Helios Medical Communications

Summary

From working with "frustrating disadvantages" to discovering a software "designed for what we do"

Situation

Based in England, Helios specializes in a range of coordinated services that include medical writing, meeting planning, external expert strategy and collaboration, creative branding and design, and medical education.

Helios opened its doors in 2015 as a small start-up. Being a project-based company that needed to track time and costs for each project, they used a spreadsheet to manage their projects.

Having quickly outgrown the capabilities of spreadsheets, Helios was operating at a frustrating disadvantage.

Financial Director Jim Heron explains: "fortunately for us, we experienced rapid growth right from the start. And, it got to the point that our business was so successful that it became increasingly difficult to manage projects using a spreadsheet. We needed a dedicated system to manage our projects." Having quickly outgrown the capabilities of spreadsheets, Helios was operating at a frustrating disadvantage until they found a solution that gave them more control over their data and the power to do more with it.

Solution

Jim and some other team members were already familiar with CMap and all its capabilities, so they knew CMap was specifically designed for project based companies. The news that the company was going to start using CMap caused quite a lot of excitement across the team.

In fact, CMap’s MedComms Edition was developed specifically for use in healthcare communications and life sciences consultancies like Helios. When they use CMap, Helios benefits from a single, integrated system that unites all their project data. It works the way they work and makes managing everything from job costing, to timesheets, resourcing, and project performance reporting a whole lot easier.

Results

The project teams at Helios experienced positive results immediately after CMap was fully implemented and integrated with QuickBooks.

With CMap in place project teams experience a powerful level of control over their projects. For the first time, they had one system that brings together all of their project data, from lead generation through to project completion. Workflows have become smoother thanks to CMap too.

"It certainly has made managing projects a lot more efficient. Our people can complete internal processes like job costing, recording their time, and resourcing much easier. Before CMap, if you asked key questions about projects, people would struggle to answer. It was difficult and time consuming to get the information. Now, all the answers are at our fingertips in customizable dashboards."

With CMap, project leaders can drill down into the data to see what resources are allocated to a project and how much time team members are spending on it - gaining immediate insight as to whether costs are aligned with the budget. Project leaders can then make better business decisions and act faster with greater confidence.

Ultimately, CMap is a perfect fit for Helios. Implementation went smoothly, users are happy, and Helios can continue to grow with a future-proofed system.

All content in this case study has been approved by the client. The views and opinions expressed are the client's alone.