Develop innovative ways to engage the next generation

The user experience landscape is shifting and it is today’s digital natives that are driving its future. Unlike previous generations, they have an innate understanding of digital, because for them, it was always there. As a result, they expect more from digital; they want access to flexible, easy-to-use solutions anywhere, anytime. They are keen to create and own digital content, seeking out social validation and collaboration to do so. It is vital for any business to design new, innovative ways to engage with them.

As the financial services industry has become a hotbed for such innovation in recent years, how do you stand out in the market? Our answer is by taking a user-centred approach that can uncover unexpected yet important needs.

We are a design-led organization: we embrace the idea that design should be embedded into our culture and process from the start. Design is not just about how something looks – it’s also about how it will be used. We apply design thinking as a way to put the user first, discover their unmet needs and expectations, and consider them alongside the constraints and risks of a project.

In our process, we continuously engage users and stakeholders using prototypes, customer journeys or service blueprints, so we can test, learn and refine concepts quickly and early. It is through design that we can bridge the gaps and focus on the real value for both the user and the business.

We are constantly on the lookout for new ideas that emerge from customer trends, technological breakthroughs, new ideological views and business practices that can inspire a change in the way people experience the wider world. Our global network requires us to design for scale – we run ethnographic research and use a ‘systems thinking’ approach to understand how replicable and customizable our solutions are in other countries and contexts.

By placing design at the heart of our business process, we can maintain a sustainable competitive advantage that allows us to define today the products and services used by the generations of tomorrow.