Reflection – Visualization tool

Finding a common ground thanks to visualization

Challenge

The company I work for provides strategic consultancy to companies that wish to improve and innovate  their processes and, in some cases, their business models. One of our clients was facing a series of  problems in handling customer care requests: since they had also activated an ecommerce activity  alongside their traditional physical shop, they were unable to handle service requests in a sustainable  timeframe and in a unified manner. They wanted to understand the bottlenecks in the process and how to  overcome them.

Selection

After having some preliminary conversations with the main stakeholders of the business process (After  Sales & Customer Care team, Shop Manager, Business Process & Operations, IT team), my colleagues and I  realised that the scope of the problem was not very clear to them in terms of precise identification of both  touchpoints with customers and responsible internal actors. Under those circumstances, we opted for  some sessions of visualizations with all of them to set the problem together.

In fact, visualization could allow to find a common ground for all people involved: before identifying and  then taking any steps to solve the problem, we needed to make sure that all stakeholders were on the  same page. This meant that everyone needed to have the same level of understanding of the context and  of the issues linked to the situation. A necessary step to successfully come to a shared and effective  solution.

Moreover, as a side effect of visualization, we could provide them with a creative way of capturing how  their business had been changing over a very short time: visualizing what changed in practice would have  helped them to more easily identify if and where further improvements were needed.

Application

We scheduled three sessions to apply the visualization tool. Goal of the three sessions was to reply  together to the first question of design thinking, What is?, with specific reference to the context of our  client’s business: what is the real situation of our customer relations since we decided to expand our  business and partially transform it digitally? To achieve this final goal, for any session, we proposed to take  a different perspective:

1. Customer-perspective: what has changed for our customers, starting from the complaints we have

been were receiving lately?

2. Operation-perspective: what has changed for my team and me in our day-to-day?  3. Put it all together in the bigger business perspective: how our business has changed?

Each session was conceived as an active workshop in which participants had 15 minutes to exercise their  creative power and express the given perspective. We provided them with sheets of paper, markers,  crayons, magazines to cut out, scattered images, post-it notes. At the end of 15 minutes, each of them  hung their work on the wall and had a few minutes to look at the others'. Afterwards, they identified  together the elements in common and the elements of diversity that resulted from the works. Then, on a  large blackboard, in the final part of the session, everything was put together into a single representation,  taking in what had been identified as relevant and listening to the proposals that were made in lively  discussion. Each session lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

The results of the first session, focused on the customer perspective, fuelled the starting part of the second  workshop on the operation perspective: the objective was to include in the representation of the changes  occurred in the daily operations also significant moments of the customer experience. Both results were  then put together in the final workshop where a big visual representation captured what the company was  going through with regard to customer care management.

Insight & Approach

The three sessions were helpful to set the problem in a way that not only mirrored the real situation from  the perspectives of the various stakeholders involved, but also shed light on a more general need for  process systematisation, starting from a better definition of new roles and responsibilities. What visually  resulted was:

1. Confusion on the customer experience side.

The customer was not experiencing the brand in a unified manner, having somehow to deal with  the physical entity and the new, digital one. Corollary to this was not only having diversified  channels to advance customer care requests, but also receiving very different replies to inquiries.

2. Internal misalignment on business objectives.

Internal people were experiencing confusion too, not being aligned on the changing business vision  and mission. This implied unclear objectives and even more unclear responsibilities in their day-to- day.

3. Creative moment.

Despite confusion that resulted in a far from perfect customer care experience, the final picture  that was drawn building on the contribution of all internal stakeholders, showed clearly all the  potential of the company.

These insights confirmed the correctness of our initial intuition: people were not really on the same page.  This was because the company was going through a very exciting time of profound change, but also a hectic  one, and people lacked time to reflect on it, assimilate it and adapt their daily activities.

The approach adopted allowed some internal criticalities, mostly concerning people and processes, to  emerge and to find a common ground where solutions could be identified and implemented in a following  moment. However, the perspective of the customers was reconstructed only from the complaints they had  and from asking people to put themselves in their shoes: customers were not directly involved. This would  have required more time and budget than what we had for this project, the core of which remained in any  case to improve organization processes. Next time, we will propose to extend the visualization activity to  selected customers to get a first-hand view of their experience.


