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Canadian businesses are using new strategies and tools to effectively manage projects and slash costs in these tough times, industry insiders say.

Enterprise project management (EPM) applications are helping firms to effectively align dwindling resources with critical business priorities, said participants in a project management roundtable in Toronto last week.

The event was sponsored by Microsoft Canada.

EPM software can help a company's project management office plan and track current – and future – projects organized by such criteria as budget size, schedule, or business line.

Despite the dire economic situation, infrastructure and project management are two areas where technology spending remains strong, noted Warren Shiau, senior associate and lead analyst at IT research firm The Strategic Counsel in Toronto.

Virtualization technology – which provides solid cost benefits – is driving infrastructure spend, Shiau said.

Interest in project management is being fuelled by the need for business decision makers today to understand where money and resources are being used.

 Only 12 to 15 per cent of large Canadian companies believe they are getting "excellent value" from IT, according to a recent survey by The Strategic Counsel.

These companies have one thing in common, said Shiau: They tend to use some kind of IT risk analytics tool to discover "what's going on in their operations."

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