Name: Angel Fatima

Design Thinking for Innovation - Assignment

Challenge:

I will use the storytelling tool because it is easy to get the listener engaged especially when the story  resonates with him or her.

The organization I used to work for before now was not doing well in the marketplace as there was high  customer attrition, revenue was going down and staff morale was very low.  I observed that the one of  the major customers’ touch point (The Mobile Application) was no longer meeting the needs of the  customers. Consequently, customers have started looking for alternatives.

The mobile banking application was epileptic as it was running on an obsolete infrastructure and code.  Once the number of logged on users reaches a certain threshold, the mobile application becomes  unresponsive. When customers consummate transactions, it is extremely slow and most times the  transactions are unsuccessful. For example, customers are unable to pay their utility bills on the mobile  application because of the epileptic nature of the mobile application. This led to huge customer  dissatisfaction, huge customer attrition and fall in transaction volume. All these contributed to downward  slide in revenue

I needed to look for ways to improve the bank’s bottom line and boost staff morale. Since we observed  issues with the mobile application, we quickly thought to re-create the mobile application with new  features, new codes and new look and feel. We went to the market and shop for some good software  engineers, Business analyst and project managers.

We looked at the existing application and started to think of what to change that will appeal to customers.  We identified the issues as

1. Instability  2. Unreliability  3. Does not meet the market needs

Once we have been able to identify the problems, we decided that in solving the problem we need to  have a unique value proposition that will make the mobile application stand out from others.

The team was put together and given the mandate to build a new mobile application with a unique value  proposition within a specific timeline. The team worked night and day and quickly developed a new mobile  application with the required value proposition. It came with a new feature that no Mobile application  has. This feature allowed customers to open their bank account on the go without visiting the bank  branch. This was new in the industry and no bank has deployed such. This value proposition worked for  the bank and quickly doubled its customer base and quadruple its transaction volume.

Selection:

The tool I selected for my challenge is storytelling. I chose storytelling because if you tell a story that  resonates with the listener, the listener will easily connect with the story. So in getting my team to realize  the current state is not helpful to us as an organization and a going concern, I needed to tell a story that

my team can easily relate with to drive home the point and get them thinking how to proffer solution to  the challenge at hand

Storytelling helps to keep the audience/team engaged. Once the team is engaged, it is easier to get the  team to do what you want them to. It makes it easier for them to understand your position and help in  providing solution to the issue at hand

Application:

I applied the storytelling tool in my project. I used it to show the current state of our business. I also used  it to show the next level of our business if we only apply ourselves to think outside the box. The bank was  losing its customers, revenue was dwindling, and staff morale was at its lowest. These were obvious in  their eyes and we need to do something quickly to save the bank

Insight:

By applying the storytelling tool, the team was able to quickly understand what is at stake. The team  followed the story and could relate with the story and this make it possible for them to build a solution  with a unique value proposition which helped to improve the revenue of the bank, increased its customer  base and improved staff morale.

Approach:

I have learned that storytelling is a very good tool to engage your audience. However, if I am to use the  same tool next time, I will ensure that that I get the audience to participate. By this I mean, I will get  someone among the listeners to also tell a story after we have analyzed the challenge. This will drive home  the point better and further get the listeners engaged because they will see that they are part of the  solution providers.

