Storytelling    Challenge     I presently work as a Design consultant in an Indian based IT services organisation .As a part of the presales/bidding team  pitching for design, development, testing  services to different clients across the globe provides a complex problem for us since  the audience from the client side vary from marketing, technology, sales etc, majority of them might be more interested in the  numbers like cost, time, resources etc  and technical architecture aspects of what we offer. The experience domain is  something which many organisations are still opening upto but many are still unaware of the need and impact it can create.    The asks sometimes miss out on the experience front, though found to be an essential component for the success of the  outcome, based on initial research by us. To approach those proposals is a challenge as scope of the project would need to be  tweaked by the client needing a solid basis or reason.    A universal method of starting the discussion in terms of providing a vision for the client to start and later branching the  discussion into the various domains is needed.     An opportunity was presented when we were responding  for a proposal for a multinational consumer goods company, the ask  was to unify their laundry services’ online presence, presently in the form of 3 different websites for their dry cleaning,self  service locker and campus laundry services, also present was a mobile application limited to tracking the clothes. The basic  need was to shift to a unified online presence. The ask was direct – to create one website from the three.       Selection    The main concern was  that that the client was not aware of the complexity of creating one unifying presence from present 3  different sites having different users, their journeys and expectations .Simple scope mentioned creation of the web based site  and extension of services onto their present mobile application. The requirement did not cater the present trends   of mobile dependency and need of a seamless experience by all the clients’ target users. This aspect needed to be  communicated to the client effectively.      I decided to use story telling as a tool to create the right impact for conveying what our vision was for the brands’ unified portal.  Storytelling would also help in explaining the client to look into the ecosystem creation for their users (like providing cross sell  and upsell opportunities later on), which seemed to have been overlooked in their requirement. Also last but not least since the  outcome was to be a B2C ( Business to customer) experience, the need was for extending the brand story more strongly to  make the connect with their customers. Story telling would be an apt tool for the above.      Application    I needed the story to relate to the reviewers (audience) from the client side. So the story line that I created was from the point of  view of a campus student, not only because the student was also a user of clients’ services but also because they will have the  empathy towards them based on their similar past journey (almost all of them must have been a student at some point of time)    Another reason of choosing the campus student was that the he/she might be more willing to avail other services offered by  client more openly. A character called Jessica was chosen as the main character of the story where she joins as a freshman in  college. The premise was also created for her journey into college. Jessica’s life in a day was the main storyline on which the  pain points were concentrated upon, for example : juggling of time between classes, preparation required before laundry, stress  she goes through thinking about the same etc. This way the main challenges were highlighted. The story was told using  storyboarding and imagery and the presentation was done through video conference.    The main issues were highlighted post the story telling which were : availability of laundry options according to convenience,  assistance required in preparation, planning of the laundry cycles etc. A solution view was presented as the happy state also in  a story form. The case was also presented that the student in the future will become a different segment user and since the  connection is made he/she might become brand loyal and continue the journey through other services. A strong  business case  of upsell/cross sell was also communicated throughout the story. I was able to highlight a major point of strategic change that  was required by the client in terms of strategy, which  was to concentrate on the  mobile presence approach rather than the  present ask of web.     So the story was built from a premise to the present and finally to a future scenario and steps of how to reach that state.      Insight    The presentation was well received from the client, they agreed to most of the scope modifications suggested. Few which they  mentioned that could not be implemented were reserved for the future scope of work. Overall it was a good and apt case of  using story telling to push through our strategic vision and win the project.    Storytelling as a tool is very effective but does have its limitations .Its very effective for the cases where the brand story has to  be enhanced, created or relooked into. Cases where the strategic changes are to be suggested the method of story telling also  works. But it is difficult to use story telling for creating use cases or business cases when the scope of something is already well  defined or clarity of approach is very much present, examples of them would be B2B (business to business applications).

Approach    The approach followed by me for the above scenario was suited and worked perfectly, but as I face different clients with  different requirements this process might not give the same results like others.    As mentioned above that story telling would be helpful in cases where the brand value and user centric design plays a major  part but many a times I or we face clients from the B2B domain where the asks are not that oriented to the above points.  I would in that scenario  try to use a combination of storytelling with the refined process/service flow solutions.


