The Marketing Operations department at this Fortune 200 medical device manufacturer needed to streamline and simplify their creative production process to more effectively manage stakeholder expectations and align their workflow with the needs and priorities of their organization.

They turned to Workgroups DaVinci to help them do just that.

Historically, management of the creative design workflow lacked structure, with no standardized process for initiating and updating the over 3,000 projects the department tackled each year. The process was also primarily focused on print design and did not include other jobs such as video, photography, broadcasts, web, mobile applications, digital communications, translations or asset requests that the department also handled.

Compounding the situation, there was little consistency around project requests or intake. Some stakeholders would contact the traffic manager to schedule their work while others would go directly to the designers, which often resulted in confusion and competing priorities.

Things needed to change.

In an effort to assess the existing creative production process as thoroughly as possible, a survey was conducted with internal stakeholders. The goal of the survey was to gain a well-rounded perspective on the department’s existing creative workflow and identify opportunities for enhancing it. To validate the information they received from the survey, team members conducted a series of meetings with stakeholders across the business to get a broader assessment of their overall experiences in working with the Marketing Operations department in the development and execution of their projects. The feedback was clear; the department was performing below the expectations of the business.

The Marketing Operations department determined that meeting these improvement priorities required implementing a world-class workflow collaboration solution.

The team consulted with suppliers and peers from industry associations to establish a shortlist of five vendors. Prior to contacting these vendors, they developed a requirements document to establish a baseline for assessing each vendor’s solution. Each of the five vendors were then invited to present their solution.

When the process was completed, the clear winner was Workgroups DaVinci. Our system was the best match for the organization’s needs and offered a platform that included the functions and features the Marketing Operations department needed with little customization required.

Our solution’s features aligned with the requirements identified by the department and allowed them to optimize their team’s performance to meet the needs of the business and the expectations of their stakeholders.

After selecting Workgroups, the team invited each of the stakeholders they had previously met with during their due diligence process to see a demo of the system to create excitement and get the needed buy-in to move forward. At the time of launch, the Marketing Operations team then conducted meetings with each functional group that would be using Workgroups and provided a detailed user guide with tips and tricks for leveraging our solution to its fullest potential.

Virtually all new communications projects across the business are now being initiated through Workgroups. During the implementation of the platform, a significant amount of time was devoted to ensuring the customer experience would be as smooth as possible. The department’s focus in the short-term will be to partner with us to ensure that their traffic team is as confident with the back-end functionality behind the curtain as their clients are with the front-end of the system.