Case Studies

Organizations don’t just need new tools — they need alignment, readiness, and a clear path to adoption. Our case studies demonstrate how Trailhead Communications helps leaders deliver meaningful results by focusing on the people side of AI and change. From accelerating adoption to strengthening communication ecosystems, these examples illustrate the measurable impact of a human-centered approach.

CASE STUDY

AI Knowledge Assistant Transforms Seller Productivity

The Challenge
A global technology company’s sales teams were spending days or even weeks chasing down technical answers for customers. Success depended on “who you know,” not what you know — slowing sales cycles, frustrating sellers, and overloading engineers.

 

What We Did
Trailhead’s founder led the human-side strategy for launching an internal AI-powered knowledge assistant (RAG-style chatbot). Working closely with the technical team, she:

  • Embedded change expertise early in the development cycle

  • Activated an existing change champion network to gather pain points and shape requirements

  • Built the communications, training, and governance needed for trust and confident use

  • Helped design guardrails and accuracy expectations to ensure responsible adoption

  • Managed mindset shifts for both sellers and the engineers who previously fielded questions

 

The Impact

  • Grew from a few hundred users to ~5,000 users in six months

  • Resolved 90%+ of queries, often in minutes vs. days or weeks

  • Delivered $4M in estimated annual savings

  • Improved seller confidence and reduced onboarding time

  • Created the foundation for broader AI tools adopted across the organization

 

Why It Matters
Successful AI adoption isn’t just a launch plan — it’s culture, readiness, influence, and human trust-building. By pairing a strong technical solution with a comprehensive change strategy, this organization accelerated productivity, improved customer responsiveness, and reduced internal friction.

 

→ Read the full case study

CASE STUDY

AI Adoption in a Global Communications Organization

The Challenge
A small communications team was responsible for high-stakes internal communications reaching more than 5,000 employees worldwide. With constant transformations, tight deadlines, sensitive topics, and shrinking headcount, the team needed to produce more, faster, without sacrificing accuracy, nuance, or consistency.

 

What We Did
Trailhead’s founder led the communications organization through responsible AI adoption using an internal private large language model (LLM). She:

  • Identified safe, high-value use cases across drafting, synthesis, FAQs, and tailoring messages to different audiences

  • Set guardrails: human-owned drafts, mandatory fact-checking, and approval requirements

  • Guided employees through mindset shifts — addressing fears, privacy concerns, and skepticism

  • Modeled experimentation and created a culture where sharing learnings was normalized

  • Coached junior talent to use AI to stretch into more strategic work

  • Helped senior talent use AI to accelerate complex thinking, not replace it

 

The Impact

  • First drafts completed in minutes instead of hours

  • Greater consistency in tone, style, and message across programs

  • Faster responsiveness to leaders and stakeholders

  • Junior team member able to deliver work at a more senior level with coaching

  • Team able to do “more with less” during a period of layoffs and reduced capacity

  • Increased strategic bandwidth and reduced burnout

 

Why It Matters
AI didn’t replace communicators; it elevated them. With the right guardrails, coaching, and culture, AI became a catalyst for both productivity and human growth. This case study demonstrates how communications leaders can adopt AI in ways that strengthen trust, build capability, and scale impact responsibly.

 

→ Read the full case study

Every organization faces change.

Trailhead helps you navigate it with clarity, story, and purpose.