Farsighted Outsourcing Strategy Saves DXC USD 1.1M on Rebranding

Introduction

DXC is the world’s leading independent end-to-end IT services company, with over 170,000 employees in over 70 countries, serving some 6,000 clients.

DXC taps into global talent, powerful IT solutions, and an extensive partner network to help clients transform digitally and seize growth opportunities.

The Challenge

In April 2017, Hewlett Packard’s (HP) Enterprise Services Business and the Computer Science Corporation (CSC) completed a merger that gave birth to DXC Technology (DXC), a USD 26B IT services Giant. DXC was positioned to dominate the global market for IT Services.

Branding Groundwork

The emergence of DXC required the creation of a new brand identity to be applied to collateral of both CSC and HP.

Approximately 800 marketing assets needed rebranding. From the time the new DXC brand had been approved by the company, DXC’s marketing team had barely three weeks to complete the rebranding project. A successful rebranding effort meant that the:

• Entire process was cost-effective
• Project was completed on time
• Rebranded collateral were all up to quality standards

With limited time, DXC decided to look for external help.

“Push-Button” Mode

CSC, one of the merging parties, had options ready.

In June 2016, CSC had engaged StraightArrow in a number of pilot projects designed to evaluate the latter’s capabilities as a creative services provider. The main projects were:

1. Event collateral design – designing a number of event banners following CSC’s branding guidelines.
2. Document layouts – laying out a proposal in Word referencing a template provided.

Completing the pilot projects allowed CSC to gauge StraightArrow’s capabilities, workflow, and communication process. In the end, CSC concluded that StraightArrow could deliver results that met expectations.

In the following months, CSC opened a purchase order (PO) with StraightArrow for work they were expecting later in the year. The setup of the purchase order in CSC’s system involved agreeing on standard rates, payment terms, confidentiality and non-disclosure, and reporting requirements. This would allow StraightArrow to start delivering services for CSC when needed.

That opportunity came with the merger. When CSC needed StraightArrow’s help, all it needed to do was to push a button.

Obstacles

StraightArrow was not the only team at work on the rebranding project. Two other teams worked under the supervision of DXC: a London-based design firm and an internal design team based in India.

As the teams began working, issues and challenges began to surface. Everyone strained under the sheer volume of work.

The design agency that developed the DXC brand was still working on some of its finer elements when the rebranding project was launched. As a result, the design teams needed to use their best judgement in rebranding a number of marketing assets.

Solutions

Fortunately, completing a number of pilot projects for CSC meant that StraightArrow’s creative designers had collaborated with members of CSC’s team and had a basic understanding of their workflows.

With the PO already set up, StraightArrow moved quickly to review the pilot project learnings and walk through the CSC workflow. With the processes in place, the team was ready to turn around jobs as soon as the job items were available.

Rebranding Machine

The StraightArrow-DXC teams worked like a well-oiled machine. Using Workfront, a project management platform, DXC would mark jobs ready for processing. StraightArrow’s team leaders would then tag these jobs and assign them to their team members.

The platform helped keep track of progress.

As an investment in long-term efficiency and cost-effectiveness, StraightArrow documented the rebranding process internally from the time team leaders first touched the jobs to the time deliverables were accepted by DXC. This process was reviewed, refined, and optimized throughout the project.

Using these processes, StraightArrow mobilized four different creative design teams to keep the process running 16 hours or more every day for three consecutive weeks.

Meanwhile, DXC managed the project as if all parties were part of one team. They were quick to respond to questions. The lines of communication were always open and information moved quickly and smoothly.

Issues were constantly being smoked out and addressed and everyone was focused on the successful completion of the project.

Results

Success

CSC’s foresight and strategic approach to vendor partnership made this collaboration possible. All in all, a total of 844 jobs of varying complexity were received by StraightArrow:

• The team rebranded and delivered a total of 756 assets in 2017: 422 by March 21 and 334 more by March 27.
• StraightArrow identified around 70 assets in eight foreign languages that had to be routed through a translator.
• There were 184 jobs that required the creation of new assets.
• StraightArrow was able to help DXC save USD 1.1M in design fees by the end of the project.

About StraightArrow

StraightArrow is the pioneer of creative process outsourcing in the Philippines. We provide efficient, reliable and scalable creative and marketing support to
digital agencies and creative teams around the world.

Since 2010, we’ve tested and refined our approach, learning from our partnerships with HubSpot, Google, and the IBPAP, and from our collaboration with clients. We take pride in supporting industry leaders like Sprinklr,
iProspect, Reed Business Information and LexisNexis UK. We bring together award-winning creativity, technological capability, information security and operational systems and processes that translate our clients’ strategies and ideas into campaigns, marketing collateral and other creative work. At StraightArrow, we showcase the skill and creativity of Filipinos.

We create for the world.

Create for the World with StraightArrow

Be prepared to activate an enterprise-grade outsourced creative team. Get to “push-button mode” by working on a risk-free pilot project with StraightArrow.