey?As said above, impressive. Turkey is atechnologically sophisticated and advancedsociety, yet I was still impressed by the driveto innovate and redefine, rather than simplyimprove, their processess. The DigitalTransformation motion is in full effect withprofessionals avidly looking for areas toimprove and reinvent the way they work. This is only my second time in Turkey atsuch an event, but i am often meetingcustomers and professionals and i amstimulated by the learning and energy i gainfrom all my meetings.

How do you see the future of project managementprofession?

As companies have realized the significanceof digital transformation and hundreds ofprojects are initiated as an output of digitaltransformation initiatives, the projectmanagement profession is becoming moreand more strategic in the organizations. Theshift occuring from support to businessenabler is apparant.

When you compare the Fortune 500 list of1960’s and the current Fortune 500 list , yousee that only 60 of the companies haveremained in the list. The other 440companies were either bankrupt, or wereacquired by another company or fell down toa much worse position compared to 50 yearsago. This is because they couldn’t transformand they couldn’t adapt to change. So digitaltransformation is crucial for a company’ssurvival and that’s why CEO’s are now theowners of this transformation , not the CIO’s.

Another fact is that more than 80% of thedigital transformation projects are failing ,mostly due to lack of collaboration, lack ofcommunication or because they’re not beingmanaged well. This fact alone puts a lot ofsignificance to project managementprofession. This is why we as Microsoft havebeen investing a lot on our Project andPortfolio solutions in recent years.

What are some of the biggest risks and challengesfacing project managers?

With the transformation wave, therequirements of project management itself ischanging as well towards being more agileand more demanding. Time to market hasbecome a significant differentiator incompetition. So the project managers shouldtransform themselves to act more agile, toanticipate the end users expectations better,to get feedbacks more frequently and react tothe feedbacks immediately and to collaborateand communicate with all of the stakeholdersinstantly. This requires a mindset shift andthe project managers that can adapt to thiswill get stronger and survive in the upcomingyears, the ones that can’t adapt will be pushedout of the market just as the Darwin’sEvolution Theory states.

What do you think about the correlation betweenproject management and organization’sproductivity?Project management focuses on resource andbudget optimization for a defined scope ofwork, which is directly related toproductivity.That’s why we as Microsoftposition our PPM solution within ourProductivity Solution Family. Also, in thisage of Digital Transformation, it is vital thatprojects be agile, allowing all task owners tocollaborate in real time. Once again, projectmanagement is central not only as aproductivity tool and enabler, but also as aprime beneficiary of the move towards cloudand mobility.

PM World Journal; published November2016Interviewed by İpek SahraÖzgüler ,Istanbul, Turkeyhttp://pmworldjournal.net/

PAOLO PULCINI BIO

After graduating in 1988 fromUniversity of Miami in ComputerInformation Systems, and completinghis MBA in Finance, Mr. Pulcini startedhis career in Ryder System, Inc in anumber of roles including HR,Financial Planning and Pricing. Hethen moved to the UK as CommercialManager and then headed up anacquisitions team at Ryder. He then joined Dell Computers asEMEA pricing manager andsubsequently was asked to head upDell Italy Sales (medium companies)in Milan. After leaving Dell, he continued hiscareer in a variety of roles andcompanies including Purchasing,Logistics, Sales Management, andPartner Management. In 2007, when Microsoft acquiredFast Search and Transfer where hewas Alliance Director for Europe, hestarted his career at Microsoft. HisMicrosoft career includes such rolesas Sharepoint sales for Middle Eastand Africa, Parallel Data WarehouseEMEA Time zone lead and WesternEurope Azure manager. Currently, heis the Middle East and Africa ModernWorkplace lead. Paolo is an Italiannational who grew up in Italy,England and Germany and has livedfor extended periods of time in theUnited States, Malta and Yemen. Heis currently living in Dubai.