Inside the scalable PMO that transformed customer onboarding and made open enrollment smoother than ever.
When one of the country’s fastest-growing professional services firms hit a breaking point in its customer onboarding experience, its leaders couldn’t scale by sheer force or internal resources alone. With a business model anchored in delivering HR, benefits, and payroll services to thousands of employees across dozens of customer organizations, operational complexity was growing… and so was frustration.
That’s when they called Mavendog.
Today, the firm is operating with a newly built, customer-centric, scalable Project Management Office (PMO) that has reduced friction across departments, improved transparency, and helped over 95% of end-users complete their open enrollment process on time. Their PMO transformation story is a textbook case of how independent project leadership can unlock scale at the moments that matter most.
From Growing Pains to Process Breakthrough
“Every department had their own way of gathering onboarding info – benefits, payroll, HR. That meant new customers were answering the same questions three or four times,” explained Pam Souza, one of Mavendog’s senior consultants who led the transformation. “It wasn’t just inefficient. It was eroding trust.”
The challenge wasn’t just tactical. The organization lacked a central intake function to connect its sales and managed services teams. Without a clear handoff process or standardized project execution tools, even high-performing teams were duplicating efforts and scrambling to meet deadlines.
And with open enrollment season looming – a high-stakes period where thousands of employees depend on uninterrupted benefits coverage – there was no margin for error.
Enter Mavendog.
Strategic Design with Execution Built In
Souza, along with fellow Mavendog consultant Liz Gist, partnered with senior leadership to design and launch a scalable PMO framework built for nonstop growth. Their solution started with discovery: understanding the firm’s goals, mapping stakeholder needs, and identifying where the company was outgrowing their legacy processes.
“We build alongside our clients,” said Gist. “In this case, that meant creating real tools that they could start using immediately, like standard operating procedures, intake templates, even stakeholder comms calendars.”
One of the biggest wins came in the form of a unified Smartsheet tool, which replaced dozens of disjointed spreadsheets and intake forms. With it, every department could access real-time project status, reducing duplication, confusion, and excess costs during customer onboarding.
What’s more, the Mavendog team helped drive change management from the inside. By mapping influence networks and identifying internal champions, they helped the PMO gain traction even with initially skeptical teams. Souza added, “there was some contention between internal teams, with a bit of ‘us versus them.’ Having Mavendog come in as a neutral third party allowed us to see both sides and work in a different capacity than they could achieve on their own.”
Results That Made an Impression
The impact was immediate and measurable.
- Operational efficiency soared, with faster, less costly customer onboarding and clearer roles across departments.
- Customer experience improved dramatically as clients no longer had to repeat information or chase status updates.
- Open enrollment execution exceeded expectations: 95% of clients were live by deadline, and 100% completed enrollment within one month.
The PMO was not a static structure. Mavendog delivered it as a scalable proof of concept, designed to evolve with the firm’s continued growth and maturity.
“This is the kind of work we built Mavendog to do,” said Jon Vordermark, Mavendog president and founder. “We don’t just provide project managers. We provide experienced, independent leaders who can step into complex situations, build trust quickly, and deliver frameworks that last. Pam and Liz exemplified that.”
Why It Matters
For business leaders wrestling with growth bottlenecks, the takeaway is clear: operational gaps won’t close themselves, and hiring a full-time PMO team isn’t always the answer. Independent project leadership, delivered with precision and flexibility, can drive meaningful results without the cost of traditional consulting or the overhead of permanent staff.
“This wasn’t about forcing change,” said Souza. “It was about creating clarity. Once teams saw how the new PMO made their jobs easier, they ran with it.”
Today, the client has extended Mavendog’s engagement and invested in further enhancements to the PMO and onboarding toolkit. It’s a clear signal that the model works and that Mavendog delivered far more than a short-term fix.
Want to see how scalable project leadership really works?
This 5-minute read shows how Mavendog helped one firm fix onboarding, streamline operations, and exceed open enrollment goals… all with our independent consultants leading the charge.