Reflection - Visualization

Challenge & Selection

The first and the foremost tool I used in order to completely understand the problem at hand and to  find possible solutions is the Visual Thinking tool of Design Thinking process. I decided to use this tool  because, albeit, it is easy to implement but is a very powerful tool and can nudge the stakeholders to  create numerous “what ifs” to the problem at hand. I often use this tool with my team in order to  understand the customer experience with respect to the shipping services we provide as a part of our  Organizational portfolio. We do a significant amount of analysis on the revenue generated by the  services that we have and work on improving the ones that are lagging in terms of market share  penetration. The way I do that is to get a constant and consistent feedback from our front-end sales  teams and the customers to understand the gaps in the overall experience. I also refer to previous  studies and researches available at hand on this subject.

Application

This, in my view, is the most important part of the Design Thinking Visualization tool. I begin the process  by creating an end to end customer journey mapping in the form of a process flow. The entire journey  captures where and how the customer interaction takes place. It also captures the medium of the  interaction, that is, through front-end sales, customer service agents, any automated systems, label  generation tools at customer premise, etc.

I usually start the journey mapping process by incorporating the information received from the  feedbacks and surveys, and then drawing a very simple process flow on a white board with input from  my team members who are working on the same project with me. The advantage of involving the entire  team in this exercise is that each service that is provided makes use of systems that internal customers  work with. While improving experience for external customers is the end objective, sometimes it is tied  to an internal process improvement. The process flow initially will have information on a very high level  but will include all the stages of the customer journey such as: Request received, information capture,  requirement discussion, quote generation and acceptance, sending, tracking, delivery, invoicing,  settlement and customer support. The flow will also have different swim lanes depending upon how  many different functions are impacted.

We will then categorize each of the stages under three main categories: Front End, Operations and Back  end. Each team member will be assigned to one of the categories mentioned above depending upon  their expertise and relevant experience. The team will then drill down in detail under each stage as to  what kind of an interaction takes place with the customer. The three main questions to be answered  during this stage are 1) What is the medium of the interaction and what are the touch points for the  customer, 2) What are the gaps in this stage, both internal and external and 3) What changes, if  possible, would lead to an improvement in the customer experience. For example, in case of Request  Received stage, the three questions could be answered as:

a. What is the medium of interaction? Email, phone, online on .com, sales executive visits to the

customer

b. What are the gaps? The sales executive did not have enough knowledge on the products  c. What could be changes? The sales go-to-market merchandise could be improved, or more

trainings for sales executives, etc.

Each team is given about 30 minutes for this brainstorming and then all the input is mentioned under  each stage in the process flow making it as detailed as possible. Sometimes it is possible to make  changes to the existing flow but often the entire process flow needs an overhaul to incorporate  feedback from the team members.

Insight & Approach

The biggest benefit that comes out of this exercise, apart from a detailed representation of external or  internal customer problems, is the shared insight and cross functional learning opportunities. While a  different approach of using only customer feedback as the starting point of discussion could be  incorporated, I believe that it would dilute or mitigate the creative and out of the box ideas that the  team comes up with during this tool’s utilization and the holistic understanding of the customer journey  would be undermined. Once finished with the incorporation of suggestions, the process flow is then  discussed again with peers to understand the most valuable changes that should be incorporated as  soon as possible to provide value to the customer and the value is calculated based on three things:  which changes are the most urgent, how quickly can they be incorporated and what would be the return  on investment expected. The changes could range from something as small as a change of content in the  sales collateral to a complete overhaul of the invoicing system. It should, however, be noted that some  changes would require architectural analysis by the IT teams to understand the investment. But  nevertheless, this design thinking approach always succeeds in providing an initial direction to the  discussion and supports in identifying the key expectations of the external as well as internal customers.


Reflection - Visualization Challenge & Selection The first and the foremost tool I used in order to completely understand the problem at hand and to find possible solutions is the Visual Thinking tool of Design Thinking process . I decided to use this tool because , albeit , it is easy to implement but is a very powerful tool and can nudge the stakeholders to create numerous “ what ifs ” to the problem at hand . I often use this tool with my team in order to understand the customer experience with respect to the shipping services we provide as a part of our Organizational portfolio . We do a significant amount of analysis on the revenue generated by the services that we have and work on improving the ones that are lagging in terms of market share penetration . The way I do that is to get a constant and consistent feedback from our front - end sales teams and the customers to understand the gaps in the overall experience . I also refer to previous studies and researches available at hand on this subject . Application This , in my view , is the most important part of the Design Thinking Visualization tool . I begin the process by creating an end to end customer journey mapping in the form of a process flow . The entire journey captures where and how the customer interaction takes place . It also captures the medium of the interaction , that is , through front - end sales , customer service agents , any automated systems , label generation tools at customer premise , etc . I usually start the journey mapping process by incorporating the information received from the feedbacks and surveys , and then drawing a very simple process flow on a white board with input from my team members who are working on the same project with me . The advantage of involving the entire team in this exercise is that each service that is provided makes use of systems that internal customers work with . While improving experience for external customers is the end objective , sometimes it is tied to an internal process improvement . The process flow initially will have information on a very high level but will include all the stages of the customer journey such as : Request received , information capture , requirement discussion , quote generation and acceptance , sending , tracking , delivery , invoicing , settlement and customer support . The flow will also have different swim lanes depending upon how many different functions are impacted . We will then categorize each of the stages under three main categories : Front End , Operations and Back end . Each team member will be assigned to one of the categories mentioned above depending upon their expertise and relevant experience . The team will then drill down in detail under each stage as to what kind of an interaction takes place with the customer . The three main questions to be answered during this stage are 1 ) What is the medium of the interaction and what are the touch points for the customer , 2 ) What are the gaps in this stage , both internal and external and 3 ) What changes , if possible , would lead to an improvement in the customer experience . For example , in case of Request Received stage , the three questions could be answered as : a. What is the medium of interaction ? Email , phone , online on .com , sales executive visits to the customer b. What are the gaps ? The sales executive did not have enough knowledge on the products c. What could be changes ? The sales go - to - market merchandise could be improved , or more trainings for sales executives , etc . Each team is given about 30 minutes for this brainstorming and then all the input is mentioned under each stage in the process flow making it as detailed as possible . Sometimes it is possible to make changes to the existing flow but often the entire process flow needs an overhaul to incorporate feedback from the team members . Insight & Approach The biggest benefit that comes out of this exercise , apart from a detailed representation of external or internal customer problems , is the shared insight and cross functional learning opportunities . While a different approach of using only customer feedback as the starting point of discussion could be incorporated , I believe that it would dilute or mitigate the creative and out of the box ideas that the team comes up with during this tool ’s utilization and the holistic understanding of the customer journey would be undermined . Once finished with the incorporation of suggestions , the process flow is then discussed again with peers to understand the most valuable changes that should be incorporated as soon as possible to provide value to the customer and the value is calculated based on three things : which changes are the most urgent , how quickly can they be incorporated and what would be the return on investment expected . The changes could range from something as small as a change of content in the sales collateral to a complete overhaul of the invoicing system . It should , however , be noted that some changes would require architectural analysis by the IT teams to understand the investment . But nevertheless , this design thinking approach always succeeds in providing an initial direction to the discussion and supports in identifying the key expectations of the external as well as internal customers .