"It’s a clean, safe view of where we’re trying to go."

– Lori Borden, Chief of Staff, OneDigital Financial Services

Lori Borden, Chief of Staff for the Financial Services division at OneDigital, oversees the business unit responsible for providing financial planning, retirement plans, and executive benefits to thousands of employers and individuals. The Financial Services division is one of OneDigital’s fastest growing and makes up more than 20% of the company’s revenue. Like many mid-sized organizations, their strategic planning process had grown increasingly complex, with siloed teams, overlapping initiatives, and a limited way to track priorities across the division.

Prior to Elate, the team cycled through a patchwork of tools. First OneNote, then a sprawling PowerPoint deck that ballooned to 400+ slides, updated manually each month by multiple leaders.

“Each team was doing the exact same thing—building their own slides and sometimes changing focus throughout the planning cycle. It was a challenge to tell what had changed or if we were actually moving the needle.”

While the PowerPoint deck created a central place to review plans, it lacked accountability, visibility, and structure. The result? Confusion and leadership frustration.

When Lori stepped into her Chief of Staff role in 2023, she recognized a need to shift from reactive reporting to purposeful planning. She began researching tools that could help elevate strategy from a monthly task into a continuous, organization-wide discipline.

“I started with the end goal of implementing a simple way to prioritize and communicate what we’re working on, consistently.”

After exploring various solutions, Lori discovered Elate. She signed up for the Pulse newsletter and, after viewing the demo, connected with the Elate team.

“It wasn’t just the technology. Every time I had a question, the Elate team was right there in the mix with me.”

Even so, it wasn’t a straight path to adoption. She vetted other tools—including Workboard—to satisfy vendor management requirements, but ultimately came back to Elate and presented a formal business case to her executive team.

“It was more than just evaluating features. I felt like I was putting my reputation at the company on the line. But I believed Elate was the right solution.” 

The tipping point came when Elate’s CEO, Brooks Busch, visited OneDigial in person to present the tool and take questions directly from the key stakeholders. In the room with Lori and Brooks were. OneDigital Financial Services President Vincent Morris and National Vice President, Retirement Solutions Frank Zugaro. 

“It was supposed to be 30 minutes. We were in the room for two and a half hours. Frank’s excitement was contagious and the desire to move ahead with Elate was soon shared by Vince.”

What clicked with leadership?

• Visibility into team priorities: “The Financial Services business is continuing to add people and teams—we needed one way to see the key priorities everyone is working on.”
• Clear ownership: Developing a process for ensuring that any new direction in strategy is vetted and approved before committing to new initiatives. 
• A break from the reporting hamster wheel: Providing leaders with a real-time system of record.

Still, there were internal hurdles, particularly from sales leaders who were hesitant to relinquish autonomy.

“We started out very entrepreneurial, where people had the freedom to do whatever they wanted. Gaining buy-in required helping sales leaders understand the new reality that standardization is part of a maturing business.”

OneDigital’s Financial Services division officially rolled out Elate in Q1 2025. Although still in its early stages of adoption, the shift is already noticeable.

“We finally have a golden record of what we said we’d do. Our plans are in place and there’s more clarity and accountability.”

Key Benefits:

• Time estimate reality check: The team realized quickly that what they’d planned for Q1 was more like a year’s worth of work. Elate helped them recalibrate.
• Faster planning cycles: Quarterly planning has become more realistic and grounded in team capacity.
• Ease of use: Elate was adopted quickly due to its ease of use.
• A sense of control: “Of all the places I spend my time, Elate is the one that makes me feel happy, in control, and gives me a reliable view of where we’re headed.”

They’ve also noticed cultural shifts: more operationally-minded leaders stepping into strategic conversations, and early signs that teams are beginning to think beyond their own silos.

While it's still early days, OneDigital's Financial Services team is already seeing tangible returns:

• Several hours/month saved per team lead by eliminating slide deck prep and redundant reporting
• 400+ slide deck replaced by a single, centralized source of truth
• Unrealistic goals exposed: A Q1 plan originally packed with a year’s worth of work was re-scoped after surfacing the mismatch
• Cultural shift in motion: Teams now prioritize together, rather than operating in silos

“Now that we’ve used it, it’s clear how we can better utilize our time and stay more focused on the highest priority areas.”