1. Success Story
DSG international plc
Leading European electrical retailer turns to Adobe® Acrobat® Professional and Adobe
PDF for a streamlined, collaborative design and production workflow
DSG international plc DSG international plc (DSGi) is a leading European electrical retailer of consumer electronics
http://www.dsgiplc.com with operations in 27 countries. Through its well-known high street brands such as PC World,
Currys, currys.digital, and The TechGuys, it provides value to its customers through its range
Industry
and quality of products, competitive pricing, and high standards of service.
Retail
Challenges A job to be done
• Needed a strategic approach to Phil Speight is graphics production manager at DSGi headquarters. He and his team are responsible
software buying for the creative design and photography for point-of-sale materials, brochures, and press advertising
• Creation of a share and review used across the company’s retail brands. “We provide a service that is similar to a full service
process that works across remote creative agency,” Speight explains. “The copy comes from an internal marketing department but
locations
the rest is up to us.”
Solution
When the DSGi graphics production team began using Adobe Acrobat in earnest, they were
• Document collaboration
already committed fans of Adobe software having migrated to Adobe Creative Suite when Speight
DSG international turned to Adobe
Acrobat and Adobe PDF for its decided to standardise on software applications and versions across his teams. “I wanted to take a
design, review, and production strategic approach to software buying, with the decision based on what is best for the business both
workflow. today and in the future, rather than legacy or tradition being the rationale,” says Speight.
Results Speight has three studio managers, one each for brochures and literature, point of sale, and
• Eliminated potential downtime photographic. The team decided to move all three studios to Apple Mac OSX and Adobe
• Established a new professional and
Creative Suite, with Adobe Illustrator® CS, Adobe InDesign® CS, and Adobe Photoshop ® CS
efficient workflow
becoming the tools of their trade and Speight praising the tight integration among the Adobe
Systems At A Glance Creative Suite applications. The teams also work with 30 to 40 freelancers who have also started to
• Adobe Creative Suite. Components use Adobe Creative Suite. “Our previous graphics package was in a state of decline. Adobe
used include:
Creative Suite is the industry tool for today and the future. It is now much easier to find
• Adobe Acrobat Professional
freelancers and exchange illustrations and designs both in the U.K. and Europe,” says Speight.
• Adobe Reader®
• Adobe Illustrator A solution needed, fast
• Adobe Photoshop The Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and Adobe Acrobat were key decision factors as
• Adobe InDesign well. “We needed to start using an Adobe PDF workflow, creating and delivering print-ready files
• Platform: Apple Mac OSX whenever possible,” says Speight. But a devastating oil explosion at a major fuel depot opposite
DSGi’s headquarters acted as a catalyst for the team to use Adobe Acrobat more extensively.
Previously, point-of-sale briefs would be worked on face-to-face and in many cases this was no
longer possible. Speight needed to find a way to ensure that work continued as normal even
though the teams were now geographically dispersed.
Speight explains, “Many of the offices were inaccessible for some time and also suffered significant
water flooding due to the explosion. Several DSGi teams had to relocate to other premises. For
example, the Dixons’ Tax Free store team had to move several miles away which meant we had to
quickly find a new way to work with them.”

2. The graphics production team at DSG international plc
uses Adobe solutions to produce the point-of-sale
materials, brochures, and press advertising used
across the company’s retail brands. The team enjoys
the tight integration among the Adobe Creative Suite
applications and the streamlined workflow using
Adobe Acrobat and Adobe PDF which have become
the preferred tools of their trade.
“Overnight Adobe Acrobat Although Speight began testing Adobe Acrobat several months before the explosion, suddenly
became a mission critical the business benefits became very clear. “Overnight Adobe Acrobat became a mission critical
application, not just a better way of working,” says Speight.
application, not just a
better way of working.” The graphics production team all had access to Adobe Creative Suite and Adobe Acrobat but
Phil Speight, wanted to share artwork and receive comments from people who didn’t have these applications
Graphics production manager, on their desktops. Speight comments, “The fact that Adobe Reader could be downloaded in
DSG international plc minutes for free was fantastic.”
The team began using Adobe Acrobat Professional to enable reviewers to comment on materials using
the latest version of Adobe Reader software. Previously, reviewers needed the full version of Adobe
Acrobat software to participate in online reviews. Acrobat Professional removes this limitation
because now only the free Adobe Reader software is needed to add electronic comments to documents.
At DGSi, a brief for artwork now comes into the graphics production team electronically as a
Microsoft Word document. Once created in Adobe InDesign or Adobe Photoshop, the first draft
of artwork is then uploaded as an Adobe PDF file to a secure intranet site. Reviewers can then
download the PDF file, use Adobe Reader to make comments and mark-up changes, then upload
the Adobe PDF file back onto the intranet site for the creative team to collect and make the changes.
For More Information A better way of working
www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/ “Working this way has been very efficient. Although we aren’t able to meet our customers face-to-
face, they can quickly and easily articulate their thoughts about a piece of work,” says Speight.
As a result, the team will be rolling out the same process more extensively across the DSGi brands.
“We are already working this way with PC World in Ireland. I intend for the team to use Adobe
Acrobat more and more, especially as DSGi expands further into Europe and our internal clients
become more remote. There are DSGi retail brands from Iceland to Italy, and we will be providing
increased levels of support and co-coordinating activities from the U.K.,” he says.
“Adobe Acrobat and Adobe PDF provide a professional and efficient way to communicate across
separate sites. As we create artwork in specialist applications it has been difficult, and sometimes
impossible, to share work electronically,” says Speight. “However, Adobe PDF is a very stable file
format and Adobe Acrobat makes it easy to produce reliable, print-ready Adobe PDF files. Plus,
by creating a PDF with Adobe Acrobat, reviewers can open and, more importantly, review the
Better by Adobe.
™ document with the free Adobe Reader.”
Speight concludes, “Adobe software provides a one-stop-shop solution. We have the best creative tools
within Adobe Creative Suite and now, with Adobe Reader and Adobe PDF, our business workflow is
also sorted.”
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