Bringing simplicity to the complex challenge of corporate event management
Significantly improving efficiency and experience so staff can focus on what matters: educating their customers about cutting-edge science
Industry
Pharmaceutical
Duration
6 months
Deliverables
Insights report
6 High level concepts
2 Future state service Models
Detailed design of over 40 features
Detailed implementation plan
Detailed business case to support procurement
Impact
80% overall process efficiency gain
Reduction of costly human errors
Increased levels of communication and transparency across departments
Removed and reduced unnecessary review processes to resolve bottleneck issues
Facilitated the introduction of a modern digital interface improving internal satisfaction and reducing stress
WHAT was the problem
Running over 650 commercial sales events per year is a tremendous undertaking for any organisation. It's not just about meeting the needs of customers but also ensuring internal staff are supported through the complex process. At WAVE, we understand that the most effective organisations focus on creating good experiences both internally and externally.
Our client, a prominent global pharmaceutical company, also recognised the importance of addressing this challenge. They approached us when their internal processes for setting up, managing, and running commercial events had become unwieldy, plagued by bottlenecks, and lacking inter-departmental communication. The complexity was further compounded by the industry's strict compliance codes.
APPROACH we took
WAVE was tasked with enhancing the staff experience, improving event management efficiency, driving sales, and enhancing brand awareness for our client. We began by engaging key project contacts within the organisation to map out the stakeholder landscape and understand the context. This involved identifying key stakeholders from various business units who would collaborate to co-design a future state solution together.
Our approach was rooted in our Human-Centred Design (HCD) framework, and as a team we explored the problem space - mapping the current state processes and experience. We collaborated with 23 end-users and stakeholders from various teams, collecting valuable insights through workshops and co-design sessions to understand the intricacies of the complex process. Through effective sense-making we played back our research findings and highlighted the areas where there were massive opportunities for improvement.
Bringing the broader stakeholder group together for an in-person creative workshop we immersed them in the research findings and gave them the tools to imagine a better process and experience. This resulted in a collection of interconnected concepts, a subset of which were chosen to take forward.
Over a number of weeks we designed an ideal future state experience bringing together the selected concepts. Through online video discussions and a variety of prototypes, including high-level concepts, service models, and detailed digital wireframes, we engaged end users to gather feedback and iterate our designs. We wanted to ensure that our solutions were thoroughly well-informed.
VALUE we created
The work ultimately resulted in two service models that represented ideal future-state user experiences and processes for event management, complete with accompanying detailed designs for over 40 features. These models were informed by deep analysis of current pain points and opportunities, as well as extensive testing with end-users.
We also worked with our client’s IT representatives to understand how the future state solution could maximise the use of existing digital platforms and align to their technology roadmap and strategy. By the end of this process we were confident that the functionality we identified would address the needs of our client across all dimensions of desirability, feasibility and viability.
At WAVE, we thrive on transforming challenges into opportunities. Our collaboration with this global pharmaceutical company resulted in a drastically improved staff experience, and resulted in a remarkable 80% increase in overall efficiency of the process.
EMPOWERMENT we embedded
To ensure our client's long-term success, we went beyond delivering a solution. We actively engaged with an expert panel of in-house stakeholders who not only provided valuable input during the project but also became stewards of the solution within the organisation.
Our team assisted in curating this panel, helping them define a shared mission, ways of working, and guiding principles. This ensured the sustainability of the solutions we developed, fostering innovation and growth mindsets within our client's organisation.
Additionally, WAVE provided mentorship to the project’s internal leads, supporting the implementation of a short-term solution while helping to facilitate the procurement process for the future state design through the production of a detailed business case. Our commitment to embedding ownership of outcomes within our client's organisation ensured sustainable impact for years to come.
Our journey with this client is a testament to the power of strategic and detailed service design and our unwavering dedication to creating lasting value. We are not just consultants; we are partners on a mission to drive positive change, both internally and externally, and to help our clients ride the WAVE of success.
Client Testimonial
“This was a very rewarding project to be a part of. What started as a short, six week research engagement, evolved into a detailed service design project that ultimately resulted in real, positive impact for our client and their people. We worked extremely closely with our internal project leads on this engagement - having them embedded into the project team with us meant we could coach and guide them throughout the entire process. It was this level of involvement that led to the light bulb moment near the end of the first six week period of “oh we’re just at the beginning of the process, aren’t we”.
Project Reflections
“Having proved the value of the process to them, it became possible to bring the rest of the organisation on the journey too. When the final business case for the fully designed solution was presented to the board, it took 15 minutes for them to green-light the investment necessary to start the procurement process. For an organisation that typically takes months to reach such decisions, by all accounts, this was a new record. It’s a testament to the quality of the work and the clarity of the “case for change” that can be achieved through good service design.”
- Mike Jennings | Design Lead, WAVE
Mike’s background is in mechanical engineering, a discipline that honed his analytical and systems thinking mindset. As a design leader, he adds a layer of curiosity to shape and realise human-centred solutions in complex contexts, whether the complexity is in the nature of the client or where the solution is needed.
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