IT Assessment and Strategic Planning Services Enable a Leading Animation Studio Operate More Efficiently and Reduce Costs

Business Need

The film studio is one of the four business segments of a global multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in Burbank, California. It is best known for its multi-faceted film divisions and produces some of the best animation movies in the world.

To better serve customers across the world, the client was looking to reorganize and consolidate its North American and International businesses. However, it realized that merging the two entertainment companies would create several distinct challenges; consolidation of product development/product management business practices would not be easy – especially from a global process/IT perspective.

The client approached Synoptek to carry out an IT Assessment and receive an advance on how to strategically consolidate the two businesses to improve business efficiency and bring down operational costs.

Solution and Approach

Synoptek was selected as the partner for providing IT Assessment and Strategic Planning Services; however, there were several challenges that were encountered:

• The North American and International businesses had different and often incompatible product development and product management philosophies.
• The business practices – processes, systems, partnerships, etc. – were also different and incompatible in the context of globalizing the business model.
• For the consolidation project, 20+ unique systems were required to support the client’s specific product development – which enlarged the scope.
• The addition of new formats, distribution channels, and global release patterns made things worse, adding considerable complexity and performance risks.

Due to these challenges, it was imperative that the consolidation was done using globally integrated processes/systems and a large pool of resources. Synoptek also realized that improving existing processes and systems was a clear path to success.

Synoptek managed the overall implementation of a Global Product Development Program for the client. Our activities included:

• Assessment of current global IT infrastructure and supporting processes
• Development of a strategic plan and roadmap

Business Results

Using Synoptek’s IT Assessment and Strategic Planning Services, the client was able to quickly adapt to an increasingly challenging and dynamic business environment. It was able to operate more efficiently, reduce operating costs, and effectively bring products to markets worldwide.

Synoptek’s services also enabled the client to collaborate on accelerating global release management and enabled the parallel release of products in multiple markets around the country.