DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION- REFLECTION

TOOL SELECTED: Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

I opted for the tool of Visualization. Here’s how: I am in the ICT department in my organization. I  work as the organization’s first Data Analyst ever since its inception in the 70s. You may wonder how  this came about, how the job came up. In 2013, I was in an Industry placement programme, which  was a requirement in my programme of study that determined progression into my final year. I got  accepted at one of the country’s biggest insurance brokers and that felt like a big win. I joined the  ICT department as an attaché for a couple of months. My role there was not only to learn and adapt  to their processes, but also to add value to the company. This was challenging as I was wondering  how a young person could add value to such a huge established, part of a global company? I mean,  everything ICT related came from the global head office, so trying to implement something new  really must be impactful to the organization. I observed the processes over some a period of about  two months, and slowly studied client behaviour in telephone billing, printer usage, the highest and  lowest periods of demand and all. This is where it started. I then went to observing the pattern of  claims, loss ratio, customer retention strategy, and the whole company strategy. Guess what,  everything there was manual. It took ages to get the information one would be looking for,  therefore slowing down growth of the businesses.

Application

I sat down, presented a problem case in the form of a research paper, outlining how the business  has been performing, the problem at hand (which they did not notice could have been a problem  until presented). I then pitched to them the value of having data & analytics in an organization by  using a demo of their already existing data and then showed them how it can be insightful to the  organization. This was all done after my attachment with them. I outlined the steps that the  organization would need to take to make that possible: Centralizing data through the development  of a Data Warehouse; Digitization of 70%+ company processes; Migrating physical copies of  information to digital platforms; Formulating a concrete IT strategy that will guide implementation  and timelines of programme & finally; Developing a Business Intelligence solution that is integrated  with the data warehouse. A couple of excel data extracts were used to demonstrate how data can be  leveraged to improve businesses internally.

A consultant was to be contracted to help formulate the ICT digitization strategy that was to outline  the steps required to have a seamless transition, a data warehouse development and business  intelligence team to be roped in to develop them, and a change management plan was to be created  to help colleagues adapt to the new ICT processes. Other simple processes that came from data &  analytics was cross selling- initially, this process was over-thought, but the role helped management  come with easier ways of implementing it. For the Business Intelligence Solution and data  warehouse development, Requirements specification elicitation workshop was held by the consulted  with the organization’s different business units to get an in-depth understanding of their reporting.  A needs assessment was done to see what manual processes could be automated. System  requirements were outlined and purchase of a dedicated server for development was part of the

requirements. These were done post the company board of directors’ approval of the sponsorship.  As the development is ongoing, there are weekly project team updates, where both sides share  progress on their deliverables, and monthly progress update meetings to keep stakeholders of the  project up to date.

Insight & Approach

My takeaway from this project has highlighted the importance of keeping stakeholders updated on  every step of every project. This promotes ownership of what is happening and gives assurance that  the investment is worthwhile. Using the data they could relate to created a vivid picture in their  heads and helped them understand and appreciate the value of this investment even more. Forming  a relationship with all stakeholders makes it easier to facilitate the project and acquire the relevant  details well in time, which could be time saving. Initiating the whole project opened my eyes up to  wanting to do this for more organizations, especially SMMEs and start ups that have no idea where  they are headed or what they need to do to find their feet. I acted as an inhouse consultant and  made me aware of the skills I was not aware I had. In future, a well detailed implementation plan  will be prepared in advance so that I know what will need to be done and how. I will also insist on  having a dedicated team to the project to avoid project stalling.

Selecting this tool was not easy. I had to write up my scenario first to understand what kind of design  thinker I am and after reading it, I decided that story telling is my best bet. Though I see nothing  wrong with having to select one, I believe that a person can use different tools at once, long as it  sends out the message. There are times when I prefer to use mind-mapping, especially coming up  with policy type of writings, times where I must use visualization for my data & analytics, depending  on the people I am approaching. The ability to use the different tools is a superpower that should  not be taken for granted.

