Customer-Driven Transformation

 

Over the past twenty years, leading businesses have embraced 'design thinking' to revolutionise their operations. This strategic shift focuses on reimagining products and services before restructuring the organisation to bring these visions to life. 

Discover the power of design thinking as a catalyst for organisational growth in our book, Customer-Driven Transformation. We will guide you through the process of translating your vision into services that will not only meet but exceed your customers' expectations.

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The impact of a design thinking approach is substantial and well-documented. For example, a study by the Design Management Institute highlights that between 2004 and 2014, design-led firms outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by a staggering 219%! Not only this, but research by Adobe reveals that over 50% of companies with a design-centric approach report enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty, underscoring the positive impact on customer relations (Adobe Research). Data from McKinsey supports this trend, indicating that design-led organisations achieve one-third higher revenues and 56% greater returns than their competitors, highlighting the significant financial advantages of this approach (McKinsey Report). 

 

Through our book Customer-Driven Transformation and its accompanying podcasts and blog posts, we’ve explored how design thinking can act as a driver for organisational change, translating a vision into services that will delight customers.


Harnessing emotional connections: The key to customer loyalty and competitive success

In a business world that often prioritises speed, cost-effectiveness, and convenience, the significance of emotional connections is frequently overlooked. Yet, as human beings, our desire for these connections is intrinsic and powerful.

In this article, we delve into the crucial benefits of emotionally connecting with customers. We'll highlight successful examples and the consequences of neglecting this vital aspect.

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Standing out in a crowded market: Cultivating distinctiveness in your organisation

Creating distinctive branded offers is a common challenge for many businesses. To overcome this, it's critical to grasp the essential strategies involved. The key is to deliver unique, memorable experiences that deeply connect with your audience, moving beyond the conventional measures of operational efficiency and competitive pricing. It involves crafting services that not only meet unmet needs and align with customer values but are also straightforward and offer great value for money.

This blog explores frequent mistakes that organisations make in pursuing distinctiveness, outlines the key advantages of this method, and provides concrete examples from successful companies like Apple.

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Embracing the “outside-in” perspective

Understanding and meeting customer expectations is super important, especially if
you want to stand out in a crowded market. 

The businesses that really get ahead are those that take an "outside-in" approach. This means they make sure their services really resonate with what customers are looking for. 

It's about putting yourself in the customer's shoes and weaving that understanding into everything from service creation to how it's delivered. Read our article to examine the benefits of this approach, and discover how Starbucks and The Ritz-Carlton have used it to align with their customers’ evolving needs. 

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Be vision-led, be successful

Another critical challenge for organisations in the service industry is maintaining a clear and compelling vision. This aspect is profoundly important in building and scaling a thriving enterprise, and encompasses a strategic focus on long-term goals and a commitment to an inspiring mission that resonates with both employees and customers. 

A well defined vision becomes the north star that guides a business towards innovation, growth and impact. However, a company’s vision should not be static; a successful business is one that recognises the need to reinvent itself with the changing needs of its customers.

We delve into this concept by examining the journey of a renowned brand, Nike, which exemplifies the power of a vision-led strategy in transforming customer experience and achieving enduring success.

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Customer Experience Design Podcast Series

If you’d like to learn more about customer-driven design, tune into our podcast series where our host, Oliver King, explores the fundamental challenges of customer-driven transformation, and how you can overcome them.

You’ll gain insights from industry trailblazers, hear success stories, and uncover actionable strategies. 

Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Big visions don’t require big consultancies to bring them to life.

As pioneers of Connected Service Design, our service design geeks and creatives have been integrating technology, people and places with our clients since 2001. We use our Service Design System to find what your customer love and create award-winning service experiences that your organisation is motivated to deploy.

“The Engine team have been sensational consultancy partners, delivering with a true sense of challenge, purpose, creativity and fun!”
SVP, Client Services

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Customer Driven Design

Our book, Customer-Driven Transformation shows you how to use design thinking as a driver for organisational change, translating your vision into services that will delight customers.

We show you how to instil an outside-in approach to strategy, moving away from management that's technology, marketing or resource optimization-led to one that is customer-inspired and experimental with innovation. This book is a practical guide to leading a transformational programme within businesses using design thinking to change how services are created and ensuring everything is beautifully designed, elegant in use and brilliant in customer mindedness.

We’ll take you through six of the biggest challenges associated with customer-led innovation:

The Challenge of Outside In
The Challenge of Vision
The Challenge of Fast and Slow
The Challenge of Emotion
The Challenge of Distinctiveness
The Challenge of Change

With contributions from leaders who have used design thinking to lead change in businesses like E.ON Energy, Bupa, Dubai Airports and the Hyundai Motor Company, Customer-Driven Transformation will give you the language and tools to take control of the design of the services you operate and customer experience and in doing so change your organisation. 

Fill out the form below to download the first two chapters for free.

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Case studies

Bupa International New Proposition

Bupa International New Proposition

Bupa International partnered with the Engine Service Design team to pioneer new service...

Barclays Bank Service Strategy Design

Barclays Bank Service Strategy Design

Barclays Bank, responding to new UK Government regulations, collaborated with the Engine Service...

Zurich Life

Zurich Life

Zurich UK Life responded to changing UK pension legislation by partnering with the Engine Service...

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