For more than a decade, organisations have been told the PMO is either essential or unnecessary overhead. Now AI has entered the equation, and the question is resurfacing with more force.
If artificial intelligence can generate status reports, consolidate portfolio dashboards, predict schedule slippage, and summarise risks in seconds, what exactly is left for the PMO to do?
The uncomfortable answer is this: administrative PMOs are under threat. Strategic PMOs are not.
In many organisations, this activity consumes the majority of PMO capacity.
It is labour intensive, manual, and reactive. AI will automate most of it within a few years. In some environments, it already has.
If your PMO’s value proposition is report production, the risk is real.
| AI can synthesise information. | It cannot own accountability. |
| It can identify patterns. | It cannot navigate politics. |
| It can simulate scenarios. | It cannot take responsibility for trade-offs. |
Strategic portfolio decisions require judgement under uncertainty. They require negotiation between competing executives. They require alignment to strategy, risk appetite, funding constraints, and organisational capability.
AI can inform these decisions, but it cannot make them. This is where the PMO either evolves or becomes irrelevant.
A thriving PMO measures what matters most. Beyond tracking timelines and budgets, the PMO should include benefit metrics in its reporting dashboards.
For example, it could measure the percentage of projects that achieve their intended business benefits, the total dollar value of realised benefits, or the improvement in operational KPIs linked to project outcomes.
Some PMOs even track benefit-to-cost ratios across the portfolio.
This shift in measurement changes the conversation from “on time, on budget” to “on value.”
Research from the Project Management Institute (PMI) shows that organisations with formal benefits realisation practices have significantly higher project success rates, yet many PMOs still underperform in this area.
Making benefits realisation a core focus is a major opportunity for improvement.
| Real-time portfolio visibility, not monthly reporting cycles | Continuous prioritisation, not annual planning rituals | Clear alignment to strategy and measurable outcomes | Transparent trade-offs between demand, funding, and capacity |
AI will remove friction from data collection and reporting. That does not diminish the PMO. It forces it upward.
Instead of asking, “Are projects on track?” the conversation shifts to, “Are we investing in the right things?”
That is a fundamentally different mandate.
Some PMOs will disappear.
Specifically:
But PMOs that shape investment decisions, enable executive clarity, and connect delivery to strategic intent will become more critical than ever.
AI does not eliminate the need for governance. It exposes weak governance.
It does not replace leadership. It demands better leadership.
The future PMO is not an administrative function. It is a strategic capability.
The real question is not whether AI will make PMOs obsolete. It is whether PMOs will use AI to become indispensable.