Momentum for Commercial Operations
A leading lighting design and manufacturing company set out to modernize its complex commercial project management processes. With a growing pipeline and decades of intricate, multi-year projects, the team knew that sustaining success would take more than adding headcount. They partnered with Pellera to chart a smarter path forward. Through a structured, discovery-led engagement, we helped the organization gain full visibility into its current processes, prioritize high-impact automation opportunities, and define a future-state operating model, laying the foundation to scale operations by up to 2.5x while improving accuracy, efficiency, and customer experience.
The Challenge
The organization’s commercial project lifecycle, spanning pre-sales through post-sales, was inherently complex, involving at least six specialized teams and numerous handoffs across dozens of sub-processes. As project volume grew, so did the complexity and scale of the data, and existing manual processes were approaching their limits.
Key challenges included:
01
Complex, manual workflows
Processes were spread across email, local file storage, and multiple specialized tools and platforms, leading to fragmented data and silos.
02
Limited process visibility
A lack of transparency made it difficult to track progress and identify bottlenecks.
03
Handoff risks and data gaps
Transitions between teams and tools increased the likelihood of information being lost, resulting in rework, inefficiencies and a missed opportunity in customer insights.
04
Unrealized Automation Opportunities
While several automation ideas had been identified, additional support was needed to effectively evaluate and prioritize implementation.
These challenges limited scalability and made it difficult to deliver a consistent, high-quality customer experience.
The Approach
To address these challenges, a structured engagement was launched to deeply understand and redesign the organization’s project management framework. Working side by side with the client’s stakeholders, our team:
Conducted a 2-day on-site workshop with key stakeholders
Performed targeted user interviews across teams
Built end-to-end journey maps of the project lifecycle
Completed a technical requirements assessment to support future-state design
From there, we developed a comprehensive “as-is” view of the organization’s workflows, mapping every major process step, system, and stakeholder, identifying friction points and communication breakdowns, and highlighting high-value opportunities for automation and optimization.
The Solution
Based on insights from discovery, the team defined a to-be AI-enhanced future state focused on centralization, standardization, and intelligent automation.
Key elements included:
01
Centralized process architecture
to unify workflows across teams
02
Standardized documentation and data flows
to ensure consistency
03
Prioritized automation use cases
targeting high-impact inefficiencies
04
Improved data management strategy
to ensure accuracy and accessibility throughout the lifecycle
This approach bridges operational gaps while enabling a more scalable and resilient project delivery model.
The Results
While implementation is ongoing, the engagement has already delivered meaningful strategic value:
Clear path to scale operations by 2.5x
through process optimization and automation
Identification of quick-win automation opportunities
to reduce manual effort and errors
Improved data consistency and accessibility
across the entire project lifecycle
Established roadmap for cost savings and ROI improvement
through centralization
Enhanced focus on customer experience
by reducing friction in internal workflows
Conclusion
By taking a structured, discovery-led approach, this lighting design and manufacturing leader transformed a fragmented project management environment into a clear vision for a modern, scalable operating model.
With a strong foundation in place, the organization is now positioned to unlock significant efficiencies, accelerate growth, and deliver a more seamless experience for both internal teams and customers. Learn more about our IT Solutions for manufacturing.
