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Assignment - Design Thinking for Innovation

(Visualization)

Challenge:  My customer (XYZ Electronics) is into heavy electrical equipment such as transformers, electric boilers,  etc. XYZ Electronics was running a large digital transformation programme with the objective to enhance  the selling experience for their Sales force. One of the needs was to enable the Sales force (or XYZ account  managers) to showcase the premium that XYZ Electronics charge to their customers for their products.  XYZ Electronics provide certain services that other vendors in the same industry doesn’t offer and hence  they charge a premium on their products. But, it becomes difficult for the XYZ account managers to justify  this premium as they did not have any well-defined calculating or tracking mechanism. Their additional  services include:

  Timely monitoring of equipment

  XYZ expert consulting

  Rapid order delivery

Selection:  In order to deal with this situation, I choose “Visualization” design thinking tool. I got to know that XYZ  account managers have tried to calculate and track the services delivered in PowerPoint presentations  and excel files in the past. Hence, I had some information that I can refer to and I can draw insights from  it and nourish/augment along with the account managers in defining the scope and key elements of the  solution.    Application:  Since I had an access to existing PowerPoint presentations and excel files that XYZ account managers had  created for showcasing value of premium services to their customers, I was able to learn and amalgamate  the information in those files into something that is more relevant, user friendly and customer facing. I  also conducted a few interviews with regional XYZ account managers to gather more information and  included in the visualizations that I was preparing.

Then, I organized workshops with a set of XYZ account managers (4-5 in a group). In these workshops I  displayed the sketches that I created from the existing material and the interviews on a wall. Then, I asked  the members to rate the visualizations based on two parameters:

1. Rate (rank) the elements that the customers most value  2. Signal the visualization that we can quantify (Green) or cannot quantify (Red)

Later, in these workshops, I also co-created along with the account managers in defining the right  visualizations. I was amazed to understand that the account managers wanted something “jazzy” to  showcase to their customers and not just numbers or plain data.

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Insights:

After having conducted multiple workshops along with different set of XYZ account managers, I could  draw following important insights:

1. Displaying graphics helped the stakeholders relate faster to what they have been showcasing

earlier and what else they can do

2. Co-creation in the workshop and modification of graphics (based on live feedbacks) was much

appreciated

3. Account managers were looking for a tool that they can download on their smartphones and open

in front of their customers to drive sales conversations

4. Account managers were clear as to what is important for them to include in the tool (through

relative ranking exercise)

5. They were able to understand the missing variables and what they need to do in order to get the

missing pieces (through Green-Red signaling exercise)

Approach:  As I found out that the most important aspect of visualization is shared ideas and evolution on the basis  of them, next time I would use the visualization tool to start from scratch in the workshop itself and not  bring something from the existing material. I could discover that the XYZ account managers had a lot more  information with them based on their experience than I could find in the existing material. Hence, as a  starter I would prefer to get the insights from the stakeholders and then perhaps validate or augment  with what is available from the past.    *************************************************************************************


1 | P a g e Assignment - Design Thinking for Innovation ( Visualization ) Challenge : My customer ( XYZ Electronics ) is into heavy electrical equipment such as transformers , electric boilers , etc . XYZ Electronics was running a large digital transformation programme with the objective to enhance the selling experience for their Sales force . One of the needs was to enable the Sales force ( or XYZ account managers ) to showcase the premium that XYZ Electronics charge to their customers for their products . XYZ Electronics provide certain services that other vendors in the same industry does n’t offer and hence they charge a premium on their products . But , it becomes difficult for the XYZ account managers to justify this premium as they did not have any well - defined calculating or tracking mechanism . Their additional services include :  Timely monitoring of equipment  XYZ expert consulting  Rapid order delivery Selection : In order to deal with this situation , I choose “ Visualization ” design thinking tool . I got to know that XYZ account managers have tried to calculate and track the services delivered in PowerPoint presentations and excel files in the past . Hence , I had some information that I can refer to and I can draw insights from it and nourish / augment along with the account managers in defining the scope and key elements of the solution . Application : Since I had an access to existing PowerPoint presentations and excel files that XYZ account managers had created for showcasing value of premium services to their customers , I was able to learn and amalgamate the information in those files into something that is more relevant , user friendly and customer facing . I also conducted a few interviews with regional XYZ account managers to gather more information and included in the visualizations that I was preparing . Then , I organized workshops with a set of XYZ account managers ( 4 - 5 in a group ) . In these workshops I displayed the sketches that I created from the existing material and the interviews on a wall . Then , I asked the members to rate the visualizations based on two parameters : 1 . Rate ( rank ) the elements that the customers most value 2 . Signal the visualization that we can quantify ( Green ) or can not quantify ( Red ) Later , in these workshops , I also co - created along with the account managers in defining the right visualizations . I was amazed to understand that the account managers wanted something “ jazzy ” to showcase to their customers and not just numbers or plain data . 2 | P a g e Insights : After having conducted multiple workshops along with different set of XYZ account managers , I could draw following important insights : 1 . Displaying graphics helped the stakeholders relate faster to what they have been showcasing earlier and what else they can do 2 . Co - creation in the workshop and modification of graphics ( based on live feedbacks ) was much appreciated 3 . Account managers were looking for a tool that they can download on their smartphones and open in front of their customers to drive sales conversations 4 . Account managers were clear as to what is important for them to include in the tool ( through relative ranking exercise ) 5 . They were able to understand the missing variables and what they need to do in order to get the missing pieces ( through Green - Red signaling exercise ) Approach : As I found out that the most important aspect of visualization is shared ideas and evolution on the basis of them , next time I would use the visualization tool to start from scratch in the workshop itself and not bring something from the existing material . I could discover that the XYZ account managers had a lot more information with them based on their experience than I could find in the existing material . Hence , as a starter I would prefer to get the insights from the stakeholders and then perhaps validate or augment with what is available from the past . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *