Discover how PM-Partners helped this global investment firm’s Asia-Pacific team successfully implement and embed Kanban and fast track the delivery of critical investor insights to clients.

Highlights

• The Asia-Pacific team of this global investment company was keen to improve turnaround times for the delivery of critical investment insights to its clients by adopting the Kanban framework.
• PM-Partners built on work already conducted with the firm’s Boston HQ to create and execute a comprehensive Kanban capability uplift program for the Singaporean team involving tailored training and coaching.
• Kanban was successfully adopted and embedded across the team resulting in faster delivery of vital market intelligence and a roadmap for establishing Kanban more broadly for other client services throughout the firm’s global network.

Customer background

Headquartered in Boston, MA, HarbourVest is a global private markets firm with more than US$132 billion of assets under management. The firm has approximately 245 investment professionals worldwide, including a small team in Singapore servicing clients in the Asia-Pacific region.  

 The challenge  

HarbourVest’s global Investor Relations Operations team plays a vital role in increasing client confidence through the provision of high-quality investment information, often in the form of market intelligence reports. The process for gathering and sharing these valuable insights is the same each time and needs to be as timely as possible given the dynamic nature of global markets. With its emphasis on efficiency and adaptability, Kanban was identified as the ideal framework to help drive process improvements. 

How PM-Partners helped 

HarbourVest’s Boston-based cohort had already received training in Kanban with a view to implementing the method, but this work failed to highlight the pain points that Kanban was addressing which caused issues with embedding. Given our experience and presence in Singapore, PM-Partners was chosen to help the Asia-Pacific team adopt Kanban, leveraging lessons learned from the US to optimise results.  

Our team devised a comprehensive Kanban capability uplift program consisting of the following: 

• Tailored training and coaching to raise awareness and understanding of Kanban 

• Lifecycle mapping to plot key stages, accountabilities and timeframes and identify delays and bottlenecks 

• Co-creation of new ways of working and visual options for keeping workflow/tasks transparent 

• Measurement plan with defined metrics to track lifecycle stages and monitor improvements. 

This program established the core enablers to drive the uptake and implementation of Kanban. It also laid the groundwork for cultural change – by highlighting pain points, the team was clear on the value of Kanban and therefore more receptive to adopting and promoting the methodology. 

Outcomes delivered 

The use of Kanban ensured the Asia-Pacific team was focused on accelerating the delivery of information to their investor clients. Tailored coaching helped team members apply Kanban principles and practices to streamline their processes and ultimately improve turnaround times. 

Building on the experience of their US colleagues, the Asia-Pacific team leapfrogged their counterparts, sharing valuable lessons and a roadmap for unlocking Kanban’s potential. Kanban was subsequently established for various other client services across HarbourVest’s global network. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how Kanban could benefit your team, contact our experts today. We can design a capability program tailored to your needs to help you harness Kanban’s full potential.