CASE STUDY
Cella Leads Successful Project Management Technology Selection for Global Analytics and AI Company
Many companies are currently in the process of digital transformation. Now more than ever, it’s imperative that teams are equipped with the right solutions to drive their processes forward and facilitate seamless collaboration.
This was true for our client, an innovative analytics and AI company who empowers their Global 500 customers to turn data into intelligence.
The Problem
The client had identified the need for a project management solution that their brand and creative team could use to promote and increase collaboration, support prioritization of incoming projects, and allow for better control and insight into their resourcing and capacity planning.
They had been operating on a “build it ourselves” culture, which led to a homegrown tech stack that was dependent on internal development resources to make customizations.After years of relying on proprietary solutions, they were ready to take the leap and invest in a new, third-party SaaS solution.
Partnering with a company that specializes in creative technology solutions can have a major impact on the success of your software evaluation.
Time for a Specialist
Choosing the right project management technology can be an overwhelming process for companies. The selection process can require an average of 10 to 15 hours per week, and this additional project can become costly, both in terms of resources and employee satisfaction.
The company recognized the need for a partner who focuses on creative and marketing operations technology to help them conduct an objective evaluation. They would need to understand the company’s requirements, highlight key features and capabilities that should be considered, and have extensive knowledge of solutions available in the market.
That partner was Cella.
The Solution: Diving Deep
Our client knew that investing energy into choosing the right tool now would save immeasurable time, money and stress down the road. However, it’s not always a cut-and-dry selection. What’s best for one company might not be ideal for another. It would all come down to finding the tools that meet their unique needs and team preferences. And that’s where Cella comes in.
Through our years of on-the-ground understanding, we’ve fine-tuned our approach to provide an objective recommendation for our clients.
Our process began with deep discovery and requirements gathering to better comprehend their functional needs, the overall maturity level of the organization, and its project management practices. We asked the right questions and uncovered information such as:
- How many groups are involved, and what are the relationships between them?
- What's the nature of communication and collaboration within those groups?
- Did they aim to plan for work in the future to anticipate capacity availability/limits and understand resource utilization? Or, would they respond to ad hoc work requests using a central system to manage tickets as they come in?
- Do projects align to single deliverables or reflect a multi-deliverable integrated campaign structure?
- Is the company tracking time?
70% of technology projects fail because they’re trying to solve the wrong problem, can’t find a strong solution, or over invest based on psychological biases.
As a next step, we produced a requirements summary, outlining the client’s goal outcomes, the high-level themes desired among the various groups and any pain points they may be facing — critical input for our Scorecard.
The weighted Scorecard helped everyone know the importance of each feature as we considered potential vendors.
Keeping Score
Next, we developed a custom-designed, weighted scorecard that identified functional areas any recommended tool would need to hit based on our discovery. We categorized feature requirements against a variety of functional areas including intake, planning, prioritization, job and project tracking, scheduling, resource management, review and approval, document management, reporting, ease of configuration, and integrations.
Then, we helped the client weigh each individual functional requirement. We made this a priority because, when it comes to desired features, it’s not always an apples-to-apples comparison. We collected feedback from all of the different groups involved and averaged ratings to get a weighted value for each functional area.
Finding the Best Fit
Equipped with a solid understanding of the team’s goals, and our extensive product knowledge and expertise, we were able to quickly identify a small number of vendors that could deliver on their needs.
- These vendors were asked to self-assess against the client’s weighted Scorecard we created.
- Extended demos were scheduled, during which each vendor presented their solution with the client’s use cases in focus.
- During the demonstrations, Cella performed an unbiased review of the vendor's performance against their self-assessment.
Cella created a Final Recommendation Report based on Scorecard results and other factors, such as company stability, user/install base, product roadmap, and culture fit.
We work at the intersection of technology and people.
Cella’s process eliminates overly subjective and emotional responses from the client’s evaluation. It delivers an objective formula that leads to the recommendation of a “best-fit” solution for the client.
However, we also consider the human experience. We realize that each client has a certain energy in their culture. Whether it’s creative and spontaneous or technical and analytical, we make sure to align the technology we recommend with that.
The Results
Our process was effective, and our client now has a solution they are confident will meet their needs today and in the future. By teaming up with Cella, the client was able to:
Save Time Rather than investing precious internal headcount and resources into the selection project, the team could focus on the business and their day-to-day roles. Letting a creative and marketing operations technology firm like Cella lead the evaluation freed up the team’s time for their daily responsibilities and internal priorities.
Save Money Adapting a new technology is an expensive endeavor — it’s important to get it right the first time. We helped the client ensure their resources were being spent in all the right places. Plus, by leveraging a SaaS solution, the client can take advantage of the native capabilities and supported benefits of the technology, while internal development resources can address more strategic initiatives.
Gain Knowledge Cella provided an objective process, giving the team access to a fresh perspective. By using a specialist in the industry, the client gained knowledge of functionalities they had yet to consider. Cella identified trends in the industry as well, so the company could include these in their assessment and ensure future needs are met as they evolve.
