One of Canada’s most prominent IT players says its latest rebrand is much more than a logo swap.
“Our philosophy with this exercise was to rebrand from the inside out,” Justin Hane, the director of brand and communications for Softchoice told Channel Daily News. “Softchoice has grown incredibly and transformed over the past several years. We’re well-respected by our customers and partners. But we found the brand hadn’t kept up.”
Hane says the company has had the well-known components of a brand for years – a logo, mission statement and a social media presence. But like so many other channel partners fighting for visibility in a crowded market have realized over the past year, these disparate components, explained Hane, never really formed a strategic foundation that helped answer one important question: “Why would someone choose us?”
The answer to that question is partially answered by a new motto: “Success. Fully realized.” It means creating a buyer-aligned strategy, understanding buyer needs and supporting the complete buyer’s journey. But it also means not resting on the company’s laurels. As former NBA head coach Phil Jackson once said, “You’re only a success for the moment you complete a successful act.” To become a legend you have to do it again. And again. And again.
Softchoice oversees a lot of Microsoft business in Canada. The company is a Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Service Provider, Microsoft Cloud Service Provider (CSP), Licensing Solutions Partner (LSP), and Gold Certified Partner with 13 Microsoft competencies including Gold Cloud Platform and Gold Cloud Productivity. Last summer, Microsoft described Softchoice as a partner with a “strong practice” of quickly driving multi-cloud adoption of its solutions.
But Hane wants partners and customers to associate Softchoice with “success” not just when it comes to managing Azure. Softchoice is also in deep with tech partners like Google and Cisco. The new logo, he explains, reflects the “upward trajectory” that the company helps customers achieve.
No office, no problem
Softchoice’s rebrand has surged forward despite the fact that their office is out-of-bounds due to the pandemic that’s ushered in lockdown orders across the country.
Hane says most of their offices still sport the old Softchoice logo, and it’s unclear when they’ll be able to follow through with the original plan to swamp out the old signage with the new.
“We are fortunate that we’re a digital organization. At the moment, we’re working remotely, so some of the physical changes associated with the rebrand are not happening yet, but of course, the rebrand had to be rolled out and incorporated into the website and customer portals, as well as some internal portals,” he noted. “We want to make Softchoice the most recommended company.”