Case Study
Scaling Innovation Design in Tech Sales: Designers within a tech sales organization were moved from a centralized team into a distributed squad model across the Americas, putting consistency, utilization, and growth impact at risk.
Background:
We built a unified Innovation Design practice across the U.S., Canada, and South America, covering 108 designers embedded in 62 tech sales squads. The work started by defining how design should be deployed, measured, and used across markets. Design was repositioned upstream in pilot discovery, co-creation, and experience framing, aligned directly to account planning and market priorities instead of downstream execution. Clear role definition, shared tools, and a monthly measurement cadence created consistency across markets while giving teams room to work at the pace of local business needs.
Approach:
In a reorganization, designers that sat within a tech sales organization were moved from a centralized team into a distributed squad model across the Americas. They were now embedded within sales and engineering led teams, but without a shared operating model design was deployed unevenly, brought in too late, and often scoped as UI or execution support rather than as a capability tied to growth. Utilization averaged about 45 percent against a 70 percent target, and design impact varied widely by market, squad, and leadership maturity.
Impact:
• Unified 108 designers across 62 squads and 7 markets under a shared Innovation Design operating model
• Increased utilization from 45 percent to 75 percent over four quarters, exceeding the annual target
• Recaptured an estimated $4M in annual productivity value
• Repositioned design from execution support to a revenue-adjacent enterprise capability embedded earlier in pilot discovery, opportunity framing, and client growth work