Storytelling Challenge I presently work as a Design consultant in an Indian based IT services organisation .As a part of the presales / bidding team pitching for design , development , testing services to different clients across the globe provides a complex problem for us since the audience from the client side vary from marketing , technology , sales etc , majority of them might be more interested in the numbers like cost , time , resources etc and technical architecture aspects of what we offer . The experience domain is something which many organisations are still opening upto but many are still unaware of the need and impact it can create . The asks sometimes miss out on the experience front , though found to be an essential component for the success of the outcome , based on initial research by us . To approach those proposals is a challenge as scope of the project would need to be tweaked by the client needing a solid basis or reason . A universal method of starting the discussion in terms of providing a vision for the client to start and later branching the discussion into the various domains is needed . An opportunity was presented when we were responding for a proposal for a multinational consumer goods company , the ask was to unify their laundry services ’ online presence , presently in the form of 3 different websites for their dry cleaning , self service locker and campus laundry services , also present was a mobile application limited to tracking the clothes . The basic need was to shift to a unified online presence . The ask was direct – to create one website from the three . Selection The main concern was that that the client was not aware of the complexity of creating one unifying presence from present 3 different sites having different users , their journeys and expectations .Simple scope mentioned creation of the web based site and extension of services onto their present mobile application . The requirement did not cater the present trends of mobile dependency and need of a seamless experience by all the clients ’ target users . This aspect needed to be communicated to the client effectively . I decided to use story telling as a tool to create the right impact for conveying what our vision was for the brands ’ unified portal . Storytelling would also help in explaining the client to look into the ecosystem creation for their users ( like providing cross sell and upsell opportunities later on ) , which seemed to have been overlooked in their requirement . Also last but not least since the outcome was to be a B2C ( Business to customer ) experience , the need was for extending the brand story more strongly to make the connect with their customers . Story telling would be an apt tool for the above . Application I needed the story to relate to the reviewers ( audience ) from the client side . So the story line that I created was from the point of view of a campus student , not only because the student was also a user of clients ’ services but also because they will have the empathy towards them based on their similar past journey ( almost all of them must have been a student at some point of time ) Another reason of choosing the campus student was that the he / she might be more willing to avail other services offered by client more openly . A character called Jessica was chosen as the main character of the story where she joins as a freshman in college . The premise was also created for her journey into college . Jessica ’s life in a day was the main storyline on which the pain points were concentrated upon , for example : juggling of time between classes , preparation required before laundry , stress she goes through thinking about the same etc . This way the main challenges were highlighted . The story was told using storyboarding and imagery and the presentation was done through video conference . The main issues were highlighted post the story telling which were : availability of laundry options according to convenience , assistance required in preparation , planning of the laundry cycles etc . A solution view was presented as the happy state also in a story form . The case was also presented that the student in the future will become a different segment user and since the connection is made he / she might become brand loyal and continue the journey through other services . A strong business case of upsell / cross sell was also communicated throughout the story . I was able to highlight a major point of strategic change that was required by the client in terms of strategy , which was to concentrate on the mobile presence approach rather than the present ask of web . So the story was built from a premise to the present and finally to a future scenario and steps of how to reach that state . Insight The presentation was well received from the client , they agreed to most of the scope modifications suggested . Few which they mentioned that could not be implemented were reserved for the future scope of work . Overall it was a good and apt case of using story telling to push through our strategic vision and win the project . Storytelling as a tool is very effective but does have its limitations .Its very effective for the cases where the brand story has to be enhanced , created or relooked into . Cases where the strategic changes are to be suggested the method of story telling also works . But it is difficult to use story telling for creating use cases or business cases when the scope of something is already well defined or clarity of approach is very much present , examples of them would be B2B ( business to business applications ) . Approach The approach followed by me for the above scenario was suited and worked perfectly , but as I face different clients with different requirements this process might not give the same results like others . As mentioned above that story telling would be helpful in cases where the brand value and user centric design plays a major part but many a times I or we face clients from the B2B domain where the asks are not that oriented to the above points . I would in that scenario try to use a combination of storytelling with the refined process / service flow solutions .