Introducing Builders of Better | Saritasa’s Rebranding Journey

This year, we launched a rebrand of Saritasa to better capture our mission, vision, and values. The results have exceeded our expectations, documenting what makes our organization great and delivering a cohesive message about what we do. In this article, we share the journey we took to arrive at our new brand and explain what makes us Builders of Better.

How We Arrived to Builders of Better

A rebrand is no small task. Our old brand was fine, but we believed an update could better appeal to our target market and refocus our internal culture in a post-COVID world. We didn’t seek to radically change everything about ourselves, but rather to understand what worked (and what didn’t), and emphasize the best parts of our organization and culture.

Step One: Interviews & Data Collection

The process started with interviews. We interviewed our leadership, various members of every team, and clients. We talked with clients who’ve worked with us for years to understand what attracted them to us and why they’ve stayed. Our team shared what it is about Saritasa that makes them eager to go to work every day. Understanding these reflections pointed us in the direction of what is authentic about Saritasa – not just what we want to be but amplifying what we already do well.

Step Two: Building a Foundation

From there, we took those comments, identified the common themes, documented them, and created a framework for our new brand. This required taking a hard look at the market we operate in and aligning on the key differentiators that set us apart. Thankfully, the client and employee interviews provided first-hand insights to lead the way. We re-established our mission statement and ensured it flowed down through every aspect of the brand.

Step 3: Creating a Verbal Identity

Words are powerful tools that evoke strong emotions, communicate complex concepts, and help us make sense of the world around us. Any good brand needs a strong verbal identity that customers and employees recognize and identify with. We adopted the 5 P’s (Purpose, Position, Principle, Pillars, and Personality) as a framework to communicate our mission, vision, and values. A large part of this was creating a marketable, easy-to-remember tagline that effectively communicates the essence of our organization. “Builders of Better” captures the visionary, problem-solving, optimistic sense of adventure and excellence our team delivers to our clients every day.

Step 4: Designing a Visual Identity

The visuals are typically the first thing people think of when they hear the term “brand”. We wanted to elevate our visuals to match our new identity – clean, modern, and bold – while keeping true to our foundation. This came in the form of a subtle logo redesign, expanded color palette, and enhanced visual elements to give our brand a cohesive and innovative look.

Step 5: Putting the Pieces Together

Once we have the building blocks locked down, we got to work piecing them together in new, exciting ways. The biggest undertaking was redesigning our website, the biggest external demonstration of our new brand. No page was left untouched. This also included our proposals, newsletters, emails, signatures, and so much more. We’re still updating things to this day, and likely will be for years to come. After all, a brand should be a living thing that evolves along with the needs of the organization.

What a Builder of Better Does

So far we’ve explained our story and how we arrived at our new brand. But what exactly does a Builder of Better do?

Intentional Implementation

For technology to be useful, it must be intentional, and above all, it must work. Technology is a tool, but it is not one size fits all. First, we understand the problem and then apply technology to solve it. This means we don’t chase the newest, shiniest technologies just because. Our team carefully evaluates the technologies for usefulness, longevity, and purpose. We focus on the application of proven, modern technologies. We want to feel confident our solutions are well-supported and designed to last.

A Focus on ROI

Technology of any kind is an investment. Likely, you won’t see any return for the first several months (to years, depending on the project), which can be disheartening, especially given how intangible the development process is. This is why we focus on aligning with your goals and fostering a sense of project ownership, so our team is as invested in your success as you are. As Claudia Keefer from Premier Food Safety said “They…care about the specific client and their needs and they’re not just looking to serve cookie-cutter solutions just to everybody.“ We make decisions with a sustainable return on investment in mind and ensure the effort reflects the results you see.

Earned Trust

The software development process is intangible. You won’t have any actual, functional product until the very end, which means that our relationship needs a high degree of trust to succeed. We approach every engagement with a commitment to integrity and business ethics to build that trust through both our words and actions. “It goes a long way when someone’s willing to work as hard as you are and they don’t technically work for your company. It says a lot about the culture of that place,” said Scott Blindt of Winegard. We aim to communicate transparently, take accountability, and deliver reliably.

What Builders of Better Means

Technology has empowered us to do incredible things. Now, it is everywhere, in every building, used across every industry, and critical to every job, with no signs of slowing down. It was just over 30 years ago that the internet changed everything about how we interact, learn, and work. Since then technology, and software specifically, has become pervasive in every part of our lives, revolutionizing some industries and dismantling others completely.

In the wake of this progress, businesses are forced to adapt. Some embrace these changes eagerly, investing heavily in the Next Big Thing to give them a leg up over their competition. Others are dragged kicking and screaming into the digital era. Either way, one truth has become universal: embrace technology, or fall behind.

Technology doesn’t exist for the sake of technology, but as a tool for people to use to improve their lives. We believe the role of custom software is to better accommodate the specific needs of people. It should make their jobs easier, their businesses more productive, and their results more profitable.

But not every new technology is as revolutionary as its supporters may claim. And any new technology comes with a host of questions, requiring skilled experts to implement. So how do people find the right approach for themselves and their businesses?

For businesses to make the most of technology, they need the knowledge, skills, and experience of an expert. Choosing the right technologies and implementing them correctly requires a combination of insightful strategy, intentional design, and resourceful development.

A Builder of Better recognizes the potential of technology and seeks to apply it as a solution to complex business problems.

We are Builders of Better

This exercise gave us a chance to think deeply about what we do and where our value lies. It allowed us to examine our strengths and weaknesses, and re-examine what Saritasa means to us and our clients. And, most importantly, it gave us a rallying cry to stand behind, that we are Builders of Better.