CASE STUDY
Cella Charts Clear Path to AI-Accelerated Creative Ops for Healthcare Leader
Most creative teams are well past asking, “Should we use AI?” But even with talented people and best-in-market tools, optimizing AI adoption can be challenging. Teams test different platforms. Brand voice slips. And the rapid pace of change in AI technology makes it hard to see what’s truly moving the needle.
When our global healthcare client approached us, they were in a spot where, without a shared plan, AI adoptions efforts were being pulled in different directions. They had enthusiasm, but they needed a clearer way to bring it all together and scale with confidence.
The Client Need
The client’s creative operations were stuck in a cycle. AI was generating content, but the results rarely delivered the brand voice or consistency their teams relied on. Every output was a gamble.
Their obstacles clustered into three clear categories:
Operational friction
A tech approval process built for a different era slowed pilots to a crawl, while creative teams worked across fragmented, homegrown tools that didn’t connect or scale.
Quality concerns
AI-generated content varied wildly in tone and reliability. Teams couldn’t count on it, which meant more rework and less trust in the technology.
Cultural anxiety
Training fatigue had set in. New tools kept arriving without context or clarity, leaving teams unsure which to use and confused about what AI meant for their roles.
For an organization looking to scale creative output in step with global growth, these were structural barriers that demanded a systematic, thoughtful solution.
Our Solution
Strategic Discovery
Cella approached the engagement as a strategic transformation rather than a simple tool audit. Through remote discovery sessions with a broad span of stakeholders, including executives, managers, and critically, end users, Cella’s experts built a grounded, user-centered understanding of what was working, what wasn’t and why.
“...the issue wasn’t the tool at all; it was the absence of training or awareness.”
This discovery included
Auditing current AI and non-AI tool usage
Mapping workflows across teams
Identifying where friction stemmed from tools, process, training and confidence gaps.
Helping leaders define meaningful KPIs and success measures
Pinpointing cases where AI was helpful and where AI was adding complexity without ROI
This approach reinforced a core tenet of our methodology: AI shouldn’t be used just because it’s available. It should be used when it makes work better, faster or more aligned to strategic goals.
In several cases, the issue wasn’t the tool at all; it was the absence of training or awareness. Even during discovery, small moments of guidance (such as highlighting overlooked features in existing platforms) cleared roadblocks that had frustrated teams for months.
Cella’s AI Optimization and Scale Framework
Because this framework meets organizations at any maturity level (from early exploration to advanced adoption), it provided the client with the structure and transparency they needed to advance with confidence through five core components:
1. Custom AI maturity model: We outlined clear progression stages across people, process, technology, data and strategy, giving leadership a shared language for AI readiness and helping teams see exactly what “good” looked like at each stage.
2. Technology gap analysis: By highlighting underused investments and pinpointing where new platforms could fill critical gaps, we focused on optimizing what already existed before adding more tools to the mix.
3. Phased implementation roadmap: We translated a potentially overwhelming transformation (integrating AI across all creative functions) into a sequenced plan, balancing quick wins with longer-term initiatives.
4. Pilot adoption strategy: By identifying targeted use cases, we helped the organization build credibility through early wins, creating proof points that justified broader adoption.
5. Structured adoption framework: Because adoption is as much psychological as operational, we provided clear, practical guidance to help teams navigate change and mitigate future risk while reducing the uncertainty that had caused so much hesitation in the past.
The Results
Most importantly, the engagement gave the organization something it had lacked: clarity. With a unified understanding of their AI landscape, teams could move from scattered experiments to coordinated progress.
Streamlined tool adoption
The piloting process used to be sluggish, but now it has clear evaluation criteria and defined pathways, ensuring high-potential technologies don’t get stuck in limbo.
Immediate improvements in user experience
Even during discovery, several team members experienced quick wins: simple feature awareness or workflow adjustments that cleared roadblocks on the spot.
Strategic alignment
Leadership can move decisively with a cohesive roadmap, shared progression stages and transparent success metrics.
Cultural shift
By centering end users and reinforcing that AI isn’t mandatory, but beneficial where it supports their goals, anxiety shifted to informed optimism. Employees gained a clearer understanding of AI’s role, what it meant for their careers and how it could help them do their best work.
With these foundations in place, the company’s creative operations are finally positioned for the rapid, sustainable growth they’ve been striving for. And as AI continues to evolve, they now have the knowledge structure and confidence to evolve with it.
Ready to Scale Your AI Operations?
If your creative teams are feeling the strain of AI tool sprawl, inconsistent outputs or adoption challenges, you’re far from alone. Cella’s AI Acceleration service helps organizations operationalize and scale AI confidently.
