BDG Operations — From scattered workflows to a connected education operations systemHow I helped Business Development Group structure CRM workflows, internal tools, reporting and AI-assisted product operations for a growing education business.

Business Development Group needed a more connected way to run education operations — leads, course launches, sales follow-ups, reporting and internal workflows all lived in different places. I led the product and UX direction behind BDG's internal operating system, designing how people, information and tools should work together — then used CRM implementation, workflow automation and AI-assisted tooling to bring that design to life.

As BDG scaled its courses, corporate education programs and digital initiatives, daily operations became more complex. Marketing, sales, admissions, trainers and management all needed better visibility into leads, course progress, follow-ups and internal responsibilities. The real challenge wasn't picking a CRM — it was designing the product logic and information architecture that would let the whole organization work as one system.

Before the redesign, several parts of the workflow were disconnected. Leads came from different channels, follow-ups depended heavily on manual reminders, reporting required extra coordination, and teams did not always have one shared view of what was happening.

I owned product direction for the system — mapping existing workflows, designing the information architecture behind CRM pipelines, translating business needs into clear product logic, and leading cross-functional adoption across sales, admissions, marketing and operations. This was UX work as much as operations work: the 'users' were internal teams, and the goal was a system people would actually want to use. AI-assisted tooling supported the build, but the core of the role was product and UX leadership.

Team

Project Manager, Operations

Timeline

01.03.2026 — 07.05.2026

Tools

Bitrix24, AI tools, Claude, Internal dashboards, Documentation

• —Active operations could not stop during implementation.
• —Different teams had different workflows and expectations.
• —The CRM had to support both B2C and B2B education flows.
• —The system needed to be practical for non-technical team members.
• —Automation had to reduce work, not create more complexity.

The result was a connected internal product, not just a configured CRM: pipeline design, automated follow-ups, task flows, reporting dashboards and AI-assisted tooling working as one system. Instead of scattered processes, BDG's teams gained a shared structure for managing leads, course operations, internal responsibilities and product-driven growth initiatives.

• CRM pipelines
• Automated follow-ups
• Reporting dashboards
• Internal AI tools
• Operational documentation

Although this was an internal operations project, I treated it like any other product: the users were internal teams — sales, admissions, marketing, support, trainers and leadership — and the system had to earn their trust the same way a customer-facing product would. Every pipeline stage, dashboard and automation rule was a UX decision about what someone should see, do or decide next.

• —Clear pipeline stages for different education workflows.
• —Reduced ambiguity around lead status and ownership.
• —More visible next steps for follow-ups and tasks.
• —Dashboards that made operational status easier to understand at a glance.
• —Internal tools designed around how teams actually worked, not abstract process diagrams.

The system gave BDG's teams a shared, legible way to manage leads, follow-ups and course operations — replacing scattered manual coordination with one connected structure. It also left BDG with a reusable product foundation: the same pipeline logic, automation patterns and AI-assisted tooling can extend to new programs and teams as the education business grows.

• This project reinforced that internal tools succeed when they are designed like real products. A CRM is not just software configuration — it is a product experience for the team.
• The biggest lesson was that automation only creates value when the underlying workflow is clear. Before adding AI or automation, the team needs shared logic, simple ownership and a system people can actually use.