Design Thinking Concept in a Business World - Case Study Example

Introduction

The product competitive advantage takes centre stage in today's business world because its word is crowded by goods and services production. Using analytical thinking that is based on the existing information analysis is not enough in such situation since the creative component, the ability to synthesize and create new are needed for innovations. A synthetic thinking is manifested in the creation of something new and original, in the combination of opposing ideas, opinions, in the introduction of mental experiments(Boot and Cox, 1970). The Manager’s ability to synthesize the acquired information is useful in areas where is necessary to combine contradictory and contradictory and implicitly stated requirements for the new product (human values, viability, feasibility). In other words, this is design thinking. In my examples, it is used in the context of the new products and services creation in the area of software development. But in fact, design thinking scope is much wider(Boot and Cox, 1970). Design thinking can be applied everywhere where there are problems, the people and the mixture of several areas of knowledge. Its model depends on the company's business scope, goals and alternative ways of solving problems. For example, such companies as Apple, IBM, SAP, Intel use design thinking method but its model is different for each of these companies(Boot and Cox, 1970).

My own definition of Design Thinking

Design thinking is a process of innovative solutions developed for business, quick verification, rework, discarding of unsatisfactory options and its process includes the search for new solutions, constant verification of the envisaged solution to the requirements of reality.

Examples of Design Thinking application in a business world

Design thinking is useful in the government, commercial and non-profit organizations. It is the end user oriented and is a tool for the development of breakthrough solutions not only in the new products and services area, but also in the design of strategic organizational decisions. Therefore, design thinking is used in the new product creation process under a situation of uncertainty and a rapidly changing environment(Liedtka and Ogilvie, 2011). This method is based on the principles which are conflicting on the principles adopted in the traditional management in many aspects. So for instance, the business process that is based on the design thinking method principles is constructed as a series of integrations: the ideas’ generation, rapid prototyping at the sketch or preliminary sample creating, prototype testing, modification or generation of new ideas, new testing, etc. This process eliminates precise planning when it is known initially which product is planned to receive and exactly what steps you need to do to reach results(Liedtka and Ogilvie, 2011). The integral part of such business strategy is a deep understanding of people's needs, their cultural and social characteristics, the existing trends and potential changes in the future. It allows stimulating the creative process and providing results that will be accepted by consumers. Such companies as Apple, Amazon and Philips use this design thinking method successfully. It led to the fact that it was used not only to solve problems of narrow design, but also for a wide range of problems that require innovative approaches, complex integrated solutions in a rapidly changing situation. The most popular innovative solution that are based on design thinking method are the creating of flexible display that can be inserted into the tissue. The second one important innovative solution is drones creating. For example, In USA there are the projects of drones that can deliver correspondence to skyscrapers or drones that fly over the city, take photos of it from a height and make maps(Liedtka and Ogilvie, 2011). It should also be noted innovation in the Audi cars – swipe effect. It is buttons voice explanation. So, the rapid pace of life of the today’s world, high competition, and rapid development of technology need instant adaptive solutions. Its solutions are innovative and require constant checking with reality, with rapidly changing conditions. Today's crisis situation increased the population of design thinking method in many countries. The design thinking methodology is becoming more widespread in solving various business problems, new products and services creating, in the enterprises management, education, health, urban and regional planning.

EXAMPLE 1 – DESIGN THINKING IN THE INTERFACE DESIGN OF THE MARKETING COMPANIES

Most of the software of management systems and advertising campaigns optimization are focused directly to specialists. Therefore, such systems are not enough adapted for the project managers, brand managers and marketing managers who, of course, are interested in the results of the campaign but are not engaged in operating performance. Thus, in order to improve the interface is to provide a separate menu bar for managers. Its menu displays only the data that managers need(Liedtka and Ogilvie, 2011). Managers’ activity in the Internet advertising industry is aimed at achieving a particular, useful for business and measurable results. The result of its activity is increasing the number of orders. In doing so, companies have large amounts of data (thousands of classified ads, millions of keywords, dozens of target combinations). All this means that manual analysis and advertising management is impossible: these actions will take much time. Therefore, managers need a simple and easy tool that allows them to monitor key parameters. Software companies use design thinking model to achieve this goal. This model is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Design thinking model in interface design

So, the first step is empathizing. At this stage the software development companies have conducted interviews with advertisers on how they work with marketing companies and what functions they lack. They got the following points:

• The advertising placements statistics and their results are showed every day and advertisers would like to save this time.
• There is a fixed internal reporting structure and daily results are sent to it every day.
• The company has dashboards on business progress. Its data are displayed on the screens in the office, including a director general. Every department and employee has their own parameters. They include business indicators but there are lacks of the marketing operational data.
• All marketing is estimated to business indexes (revenue, orders) that are common to all channels of promotion.
• It is good to see the results in numbers but it is better to see a specialist conclusions.
• Managers assess the marketing of once a month, but advertisers would like to see a weekly or daily assessment.
• There is a limit of parameters deviations from planned values. The company's management should be aware of the exceeded limits and take action.
• There is a desire and attempts to monitor the actions of competitors but the options are limited.

