Atlantic Global signs up Virgin Mobile

Atlantic Global has announced Virgin Mobile as a new customer for its portfolio management software.

Virgin is hoping Atlantic Global's Corporate Vision software tool will improve efficiencies in project and programme management and result in the mobile brand being able to lower staff headcount or do more with the staff they have.

Jim Robinson, head of programme delivery at Virgin Mobile, told silicon.com he chose the product because he'd used it before "quite successfully" before joining Virgin nearly three months ago.

Robinson expects the software will improve the company's ability to perform "forward management with resources, both hardware and people" as well as conduct 'what if' modelling to plan for future scenarios.

"You can tell it, 'what if we had this project, what if we delayed this project, what if we put 30 people over here'?" Robinson said.

In this way, the software should help Robinson and his team understand when they take on a new project what its impact will be on the rest of their workflow.

One feature Robinson particularly likes is the tool's ability to allow different people in different roles - whether in IT or some other part of the business - to view only the data relevant to them.

"Project managers can look at specifics for their project. But if you don't want project-specific levels you can look at a programme level, so you see an overarching view of a set of programmes."

This would be particularly useful at Virgin Mobile, he explained, because "a lot of our projects are not just IT projects but are business change projects".

While admitting it's difficult to quantify the exact return on investment because it's hard to gauge exactly how projects are currently managed, Robinson said Virgin is looking at a "payback period" of 18 months to two years.

"The way we justified [the purchase] is on savings of heads," he explained. "We think with the tool we will need three fewer heads to do a current set of work."