Reflection – Visualization tool Finding a common ground thanks to visualization Challenge The company I work for provides strategic consultancy to companies that wish to improve and innovate their processes and , in some cases , their business models . One of our clients was facing a series of problems in handling customer care requests : since they had also activated an ecommerce activity alongside their traditional physical shop , they were unable to handle service requests in a sustainable timeframe and in a unified manner . They wanted to understand the bottlenecks in the process and how to overcome them . Selection After having some preliminary conversations with the main stakeholders of the business process ( After Sales & Customer Care team , Shop Manager , Business Process & Operations , IT team ) , my colleagues and I realised that the scope of the problem was not very clear to them in terms of precise identification of both touchpoints with customers and responsible internal actors . Under those circumstances , we opted for some sessions of visualizations with all of them to set the problem together . In fact , visualization could allow to find a common ground for all people involved : before identifying and then taking any steps to solve the problem , we needed to make sure that all stakeholders were on the same page . This meant that everyone needed to have the same level of understanding of the context and of the issues linked to the situation . A necessary step to successfully come to a shared and effective solution . Moreover , as a side effect of visualization , we could provide them with a creative way of capturing how their business had been changing over a very short time : visualizing what changed in practice would have helped them to more easily identify if and where further improvements were needed . Application We scheduled three sessions to apply the visualization tool . Goal of the three sessions was to reply together to the first question of design thinking , What is ? , with specific reference to the context of our client ’s business : what is the real situation of our customer relations since we decided to expand our business and partially transform it digitally ? To achieve this final goal , for any session , we proposed to take a different perspective : 1 . Customer - perspective : what has changed for our customers , starting from the complaints we have been were receiving lately ? 2 . Operation - perspective : what has changed for my team and me in our day - to - day ? 3 . Put it all together in the bigger business perspective : how our business has changed ? Each session was conceived as an active workshop in which participants had 15 minutes to exercise their creative power and express the given perspective . We provided them with sheets of paper , markers , crayons , magazines to cut out , scattered images , post - it notes . At the end of 15 minutes , each of them hung their work on the wall and had a few minutes to look at the others ' . Afterwards , they identified together the elements in common and the elements of diversity that resulted from the works . Then , on a large blackboard , in the final part of the session , everything was put together into a single representation , taking in what had been identified as relevant and listening to the proposals that were made in lively discussion . Each session lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes . The results of the first session , focused on the customer perspective , fuelled the starting part of the second workshop on the operation perspective : the objective was to include in the representation of the changes occurred in the daily operations also significant moments of the customer experience . Both results were then put together in the final workshop where a big visual representation captured what the company was going through with regard to customer care management . Insight & Approach The three sessions were helpful to set the problem in a way that not only mirrored the real situation from the perspectives of the various stakeholders involved , but also shed light on a more general need for process systematisation , starting from a better definition of new roles and responsibilities . What visually resulted was : 1 . Confusion on the customer experience side . The customer was not experiencing the brand in a unified manner , having somehow to deal with the physical entity and the new , digital one . Corollary to this was not only having diversified channels to advance customer care requests , but also receiving very different replies to inquiries . 2 . Internal misalignment on business objectives . Internal people were experiencing confusion too , not being aligned on the changing business vision and mission . This implied unclear objectives and even more unclear responsibilities in their day - to- day . 3 . Creative moment . Despite confusion that resulted in a far from perfect customer care experience , the final picture that was drawn building on the contribution of all internal stakeholders , showed clearly all the potential of the company . These insights confirmed the correctness of our initial intuition : people were not really on the same page . This was because the company was going through a very exciting time of profound change , but also a hectic one , and people lacked time to reflect on it , assimilate it and adapt their daily activities . The approach adopted allowed some internal criticalities , mostly concerning people and processes , to emerge and to find a common ground where solutions could be identified and implemented in a following moment . However , the perspective of the customers was reconstructed only from the complaints they had and from asking people to put themselves in their shoes : customers were not directly involved . This would have required more time and budget than what we had for this project , the core of which remained in any case to improve organization processes . Next time , we will propose to extend the visualization activity to selected customers to get a first - hand view of their experience .