Building Trust with Prototypes: An IoT solution at Piller
An IoT solution in the German Mittelstand? Small and medium-sized enterprises are the powerhouse of Germany’s economy, but they often shy away from embedded systems technology. During an innovation cooperation with SAP’s German SME department, a team from Piller Blowers & Compressors paved the way for building trust in a bigger solution: a predictive maintenance service for their higher-performance machines.
Feeling in Control: Bank of America Helps Customers to “Keep the Change”
How do you encourage new customers to open bank accounts? In 2004, Bank of America assigned design agency IDEO to boost their enrollment numbers: a problem lacking any user perspective or problem (yet).
Taking Risks, Earning Trust and Including Co-Workers: User-Centred Design at Deutsche Bahn Operations
Start with a small thing, and it will grow bigger: Andreas Bürgler, Head of Deutsche Bahn Station&Service AG (Operations), talks about introducing user-centred design methods in his department – with a 200-participant design thinking sprint and a re-designed service counter as a lighthouse project.
Energy Solutions for the New Generation: Design Thinking at Innogy
In Innogy’s innovation hub, venture developers either cooperate with an existing start up – or pitch their own ideas for a viable business model. In 2015, Itai Ben-Jacob went for the latter and developed the idea for innogy’s eCarSharing project in a design thinking workshop.
Adding Value to Service Expansion: Vlisco’s Innovation Journey
The Dutch company Vlisco produces traditionally crafted ‘Dutch Wax Print’ fabrics for West African markets. Lately, the organization faces disrupted markets, competition, and Chinese counterfeit – and uses design thinking to come up with a new vision to secure its future.
A Tough Crowd: Using Design Thinking to Help Traditional German Butchers
“If this were a good idea, someone would have done it already”: this is what a design thinking team heard, over and over again, when trying to develop new business concepts for traditional butcher shops in Germany. As design thinkers and fans of wild ideas, they were used to skepticism – but definitely not to the level they’ve encountered in this project with the butchers.
