Challenge:

I manage the team responsible for maintianing digital channels for the Corporate  customers. One of the responsbilities/ challenges is to monitor and increase the  digital activation of the users which have been onboarded. This also includes  creating new digital product offering advantage to the sales team which in turn help  increase the customer base. Although several new features have been introduced  from time to time during the FY and impetus provided to teams, the digital usage %  did not show a significant growth.

Hence, an initiative/challenge was taken to contemplate the current processes and  offering and identify small solutions or issues which would be designed or rectified to  achieve the desired growth. This included not only the core team( my team) but also  representatives from the other teams i.e. IT, Operations – CMS and Accounts,  Customer service, Compliance, Risk, Analytics, Process Automation etc to carry out  the “design thinking”.  We shall call the team as “Task Team”.

Selection:

The activities and tools are used in various shapes and forms in the organisation,  however, utilising it as a scientific process was a more structured approach that was  adopted by our team. Story Telling would provide a more organised process to derive  the thoughts of the various stakeholders rather than an isolated decision. The  process involves detailed description of the current processes from different  stakeholders to deduce the various reasons of reduced digital adoption. The stories  and solutions that stakehoders would present as part of the technique would help  understand different challenges and arrive at a solution which would help resolve a  larger “hidden or unknown” issue in a legacy core product ideation.

Application:

We started the process by generating the data with the help of IT, Operations,  Customer Service and Analytics team on the channel usage, features, customer  queries, various Turn-around-Time etc with a YoY comparison. The data was  presented to the complete Task Team to understand, introspect and provide their  first insights. This was also provided with the objective of the initiative so that they  can provide options on the same.

We as a core team discussed the complete current processes and details with each  team during the consecutive weeks and recorded the options and issues presented  by each team. The initial mapping chart was created which projected the various  processes by the Task Team, had multiple branches and plans to achieve the goal.  This chart also comprised of the customer journeys drawn by the core team.

During the next weeks the teams were brought together through Video and Audio  conferencing and emails (considering logistic challenges) and focussed on having  more clarity on the current practices, creating set of actions and setting up priorities  for them. IT and Automation teams were key factors here  to confirm of technical  feasibility to give the complete process a meaningful signoff. The mapping chart  emerged more meaningfully as a final process with some new and cognitive thinking  from different mindset stakeholders.

Insight:

Carrying out the complete diagnosis of the current issue i.e. increse digital activity in  the channels independently (only by core team) may lead to a thought process which  would be contrained by “like minded” thought process or missing out on features  during product development. This would also increase cost of the development and  further delay in the achievement of the objective.

Implementing the Story Telling process not only changed our initial thought process  but also enabled identification and brought insights from other people of the Task  Team to create multiple smaller changes internally which would impact to the overall  experience of the users. Lack of bandwidth, recognition of work, dependence on  manual acivity and documentation emerged as challenges in current internal  processes (derived from the stories of the individual stekeholders) which presented  opprtunity to automate processes and create better internal working conditions. This  in turn also presented better customer delivery standards and support for sales  teams to have better contactability with users and increase usage.

This process also helped in re-designing small components of the current product  offering and internal processes to carry out test with users rather than a complete  overhaul. These small changes were easier to develop, implement and test with  internal teams and consumers that a larger product change evaluated.

The ideas were presented to the management and internal sales teams, which were  appreciated and some of which were put up as strategic projects of the organisations  digital strategy for corporate customers. The implementtion of the ideas and  processes have been initiated for which we would be monitoring the results.

Approach:

Application	of	the	Story	Telling	tool	has	presented	new	opportunities	and	way	to	create	 ideas.	 	 Initial	 data	 and	 review	 of	 divergent	 thought	 process	 provided	 new	 ideas	 and	 designs	to	calibrate	current	product	and	create	new	processes.	The	results	could	have	 been	different	with	the	incorporation	of	customer	“mind	mapping“	tool	where	various	 internal	 teams	 and	 customer	 aspects	 could	 be	 captured	 and	 iterated.	 The	 customer	 mapping	could	be	combined	in	the	overall	process	to	have	deeper	insights	to	develop	 solutions	specifically	in	the	future	projects.		Since	the	current	design	outcomes	are	also	 being	 implemented	 at	 various	 stages,	 the	 learning	 from	 them	 would	 also	 be	 incorporated	to	retrospect	and	design	future	strategies.

