Organizations are changing drastically. Why shouldn’t we?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
[A. Einstein]
We are living in a world where classic “brick and mortar” organizations, that base their business model entirely on selling physical products, are beginning to disappear. Actually is the dawn of two “new” kind of organizations:
Other than companies, also the networks between companies and customer is shifting: companies focused on virtual networks are able to offer services and products to their customer in a cheaper way than other classic companies having to manage physical network assets.
We are talking about servitization: a trend consisting on selling add-ons, like services, that supplement and enhance their traditional product offerings and product capabilities.
Nike, with Nike+, is one of the best examples of servitization so far. The “Just do it” company added a little device in their footwear that is now able to let people monitor their physical activity and to track other information.
To avoid collapse, companies are forced to adapt and they have to hire people with the right skill for a new market and continuously in motion.
I think that designers will be essentials for these new kind of companies. For this reason this is the right time to acquire new skills for this ”new” world.
During the 20th century companies invested on lowering their internal costs (for example Time and Motion study, business process reengineering and supply chain management).
Thinking that competition is still based on cost is utopistic, on the contrary companies are competing on differentiation: being able to create relentlessly new products and services who satisfy customer needs… in few words the designer’s job.
Being affected by the virus of differentiation means for companies that they have to change their mindset.
It’s quite useless to strive for perfection: it will often require too resources on time and money. Market requires new products and services, and it should be done quickly too. Speaking about this topic, it comes to my mind how painting evolved in history. After the first prototype of camera was born, would it be useful to keep focusing on creating photorealistic paintings?
During 1800, after the camera was invented, the trend quietly shifted to impressionism: it would have been useless to invest a lot of time in paintings if something “similar” could be created quicker and cheaper, even if the goals of these two techniques to model reality are completely different.
I suppose the first step for a better future will be investing to create adhoc-offering to customers: personalization will be the next big thing. Companies will need to create different products/services for each personas they want to address.
The major keypoint to innovate constantly is creativity.
And that’s why designers’ skill and the requirements of new concept of organizations complement each other. As it is said in this article design means “creating something to satisfy one or more objectives through an innovative and creative mindset”
What could companies do? And what could you do?
Good, one step at a time
Understanding people means foresee the future.
Marco Carniel
What do you think about the topics in this article?
Let me know by commenting in the bottom section, I would be happy to talk with you.
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