DXC Technology Aligns with Customer Priorities Using OKRs

Aligning a large organization with customer priorities can be challenging. But DXC Technology, a global IT services company, found a creative way to do just that - using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

In this case study, we'll explore how DXC Technology implemented OKRs to transform their relationship with a major client. We'll hear directly from DXC's account executive Karine Vanden Berghe and agile coach Cindy Schlaufmann on how OKRs helped their team become more connected to the customer's objectives, providing valuable insights for our collection of OKR Success Stories and Case Studies.

The Challenge: Revitalizing the Partnership

DXC Technology had been working with the client for over 18 years. They provided a remote team to support the customer's operations.

But the relationship had grown stale.

DXC wanted to revitalize the partnership. But how could they align better with this customer to demonstrate their commitment to joint innovation?

The Eureka Moment: Speaking the Language of OKRs

The game-changer came when the client showed Karine their OKR plan for the year.

As she describes:

"You have to be aware that at that moment, I hardly knew what OKRs were in those days. But that actually made a click in our mind. We wanted to get on the same train and speak OKRs."

DXC saw OKRs as the perfect tool to get re-aligned with the customer's objectives and strategy. As Cindy explained:

"Regarding the five benefits of OKRs, three of them caught our interest. The first alignment, because OKRs is a powerful tool for aligning everyone on shared objectives, ensuring that all team members are working toward common goals. For us, it means demonstrating to our clients that we are fully aligned with their strategy."

By adopting OKRs, DXC could visibly demonstrate to the client that they were committed to the same goals and priorities.

Speaking the same OKR language would allow them to collaborate in new ways.

Starting Small with a 3-Month OKR Cycle

DXC decided to dip their toes into OKRs by running a small pilot program.

The first step was training the account leadership team on OKRs:

"We planned one hour training sessions on our case. Yes, I know. Just one hour...The idea behind that was to start experiments with dockers. It's similar when you are traveling to a foreign country. You don't speak the language. You have a travel book, you know, with a page containing I would say the minimum sentences to speak the language." - Cindy

This "OKR survival guide" prepared the executives to have their first OKR workshops.

From there, they facilitated a 4-hour workshop to define their first Objective and 3 Key Results. To start, they aligned this first OKR to the client's annual OKRs.

Importantly, they decided to use a shorter 3-month OKR cadence for this pilot, rather than year-long OKRs. As Cindy explained:

"On our side, we decided to start on three-month cycles on tactical OKRs. So with three months, four cycle of three months."

This made the process more lightweight and provided learning cycles. After three months, they could reflect, adapt, and define new OKRs.

Reflecting on Key Learnings

After facilitating their first OKR cycle, the DXC team gathered to reflect on lessons learned:

1. OKRs require a mindset shift. As an IT services company, DXC was used to committing to 100% completion of objectives for clients. But OKRs encourage more ambitious "stretch" goals. This took some getting used to.
2. OKRs are about individual contributions. Usually, managers assign top-down objectives. But OKRs rely on people defining their own contributions. This was empowering but also unfamiliar.
3. Communication about OKRs was critical. Since the team worked across multiple countries, it was crucial to communicate about the pilot over their internal social network and in quarterly town halls. This kept everyone engaged.

These insights helped DXC shape their OKR program going forward.

Expanding OKRs Across the Account

Given the promise of the initial pilot, DXC decided to continue expanding OKRs across their account team.

As Karine explained:

"We felt very confident and as a team we wanted to go further with the OKR implementation in the account. So with that, we have decided to have our own account OKRs. So not the underpinning to the client ones anymore, but our own ones on top of the ones of the client."

The leadership defined 1-year Strategic OKRs for the account. Then each team created 3-month Tactical OKRs to ladder up and support the broader Strategic Objectives.

This gave them alignment across the organization while allowing for agility at the team level.

The Unexpected Outcome: Speaking the Customer's Language

When the customer visited DXC's delivery center, they saw firsthand how OKRs had created alignment with their priorities:

"What we saw in the team presentations clearly was unexpected. What we see It was OKRs. They used OKRs to explain how they contribute to the client's strategy. They used OKRs to explain the activities and involvement. What finally happened this day was that they spoke the same language as the client." - Cindy

Rather than talking about internal processes and capabilities, the teams explained their work in terms of advancing the customer's Objectives and Key Results.

This was a powerful moment of realization for both parties on how aligned they had become. The client also saw the innovative ways DXC was contributing to their business goals.

This was the real payoff from adopting OKRs - unlocking a new level of strategic partnership.

Key Takeaways from the DXC / Customer Journey

DXC's experience integrating OKRs to enhance their customer relationship yields some important insights:

• Start small, learn fast. Don't try to roll out OKRs across the huge team right away. Run small pilots for a "minimum viable OKR program" and build knowledge before scaling.
• Connect OKRs to cadence. Rhythms like quarterly town halls and annual retrospectives help reinforce the OKR cadence. Don't let it fade away.
• It's about transparent communication. With remote teams, use internal social networks,Slack, intranet, etc. to socialize OKRs. Make the program visible.
• Focus on customer objectives. Get clear on the customer's top goals. Then determine how your team's OKRs can directly advance those priorities.
• Adopt an agile mindset. Be ready to define ambitious objectives, adapt OKRs frequently, and welcome contributions from all team members.
• Speak the customer's language. When you internalize their OKRs, you can explain your work in their terms. This builds tighter strategic alignment.

Key Quotes

Here are some highlights from the presentation from DXC's Karine and Cindy:

"You have to be aware that at that moment, I hardly knew what OKRs were in those days. But that actually made a click in our mind. We wanted to get on the same train and speak OKRs."

"For us, it means demonstrating to our clients that we are fully aligned with their strategy. If they are going in this direction, we are right behind them, ready to contribute to their strategy."

"The first alignment, because OKRs is a powerful tool for aligning everyone on shared objectives, ensuring that all team members are working toward common goals."

"Given that they are, we are all working remotely for different countries as kind of just previously, unlike our kind, and we cannot put posts on the wall like OKRs everywhere. That's not possible. Therefore, improving communication was really crucial to make OKRs really transparent."

"What we saw in the team presentations clearly was unexpected. What we see It was OKRs. They used OKRs to explain how they contribute to the client's strategy. They used OKRs to explain the activities and involvement. What finally happened this day was that they spoke the same language as the client."

Conclusion

DXC Technology's journey with OKRs is an inspiring example of how aligning around objectives can reinvigorate a customer relationship.

By starting small, learning, and communicating often, they broke through legacy paradigms. Their account team became united around the customer's priorities.

Most impressively, DXC's team began speaking the language of the customer's Objectives and Key Results. They had truly internalized a strategic mindset.

Does your organization need to improve alignment with customers or partners? Consider an OKR pilot focused on their goals.

When done thoughtfully, OKRs can transform how you collaborate around shared objectives. The payoff can be game-changing.

What lessons from DXC's experience resonated most with you?