Challenge    As part of my business development role for a software and services company I wanted to  shift one of my insurance customers from a product mindset to a solution mindset. I wanted  to be able to explain why such a shift was valuable to them in order to better serve their  customers, and I wanted it to be an open dialogue around their needs, hoping that the shift  in mindset will emerge, aligning the interests of four different areas on the same meeting: IT,  business,  legal, and procurement.      Selection    I chose visualization because as Angela Myers pointed out in her video:  visualization helps  to make ideas understood, and get alignment around concepts.  I also chose it because it is  an easy way for everyone to  participate, a fast way of creating something together that all  participants could own, and that in many cases included possibilities not yet seen.    Application    We started by drawing their immediate need a the center of a blackboard: Getting a  replacement software for claims.  Then we exploded that need into steps of a claims  process: creating the claim, receiving the claim, processing the claim.  Then we exploded  each step, into smaller steps.    At that point we stopped for a while and identified people involved in each step.  People and  it's context shown through visualization, easily and collectible represented in the form of  words, arrows, and faces, helped us all get a clear and aligned vision of what was needed.  At least at a first glance.    But the magic started when the faces in our drawings became experiences, and the whole  discussions shifted from process, resources, and products,  to customer journey, experience  touchpoints, and solutions.  Since we had a big blackboard, we kept on drawing and we  started to see that there were a bunch of opportunities that emerged from better following  the customer through his/ her customer experience, in order to better understand and even  anticipate their needs along the way.  Area points of view became less important and we all  started to look at things from a more customer driven point of view.    When the meeting was over we all took a picture of a big black board full of customer centric  opportunities, each of which could be exploited with the help a concrete technological  solution, and the let's just replace our current claims product, became how can we get a  better  claims experience/solution     Insight & Approach    In this particular case using Visualization, was of great help to get all stakeholders energized  and ready to innovate and change.  Having a big blackboard that everyone could access

helped bridge different points of view and align them around common concepts such as  customer experience and journey.    Since the visualization process leaves a clear trace of every step covered in the form of  some word, ideogram, arrow, or symbol; detecting patterns, and relationships becomes very  natural.  However it helps to have a previous idea of how to organize all the content that is  being created so that it reflects some flow, structure, or purpose, at least as an initial guiding  principle, so that the innovation/meeting moves faster beyond just being pure brainstorming,  into powerful and actionable insights and or questions to be answered.


Challenge As part of my business development role for a software and services company I wanted to shift one of my insurance customers from a product mindset to a solution mindset . I wanted to be able to explain why such a shift was valuable to them in order to better serve their customers , and I wanted it to be an open dialogue around their needs , hoping that the shift in mindset will emerge , aligning the interests of four different areas on the same meeting : IT , business , legal , and procurement . Selection I chose visualization because as Angela Myers pointed out in her video : visualization helps to make ideas understood , and get alignment around concepts . I also chose it because it is an easy way for everyone to participate , a fast way of creating something together that all participants could own , and that in many cases included possibilities not yet seen . Application We started by drawing their immediate need a the center of a blackboard : Getting a replacement software for claims . Then we exploded that need into steps of a claims process : creating the claim , receiving the claim , processing the claim . Then we exploded each step , into smaller steps . At that point we stopped for a while and identified people involved in each step . People and it 's context shown through visualization , easily and collectible represented in the form of words , arrows , and faces , helped us all get a clear and aligned vision of what was needed . At least at a first glance . But the magic started when the faces in our drawings became experiences , and the whole discussions shifted from process , resources , and products , to customer journey , experience touchpoints , and solutions . Since we had a big blackboard , we kept on drawing and we started to see that there were a bunch of opportunities that emerged from better following the customer through his/ her customer experience , in order to better understand and even anticipate their needs along the way . Area points of view became less important and we all started to look at things from a more customer driven point of view . When the meeting was over we all took a picture of a big black board full of customer centric opportunities , each of which could be exploited with the help a concrete technological solution , and the let 's just replace our current claims product , became how can we get a better claims experience / solution Insight & Approach In this particular case using Visualization , was of great help to get all stakeholders energized and ready to innovate and change . Having a big blackboard that everyone could access helped bridge different points of view and align them around common concepts such as customer experience and journey . Since the visualization process leaves a clear trace of every step covered in the form of some word , ideogram , arrow , or symbol ; detecting patterns , and relationships becomes very natural . However it helps to have a previous idea of how to organize all the content that is being created so that it reflects some flow , structure , or purpose , at least as an initial guiding principle , so that the innovation / meeting moves faster beyond just being pure brainstorming , into powerful and actionable insights and or questions to be answered .