Reflection: Visualization Tool

Challenge

I work for a Fintech company in Peru, which provides financial services to the population that is poorly  served or not served by traditional banks. We do this from our web platform and mobile app through  which people apply for a loan, are evaluated online and if approved, the money is disbursed to them.  We partner with some traditional financial companies to offer them our platform as a digital online loan  origination service (software as a service). The challenge: to reach an agreement with a financial  company to offer them our service; this company knows very little about customer acquisition digitally  and sees my company more as a competitor than as a business partner. In addition, our audience was  made up of people with different backgrounds.

Selection

Visualization is a powerful tool through which we can present an idea or approach a problem in a  graphic way and allows us to show our audience how we think, improve our idea with the information  people bring us, evidence the connections we see and reach an agreement and consensus with people.

Visualization Tool Video Lecture References:

o  (0:19 – 0:26) “The visualization is a really core component of the way that we communicate, whether  we're aware of it or not”.  o  (0:33 – 0:42) “We're actually doing extrapolation. We're doing inductive reasoning. We're thinking about  possibilities that we haven't yet seen”.  o  (1:08 – 1:11) “It allows us to think in a nonverbal way”.  o  (2:26 – 2:31) “The beauty of using visualization is that we can tap into a single picture”.  o  (2:31 – 2:51) “The more you begin to use pictures, the more that you begin to diagram while you talk, and  create a visual image for people of how you are thinking. Then, the more likely you are to achieve a sense  of agreement and consensus with people”.  o  (2:56 – 3:03) “solve problems is dependent on other people being able to understand you and align their  ideas with yours”.  o  (3:11 – 3:22) “Thinking visually are really just mastering some basic elements of imagining people, spaces,  situations and actions or movements”.  o  (5:03 – 5:08) “pattern finding, that's where we start to think visually”.

I selected the visualization tool because by drawing on a whiteboard or a blank paper it allows people to  focus their attention on an idea or problem that we want to cover and involves them in its development.  We start from scratch with everyone on the same page, including in our drawing the information they  provide us with regards to the problem domain and showing to them that we don’t have a fixed idea  and are willing to enrich and improve it, whereby a shared understanding of the idea or the problem is  reached. Several benefits are obtained with this tool: empathy by trying to understand people and  reaching a sense of agreement and consensus with them, clarity by aligning what people think about an  idea, and creativity by inducing pattern searching and the discovery of new possibilities.

Application

After an open conversation with the participants, we began to ask for some details and terms they told  us and we didn’t understand. We perceived a lack of context and didn’t see clearly the interaction of the  customer with the areas involved and among them. So, I asked them the steps the customer goes  through the loan origination process (what is) and divided the whiteboard into those steps. Then, I  asked them what happens at each step, what the customer or the person who serves the customer  does. For each step I asked and placed the following on the drawing:

•  The name of the key activity of the step, for example: loan application, risk assessment.  •  The customer represented by an icon (if participating in the step) and below it the documents  (with an icon) or key information needed, for example: identity document, proof of income.  •  The customer service representative represented by an icon and below it on the left side the  key tasks (with an icon) performed in the step and on the right side the documents (with an  icon) or key information generated in the step.  •  A thick arrow that directed the dependency or derivation to another area.  •  The person who works in the derived area represented by an icon (if participating in the step)  and below it, on the left side the documents (with an icon) or key information used whether  internal, third party or provided by customer; on the center the key tasks (with an icon) in the  step and on the right side the documents (with an icon) or key information generated.  •  If information from one area is used by another area, then it was connected with a thin arrow.  •  For business lingo, I asked were related to: activity, task or key information to write it next to it.

This way, we composed step by step what the customer goes through the different areas involved.  Then, we included: the step lead time, some arrows to show patterns or connections, underline or  question marks at points where we suspected or they indicated concerns or limitations. First  achievement: the diagram put them into context and was accepted by the participants.

After that, when asked them about certain steps, tasks, and information, topics such as redundancy of  information, tasks, lack of clear roles and interactions with the customer began to be visible. Starting  from these, we guided the participants to think on solutions with questions like: what do we think would  improve the customer experience? or what can we simplify from what we do today? We began to think  on alternatives such as splitting the risk assessment in 2 steps which would allow the customer to  provide less information at the beginning of the process to quickly know whether or not he or she  qualifies for a loan. Second achievement: these gaps motivated them to think on alternatives toward a  new digital loan origination process (what if).

Insight

I realized that the challenge went beyond improving the customer experience of the partner company;  to achieve this was needed to create the capabilities that they lacked and this in turn also implied the  change of some paradigms, such as to change a paper signed contract to an electronically signed one.  This allowed me to have a better visibility about the challenge and therefore how to better manage the  expectations when deepening and agreeing on the scope of the solution, the risks and costs. Regarding  design thinking more broadly, the visualization tool along with curiosity (knowing what and when to ask)  allows you to tackle a design problem and its implications in a holistic and effective way.

Approach

Next time I might apply the following 2 tools: journey mapping and value chain analysis; because each  tool allows us to focus and deepen aspects of the challenge. For example: With journey mapping we can  deepen the evaluation of the current experience through the customer's eyes, identifying more broadly  his or her pain points. With value chain analysis we can deepen the evaluation of the current processes  that supports the current experience, recognizing from the beginning the capabilities that the partner  company lacks to then identify who could provide them.

