Kantata Feature Spotlight: How Adage Technologies Uncovered Hidden Project Risks with Kantata Pulse
Adage Technologies creates software, ecommerce, and AI web solutions for organizations that make a difference. As their portfolio grew, they needed a better way to monitor project health across teams and clients — beyond surface-level metrics like budget and timelines.
Using Kantata Pulse, Adage surfaces real-time sentiment data from delivery teams and clients that enables earlier intervention, healthier delivery, and stronger alignment — helping them mitigate project risks before they become issues.
The Strategic Imperative: Adage Needed a Way to See Project Health in Real Time — Not After the Fact
As Adage scaled its client base and project portfolio, leaders recognized a blind spot in how they assessed project success. Project data from Jira and financial tools told part of the story — velocity, hours, fees, margin — but didn’t reflect how teams and clients felt about the experience in the moment.
Adage relied on ad hoc surveys and post-project reviews to gather feedback — but by then, it was too late to act. NPS scores and client surveys came weeks or even months after delivery milestones, often disconnected from the real-time experience of the project. This lag meant valuable insights surfaced only in hindsight, leaving teams blindsided by misalignment they didn’t know existed.
By moving from away ad hoc NPS surveys that weren’t aligned to the cadence of delivery, Adage sought to:
- Embed sentiment checks into key project phases like discovery and planning
- Uncover misalignment early by layering subjective feedback on top of operational data
- Create a repeatable feedback loop that supports proactive delivery and client advocacy
- Identify training gaps, celebrate wins, and surface new opportunities for team growth and client expansion
“If I’d had Kantata Pulse on previous projects, I would have been able to not only validate some of the sentiment that was coming back to me from project team members in a more consistent and objective format, but also potentially steer those projects in a direction where the team didn’t feel the pressure for decisions they didn’t make.”
-Kyle Sandine, Associate Director of PMO and Delivery Center of Excellence, Adage Technologies
The Solution: Real-Time Sentiment Tracking Drives Earlier Interventions
Businesses like Adage use Kantata Pulse to capture timely, subjective feedback at key moments throughout the project lifecycle.
This feature provides several capabilities that enable efficient intercompany invoicing and internal revenue sharing.
- Use proven, pre-written questions designed for services orgs, which can be tailored as needed
- Send short, structured Pulse Checks throughout delivery — aligned to phases, milestones, or custom cadences
- Target multiple audiences with precision — internal team members, contractors, clients, or any mix
- Capture free-text responses that inform AI-driven summaries of project status and risks
- Surface Pulse scores alongside operational metrics like hours, tasks, and delivery status to give a more complete picture of project and portfolio health
“Now, with Kantata Pulse I can regularly ask every stakeholder — from devs to QA to the client — how they think things are going. When the feedback aligns, we know we’re on track. When it doesn’t, that’s our cue to act.”
-Kyle Sandine, Associate Director of PMO and Delivery Center of Excellence, Adage Technologies
The Process: Kantata Pulse is Embedded in Every Phase and Every Meeting
Kantata Pulse is now a regular part of Adage’s delivery workflow. The team automatically sends Pulse Checks at key delivery milestones, using the insights to guide internal discussions and make timely course corrections. Results are reviewed during project closeouts, helping Adage compare performance across different types of projects and delivery models. This ongoing feedback loop enables the team to build a scalable, repeatable rhythm — without adding friction to existing processes.
Adage’s new delivery rhythm includes:
- Pulse Checks scheduled at critical delivery phases like discovery, planning, and launch
- Distinct Pulse configurations for different roles — project managers. developers, QA, and clients
- Feedback reviewed in weekly meetings to identify risks or misalignment early
- Sentiment data factored into closeouts and used to baseline future projects
- Rates are updated for resources who have been promoted as part of promotion cycle
- Comparisons across project types and teams to inform delivery best practices
- Use sentiment insights to recognize standout team performance and match talent to future high-impact work
We’ve started incorporating sentiment scores into our closeouts. It helps us baseline different projects — by type, by size, by industry — and learn what works and what doesn’t.”
-Kyle Sandine, Associate Director of PMO and Delivery Center of Excellence, Adage Technologies
The Results: Kantata Pulse Drives Proactive Delivery at Adage
With Pulse, Adage no longer waits for red flags to appear in financials or postmortems. They act in real time — capturing how teams and clients experience delivery and using that data to intervene early, support struggling teams, and celebrate standout work.
This proactive approach empowers delivery leaders with the data they need to improve outcomes — and helps account managers identify when a client is a great candidate for advocacy. With better visibility into risk, satisfaction, and momentum, Adage can focus on building strong client relationships and delivering consistently great results.
Check out the full success story to learn more about how Kantata empowers Adage to keep performance on track, enabling the business to perform within 1% of their forecast from the beginning of the year to the end.
Kantata Pulse gives our account team real insight. When the data shows the client’s thrilled, we know it’s time to ask for a case study. If things are off track, we know to dig in fast.”
-Kyle Sandine, Associate Director of PMO and Delivery Center of Excellence, Adage Technologies