What does it take to operationalize a big idea across an organization?
That’s something I think about a lot. Changing how people work is never easy, whether you’re implementing a new technology, embracing a hybrid work model, or—in this case—making a new internal initiative stick.
At Stellix, we wanted to improve at showing the real-world value we create for our customers. Not just with a one-off story or a presentation slide shared at a quarterly meeting. But in a way that’s consistent, measurable, and connected to how we work every day.
So, we created the Value Impact Program (VIP), a company-wide initiative that identifies, tracks, and celebrates the measurable business outcomes we help our customers achieve.
Here’s a peek behind the scenes at the making of VIP—from the big-picture objectives to how we’re operationalizing it across people, processes, and technology. It’s a look at the tremendous amount of planning, effort, and commitment required for any initiative that asks a team to change behaviors and habits.
It’s still a work in progress. But even early on, VIP is helping us make our impact visible.
Inside the Value Impact Program
VIP is a way to capture the value we’re creating. Rather than assuming the value of our work speaks for itself, we’re collecting real-world examples of how Stellix’s expertise translates into operational wins, financial returns, and strategic progress for our customers. These stories highlight efficiency gains, cost savings, risk reduction, faster timelines, and better decision-making enabled by our work.
Every story we gather becomes part of a shared library that helps us:
- See the bigger picture of our impact
- Communicate our value more clearly
- Strengthen our customer relationships
- Build a more connected, value-driven culture
Highlighting the True Value of Our Work
At Stellix, we’re laser-focused on the details—and for a good reason. Because the success or failure of critical initiatives often comes down to a series of micro-decisions made in the day-to-day.
But it’s just as essential to keep an eye on the big picture.
Why was a particular project kicked off in the first place? What business goal did it support? How did it help our customer serve their customers?
Our customers are doing vital work—developing life-saving therapies, building clean energy infrastructure, manufacturing essential goods. Helping them achieve those goals is why we do what we do.
With VIP, we can trace the line between what we accomplish and how it contributes to people and communities worldwide—and there is such power in that.
Supporting Customer Retention and Acquisition
By nature, our highly technical work tends to take place behind the scenes. It’s not flashy. It doesn’t always grab attention at first glance. That means the benefits aren’t always easy for customers to see. The real value is making the technology work inside our customers' enterprises and helping them deliver on their business outcomes with our adoption and consumption services.
VIP helps bring that value to light.
By capturing real-world stories and sharing them, both internally and externally, we make the results of what we do more tangible and more visible. There will always be aspects of our work that traditional ROI doesn’t fully capture, but when we can draw a clear line between our efforts and measurable results, we should.
Our sales and marketing teams can then communicate that information outside the company, strengthening long-term customer relationships while opening the door to new ones. It’s easier to have meaningful discussions and build lasting trust when you can point to proven value.
Embedding a Culture of Value
Customer-centricity is part of our DNA. It shapes how our systems are designed, how our teams are aligned, and how we scale the kind of partnership that leads to real value.
VIP is one way we’re operationalizing customer-centricity. It isn’t a one-time initiative or a talking point at a shareholder meeting. It’s a continuous effort we’re investing in as a company and with our employees—and in doing so, we’re building new habits across the organization:
- Thinking about value in everyday work
- Recognizing the impact of even small achievements
- Bringing customer wins into our internal (and external) conversations
That shift builds momentum. When employees see how their work directly contributes to a customer’s success, it fuels pride, purpose, and performance.
Operationalizing the VIP Program
We’ve worked hard to evolve VIP from a concept into a proper system that incentivizes employees to share their stories. Here are a few of the changes we’ve made to operationalize the program internally:
- We created a centralized portal with a short, simple form for team members to submit value stories.
- We developed a process to vet and evolve stories into meaningful business impact (experience, technical, operational, business).
- We began incorporating value discussions into meetings and one-on-one conversations.
- We launched an internal recognition program to spotlight and reward employees and teams who are contributing high-impact stories.
- We’re committed to iterating the program as we go—listening, refining, and improving regularly.
- We are not done and this work has not been easy and we are learning together what works and what needs more improvement.
Capturing Value—One Story at a Time
We’ve already captured dozens of stories that highlight the value we’re creating for Stellix customers.
For a global diabetes and chronic disease life science company, we enhanced platform operations to support a 25% year-over-year production increase, enabling the customer to hit aggressive revenue targets.
At a newly commissioned LNG plant in New England, we helped identify and enable the repair of leaking nitrogen and refrigerant relief valves before the next run, resulting in a savings of over $200,000 in operating costs for the customer.
For a New York materials company, our end-to-end support enabled us to resolve a critical automation issue, allowing the customer to avoid costly delays and achieve an on-time startup.
Each of these stories began the same way: with a team providing significant value. VIP is our way of making that value seen, felt, and heard. I’m proud to say that Stellix is a company where customers feel the impact of our work—and where our team knows just how much that work matters.
