Imagine a world where...

3. Design operating model: You will need to defne who is responsible for the design of the customer experience – “end-to-end” and “front-to-back”. The operating model should delineate who is in the design team(s), how they are positioned in the organisation, and how these people interact with other units. This last point is particularly important, as organisations tend to be arranged around functions and/or products rather than services. The design of services requires multiple functions (e.g. design, data analytics, process modelling, CX & propositions, operations, digital and IT) to work together to monitor and improve the customer experience. However, you’ll soon learn that people are not incentivised, and therefore not interested, in working in such a way. This is probably the hardest of all goals to achieve: defning a model that incentivises people across the organisation to collaborate, contributing to the complete end-to-end customer experience rather than only their portion of it.

When defning the design operating model, consider specifcally how and where it plugs into the wider company structure and models. You may fnd it helpful to think about:

• Organisational Structure – Where in the organisation does design sit? For example, is it part of the change function, operations, strategy? Each of these functions plays by slightly different rules and is funded in different ways – design will play the rules and contribute to the goals of the function within which it sits.

• Infuence – At which stage in decision making is design involved? Does design have a say in setting strategic direction? Choosing investment priorities?

• Collaboration – How does the design function collaborate with other functions e.g. data analytics, process modeling, proposition development, operations, digital teams? Do they set priorities together? Do they collaborate regularly or only via project work?

• Commissioning & funding – How does design work get funded? How are design-led projects commissioned and by whom? What is the engagement model of the design function within the organisation?

• Governance – Who is responsible for monitoring the health of the customer experiences and/or services? Who are the ultimate decision makers deciding priorities? What are the mechanisms to drive decision making? How will you incentivise people to collaborate for the beneft of the end-to-end experience?

• Capabilities – What are the key skills our designers need? What skills and capabilities are required in the wider organisation in order to work in a more customer centric way?

4. Design excellence: A transformation of this kind doesn’t simply require design, it requires good design. Too often organisations at the beginning of this journey hire a team of inexperienced designers who aren’t versed in what it takes to bring the customer to the core of organisational decision making. Unfortunately, the team often fails to create a standard for design outcomes. Strong design leadership is critical. Great design leaders know the stakeholders, politics, objectives, challenges, propositions and overall business architecture of the organisation they serve. They should be great story tellers and experienced change agents with strong leadership and infuencing skills.

The design excellence pillar starts with principles that will guide any design work. It also outlines a clear design process tailored to the organisation’s needs and ways of working, and a library of reusable standards. Together these tools and shared artefacts ensure that there is one agreed, best practice way of doing things which helps ensure consistent, high-quality outcomes.

5. Insights and measurement: Customer data and insights are fundamental to facilitate informed, customer centric design and decision making. Qualitative and quantitative customer data and insights should therefore exist in a centralised location,