Global multi-site WordPress platform
BUILT created a multi-site WordPress architecture for SYKES that gave more than 20 country websites one shared theme, plugin foundation, and editing system while allowing regional stakeholders to manage localized content independently.
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The problem
SYKES operated country websites across 23 countries, but the web platform had grown through separate WordPress installations using different themes, plugins, and implementation patterns. Visual consistency was difficult to maintain, technical updates had to be repeated site by site, and regional teams lacked one shared publishing foundation.
The response
BUILT created a shared WordPress architecture around the new SYKES design system, centralizing the theme, plugins, reusable components, and technical standards while giving stakeholders in LATAM, EMEA, Asia, and individual countries structured control over their own content.
Move country sites onto one shared theme and plugin foundation.
Turn the global design system into reusable WordPress components and ACF modules.
Give regional stakeholders structured control over their own country content.
Apply global design and technical improvements through one shared platform.
The platform
The architecture separated what needed to remain globally consistent from what regional teams needed to control locally. Shared code, design rules, and publishing patterns could stay aligned while each market maintained its own content.
01
Instead of maintaining separate themes and plugin combinations for more than 20 WordPress installations, the new architecture used a shared foundation so countries could operate from the same codebase, component system, and technical standards.
02
Stakeholders could manage localized messaging, market information, pages, and content while the shared component system controlled typography, spacing, responsive behavior, and the broader visual language.
03
Centralizing the theme and plugin foundation meant design-system changes and technical improvements no longer had to be recreated independently across every country implementation.
More of the system
The platform was designed around two requirements that had previously been difficult to reconcile: central brand governance and local content ownership.
Shared theme
The new SYKES visual system was implemented through one shared theme so typography, spacing, components, responsive behavior, and core interface patterns could remain consistent across countries.
Technical governance
Country sites moved away from independently selected plugin stacks and onto a shared technical foundation that could be maintained and improved centrally.
Regional publishing
Regional stakeholders could update the pages and information relevant to their markets through structured ACF fields without gaining control over fragile layout or design settings.
Reusable components
Common page patterns were built as reusable modules that could support different country needs while retaining the visual standards established by the global marketing team.
The work
The shared theme, plugin foundation, reusable modules, regional content controls, and country-site architecture were designed as one system for maintaining a global brand across independently managed markets.
Global consistency required one technical foundation, but regional teams still needed control over messaging and market-specific content. The architecture separated those responsibilities instead of forcing all publishing through one central team.
The marketing team’s new design language was implemented as reusable components and ACF modules so the rebrand could remain consistent across countries rather than becoming another set of independently interpreted themes.
Shared themes and technical standards meant improvements could be made at the platform level instead of being recreated separately across more than 20 country implementations.
BUILT designed and developed the WordPress architecture that turned the SYKES rebrand into a repeatable global publishing system, including shared code, regional editing controls, reusable components, and the transition away from independently maintained country implementations.
Instead of more than 20 country websites evolving independently, the new architecture gave SYKES one shared technical and design foundation while preserving the regional ownership needed to manage content across a global organization.
Start a conversation
Share how countries, regions, or business units currently manage content, which parts need global consistency, and where updates are being repeated across separate websites. BUILT can help create one shared platform without taking useful control away from local teams.
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