Design –Led Transformation – the need of the hour

Millennials& Generation Z constitute about 2/3^rd of the world’s population. They emphasize on experience and therefore companies now have a renewed focus on Customer Experience (CX).

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/gen-z-to-outnumber-millennials-within-a-year-demographic-trends

https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/12/introducing-fifth-state-of-marketing-report.html

https://www.salesforce.com/research/customer-expectations/

The Digital Transformation Journey

Enterprises embark on their digital transformation journey in one or more of these three categories

Design for Business – Processes that engage the internal & external customers, consumer or partners.

Some of the digital transformation themes are:

• Process Optimization (Business to Business, Business to Customer, Owners Portal, Dealer On-boarding, Talent Marketplace, Supply Chain visibility)
• New Product/ Revenue Streams (Leveraging Internet of Things, Product as a service, Warranty as a service)
• Enterprise Re-invention (Reimagined Customer Experience (Micro User Experience, Micro APIs; creating an immersive “System of Engagement”)
• Social Media Engagement (Influence & capture mind share of end consumers on buying decisions like Home A/c, Washer, Dryer, Cars etc.)

Design for IT – Processes that enable seamless collaboration with customers, brands and IT functions. Some of the digital transformation themes are:

• Software Development Collaboration between business and IT owners (Business IT Collaboration)
• End-User Support (Optimized & Orchestrated omni-channel experience)

Design for Floor – Processes that focus on the plant and enterprise. Some of the digital transformation themes are

• Plant Operator Collaboration (Upskill, On-the-job Training, Collaborative Robots experience, real-time Collaboration with Subject Matter Expert)
• Service Design Process- the five DDesign for Business – Processes that engage the internal & external customers, consumer or partners.• Plant Manager Visualization (End-to-End visibility of the plant including all IOT enabled assets)
• Internet-of-Things Command Centre Visualization (End-to-End visibility of all plants, assets and operators)

Demystifying Service Design

Enterprises across the board are accomplishing design-led transformation by redefining and reimaging their processes. This is being enabled by “Service Design”. 

Service Design is the integrated design of products and services.  This design can also be called as Service Blueprint (SBP). SBP is a catalogue of all the interactions a customer (note the customer can be internal or external) has with an enterprise. Service design has both tangible and intangible components. While talking about a product, we can clearly define its functions, features and unique selling proposition. However, service delivery comes to existence while it is being actually delivered/ consumed. Thus, depending on the “actor” delivering it, the service experience can differ. We can create optimal services that encourage & reinforce behavioural patterns. Such optimal services combined by state-of-the-art products make an enterprise great and exceptional. 

Service Design typically uses iterative & agile methods that show rapid results. In digital transformation, this becomes the key to success. These can be broadly classified into 3 buckets:

1.  Ethnographic (study of people and cultures) user research allows us to define personas (aka actors) and journeys (aka episodes). 

3. Visualization (wireframes and high-fidelity clickable demo) of the new service allows actors to “see” the proposed re-design & reimagined service design.

Service Design Process- the five D

The first step in transforming customer experience is to understand who the customer (Actor or persona) is and what do they do currently (Current journey). Trained eyes observing and living “Day in the Life” can uncover opportunities. Such opportunities often reflect data pauses. Based on these findings, we can define and implement the future service model.

The service design journey can be achieved in 5 phases:

1. Discovery – in this phase, we dive deep into the existing service. How is it rendered today? What are the components of that service? Who is the main actor? What does a Day in the Life of that actor look like? What are the key internal and external constraints in providing an optimal service experience? Do similar organizations do the same service design in a different way? The tangible output of this exercise is Ecosystem Analysis, Persona Insights, Competitive Landscape.
2. Describe –in this phase, the findings of the discovery phase are translated into defining Personas&Customer Journeys. This is the most critical part of the service design process.
3. Determine – in this phase, the art of possible is ideated based on the opportunities identified while defining personas & journeys.
4. Develop – in this phase, we re-imagine the service. While doing so, we leverage design thinking to ideate (for example - is there a better way to do a certain task?), define Experiences via Wireframes, and create mockups (preferably clickable) showcased with Low & High-Fidelity Visuals. A parallel exercise builds the business case, business &operating models, operations &support planning followed by end-to-end Architecture on cloud. At this point in time, we should have clearly defined KPIs that will be impacted by the new service design and also clarity on what the return on investment will look like.
5. Deliver – the last phase is to deliver the newly imagined service design. This includes having a well-defined, structured communication plan which clearly articulates the actors impacted, and a roll-out plan. This enables teams on-boarding and training, and identifying super users. The deployment plan will be an integrated end-to-end plan owned by the service leader or product owner. It will comprise details on Run and Operate, Customer Support, Platform Run & Support, Applications Run & Support and Services Run & Support.

The need for digital transformation challenges enterprises on a day-to-day basis. Following a structured approach of Service Design can enable enterprises to reimagine and optimize their process, creating a win-win situation for both- the customer and the enterprise. 

Namit Bhargava

GM & Head of Digital Sales, Digital Transformation

Passionate for results, Namit Bhargava brings innovative strategic perspective on Digital Transformation and Industry X.O themes for superior Customer Experience. Namit is a thought leader for CXO conversations for topics including digital strategy, transformation, new business models and innovation. 

Connect with Namit on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nbhargava/