The Backdrop  

The 2023 Christmas season was coming up, when Varun, the Founder of MEDSAILES.ai – an upcoming AI startup in the Online Medical Sales space – sat at his desk after the quarterly review meeting.

For a long while, he kept staring at his spreadsheets and reports.

His mind was growing restless as the meeting highlighted the gap between his team’s projects and the company’s imminent Product launch.  

Varun’s struggle to align Team efforts with Company objectives  

Since August 2023, Varun and his team had been working to revamp their existing product, MEDSALES.com, by incorporating AI-powered Sales targeting. The goal was to relaunch the product as MEDSAILES.ai on World Health Day, 7th April 2024. The current initiative was running severely behind plans for completion of all AI modeling and deployment by 31st March 2024. 

 MEDSALES had engaged an external Vendor for AI modeling and were leveraging their in-house historical Sales data to build robust AI models. Alongside this, they had a separate external team of Python and Data experts focused on building their AI agents. 

Varun’s internal team of Business Analysts and Project Manager were overwhelmed, as they were manually collecting and analyzing Project progress and issues.  

However, the most significant challenge faced by Varun was: The Delivery team’s reporting status was simply too detailed and Developer-oriented, as reporting was based on User Stories and Agile Sprints. For Varun, this was problematic as he needed a clear timeline for when AI Agents would be ready for Demos and Sales. The lack of clarity and actionable insights was risking the Project and its launch date.  

“Why can’t there be a simple, unified view of our Projects? I don’t get the clarity in our existing system”, Varun vented his frustration to his trusted Project Manager, Arun. Arun nodded in agreement, replying, “Each report involves hours of manual effort to translate technical updates into clear summaries. It’s almost impossible for us to identify key blockers and dependencies that could stop project completion.” 

Lack of Clarity in Project Status Updates 

As days turned into weeks, Varun soon realized that his team’s productivity was getting tangled in a web of meetings, emails, and spreadsheets.

Their existing tools couldn’t provide a clear view of Project Health or ensure Contract Compliance. The constant juggling act between Developer-oriented updates and Business-centric goals left Varun feeling like he was always two steps behind.  

This wasn’t just a problem unique to the MEDSAILES.ai project, and was a common problem for Business Executives in mid-market Businesses – Manual status reporting could not translate technical details into actionable insights. What Business Executives like Varun needed was a simple, actionable, bird’s-eye view of project progress that aligned with business goals rather than a Project plan designed for developers. 

Things changed when Arun came across a post on LinkedIn about CrystalPM. Curious to know about CrystalPM’s 360° Management, Arun read through the details and asked to schedule a demo.  

Project control with CrystalPM’s 360° Management  

The built-in CrystalPM RAG (Red, Amber, Green) Dashboard gave Varun instantaneous insights into whether Projects were on track or at risk.  

• Green signaled projects were on track. 

• Amber warned of potential roadblocks, prompting proactive intervention. 

• Red highlighted critical issues requiring immediate attention. 

 For managing Contract compliance, CrystalPM automated that as well. The feature allowed Varun to get alerts about potential Project issues before they turned into crises. 

Further, the CrystalPM forecasting tool provided predictions that helped Varun set realistic project completion dates and get early warnings about potential delays.  

Finally, CrystalPM could integrate with Jira directly, so that the project currently running on Jira could be brought into purview of CrystalPM.  

With all of these, Varun felt that he had full visibility and Project control, thus aligning business goals with detailed Delivery tracking.  

Within a few months of adopting CrystalPM, Varun’s team was able to drive significant improvements: 

• Reporting time was reduced to half, freeing up resources for actual delivery. 

• Project risks were flagged early, enabling timely interventions. 

• Client satisfaction skyrocketed, as transparency improved. 

Achieving the MEDSAILES.ai Launch 

With the enhanced Project Management and clarity provided by CrystalPM, Varun’s team was able to streamline their efforts toward the MEDSAILES.ai relaunch. The AI modeling and deployment were completed on time for the 31st of March 2024 deadline. This timely completion allowed for detailed testing and quality assurance, ensuring a robust product launch. 

On World Health Day, April 7, 2024, MEDSAILES.ai was proudly  launched by Varun & team, receiving positive feedback from clients and stakeholders. The integration of AI-powered Sales targeting positioned MEDSAILES.ai as a leader in the Online Medicine sales space, attracting new clients and increasing market share. 

Conclusion  

If you are able to relate with Varun’s painful start, it may be time to revamp the way you manage your Projects.

With CrystalPM, you can achieve the visibility and control you require for business success. 

Disclaimer: This fictional story is inspired by real business challenges in project management. Any resemblance to actual persons or companies is purely coincidental.