DEPT® — Winning the Work With AI

The Challenge: "The industry is asking for AI" 

Following multiple acquisitions, DEPT®’s development teams were spread across different tools for managing, collaborating on, and deploying code. To bring everything together, the agency partnered with Xebia and migrated to GitHub. Wesley Niels, Director Cloud EMEA at DEPT ®, adds: “With everyone on one platform, we get better knowledge sharing, clearer reporting, and one unified strategy instead of scattered requests.” 

Moving to GitHub also set the stage for the adoption of GitHub Copilot. “In our industry, the pressure to embrace AI is on. Agencies are already losing deals simply because they haven’t adopted it,” says Niels. He continues, “We are familiar with AI, and chose GitHub Copilot to add extra firepower to our AI-driven workflows, making it our primary coding assistant.” 

With hundreds of developers worldwide, DEPT ® turned to Xebia to roll out GitHub Copilot at scale, measure and maximize its impact from day one, and embed it into existing workflows without disruption. 

The Solution: "One platform, powered by AI"  

After consolidating multiple platforms onto GitHub Enterprise Cloud, Xebia turned to laying the groundwork for GitHub Copilot — beginning with onboarding DEPT® to its Managed Developer Platform to simplify license distribution and management. Jesse Houwing, Microsoft & GitHub Trainer at Xebia: "Since GitHub Copilot is now the agency’s default coding assistant tool, every GitHub user automatically receives a license. Activation happens through single sign-on, licenses are automatically revoked when employees leave, and costs are allocated by department and country."  

Xebia and DEPT® then kicked off Xebia's GitHub Copilot Adoption Framework, which includes: 

Beyond teaching people how to work with the technology, Xebia also serves as a strategic partner for DEPT®. Max Verhorst, EMEA Sales Leader Microsoft/GitHub at Xebia, adds: “This is where it gets exciting, and our expertise really comes into its own. Because what happens when you start working with AI? Will you work faster? How much faster? What new things will you be able to do that weren’t possible before? And how might AI change your operating model? These are the type of questions we explore together with our clients." 

The Outcome: "The technology and skills to win with AI"