It’s (not) magic: 500% faster time-to-market and 5 x more projects – with one2edit™, CoFS and Wizard.

The starting point: Operating systems, applications, server products, services, literature and games. It’s almost easier to list the areas where the world’s largest software manufacturer, Microsoft, is not active than those where it is. And that’s why the company produces a huge range of different packaging formats around the world.

For many years, the global production of Microsoft’s packaging was a lengthy and expensive process: Local requirements and other market-specific expectations had to be implemented and huge amounts of data – dozens of TB – had to be shared. The complexity of the content and the technical implementation often gave the responsible Microsoft departments and 22 external agencies reasons to sweat.

The task: To simplify and streamline processes for configuring market-specific packaging that is aligned with brand guidelines across five international locations.

The challenge: To develop a smart and easy-to-use solution that makes it possible to access the latest versions of files for creating print products from anywhere in the world.

The solution: Together with the design studio ASG Spark!, we developed Wizard. It’s an easy-to-use web-interface that gives users the power to configure packaging designs using a range of available options – in a way that makes sure all packaging is customized for the specific market and 100 % on-brand. With Wizard, we made the global production processes across four continents simpler, faster and more cost-effective, while also optimizing workflows and significantly reducing overheads.

The implementation: ASG Spark! defines and manages the options within Wizard, and also coordinates the entire adaptation process. Wizard uses the one2edit™ application programming interface (API) to edit InDesign documents and provide an up-to-date preview. Packaging is ready for production as soon as it has been configured with Wizard.

Our BRANDGUARDIAN® CoFS platform provided Microsoft and ASG Spark! with a virtual file system that enabled all users to access the latest versions of files at any time. It’s built on the BRANDGUARDIAN® MCT Media Collaboration Technology, and offers high-performance infrastructure for secure and fast data exchange across global digital production.