The next step is to collect the interviews results in a single whole. To do this, it is necessary to define the relationship between received points of interviews. As a result, three major problems have been identified:

• The display data does not fit with the way clients look at marketing from a business point of view.
• The management software systems are too complex for the operational testing of the situation and the manager could be confused.
• Evaluation of the marketing effectiveness does not make sense without taking into account the internal customer data.

It is necessary to bring together at least two focus groups in order to solve these problems effectively. The first focus group can be with a technology leader, and the other with a marketing leader(Martin, 2009). As a result of the discussion, it was found that the dashboards should reflect the following information: the basic performance of the campaigns; the results comparison of with the market; indicators of the changes that have been made in the campaign; ads of competitors; top competitors; daily or weekly Manager review of the that are based on changes of the campaign(Martin, 2009). Also, it would be necessary to realize automatic upload of data into the client database; import client business data in to dashboards; automatic reports creation and report sending on mail; automatic notification in case of deviations from plan. In compliance with the set goals, several prototypes were developed. The developers companies show them to customers were, ask their opinion, to make changes in accordance with the comments and showed a new version of the prototype. Such cycles can be several. The interface design is developed by the same way. As a result, the two interfaces are developed. So, the last step is to test them. This makes it possible to find the weaknesses of the product and improve its in the future(Meinel and Leifer, 2011).

EXAMPLE 2 – DESIGN THINKING IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

A benefit of the design thinking is very simple and clear in software development area: the company can to create an innovative product in a relatively short time. Design thinking motivates managers to act very quickly(Meinel and Leifer, 2011). At the same time they compare the developed product ideas with the needs of the consumer because the process consists of a plurality of iterations. Therefore, when the developers create the concept of the product, they are constantly confirming the consumer that this is exactly that he will like eventually(Meinel and Leifer, 2011). Many global companies use design thinking in its activities on the IT market. Among them, the following should be highlighted: SAP, Intel, Apple, Microsoft etc. The generalized model of design thinking in IT market is showed in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Design thinking model in software development

One of the most successful examples of this model in practice is the cooperation SAP with Volkswagen under the program of connected cars. Methodology of design thinking is part of the business product development process in SAP(Plattner, Meinel and Leifer, 2012). It is of paramount importance in the finalization of new technologies because it helps to understand in which way the company should to work. Today, car manufacturers are trying to make cars smarter, more functionally convenient for the owner, to offer a new user experience. Designed Cloud Platform services HANA aggregates information about parking places, vehicle location and possible routes. All information is integrated into a single mobile application using the SAP Cloud(Plattner, Meinel and Leifer, 2012). The secret of SAP application success lies in its Design thinking model (Figure 2). A feature of this model is the extension of the existing six stages of design thinking process. The process starts with the client determining and researching of his desires(Rowe, 1987). At this stage, team members must accurately describe the problem area of research. They ask users about their needs indirectly. Practical experience has shown that users do not know about the faults or benefits that software might to have(Rowe, 1987). The next step is more complicated. It includes the next sub-steps: storytelling, clustering insights, synthetic and POV. The main goal o this step is to determinate Point of View. It is information about problem area and the needs of potential customer. In this step the results of the team research activities are synthesized into a single unit that includes information about costumer’s needs. The results of the next step are new software prototype development(Stickdorn and Schneider, n.d.). The final stages are similar to the previous model. The features of this model are also iteration loops according to the type of negative feedback that the user gives. For example, if negative feedback is about the prototype of software, so the team must to return to the penultimate stage and improve prototypes. If it address to concept, the team have to return to the ideation step (and etc).

EXAMPLE 3 – DESIGN THINKING MODEL IN BIG ENTERPRISES

A global giant in the IT market is IBM. The design thinking model introduction into the company took three years. The final design thinking model of IBM is presented on the Figure 3. Its main aim is to understand costumers and to build empathy.

Figure 3. IBM Design thinking model

IBM design thinking model are based on three main principles. The first principle (the yellow circle) is that the business priority is the customer needs. It allows to the company to create a fashionable product design from the point of view of customer(Stickdorn and Schneider, n.d.). The solidarity of the team in the goals of the company achieving forms the second principle (the green circle). And the main principle is to join the first two principles in a single cycle. It means that no product is ideal. This cycle turns the existing product into a prototype. It becomes the cause for the development.

Reference List

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Boot, J. and Cox, E. (1970). Statistical analysis for managerial decisions. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Liedtka, J. and Ogilvie, T. (2011). Designing for growth. New York: Columbia Business School Pub.

Martin, R. (2009). The design of business. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press.

Meinel, C. and Leifer, L. (2011). Design thinking. Berlin: Springer.

Plattner, H., Meinel, C. and Leifer, L. (2012). Design thinking research. Berlin: Springer.

Rowe, P. (1987). Design thinking. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Stickdorn, M. and Schneider, J. (n.d.). THIS IS SERVICE DESIGN THINKING.