Published on September 8th, 2018 | by Bibhuranjan

Tips for Business Leaders on how to Integrate Design into Their Companies

It takes time, commitment and the right strategy to integrate design into your company’s production activities. The process goes beyond hiring an expert designer.

Unlike the past when design was prevalent in traditional settings such as the fashion industry, design is currently instrumental in improving customer experience. Industries such as consumer goods and telecom are using it to foster innovation and generate great results. And as we men Here is what business leaders should know for smooth design integration into their company’s activities.

There’s a Thin Line Between Design and Design Thinking

Design thinking entails solving complex business problems using effective design techniques. It is important to note that design and design thinking are different terms. It is not advisable to consider them as interchangeable terms. Business leaders must understand what these two terms entail for them to effectively transform their ventures into design-centric companies.

Design thinking is also a scholarly topic covered in technical fields such as architecture and industrial design. This means that for one to be a qualified design thinker, he or she must hone certain skills and experience. Design thinking can offer solutions to some of the challenges that companies face. However, it cannot transform a venture into a design-centric company.

Align Goals You Set with Your Company’s Corporate Strategy

When setting business goals, ensure that they conform with your company’s corporate strategy. Most business leaders experience challenges when aligning their talent and monetary investments with their company’s vision and strategy. They should note that every design-centric company has a clear corporate strategy and vision for recruiting the best talent and investing finances into set activities.

To mitigate the challenges companies face when aligning goals with their corporate strategies, organizational resourcing and road mapping may come in handy. These tools focus on supporting the entire design process. They also set a solid foundation for transformation to take place.

Change Management is Greater Than Design Leadership

It isn’t wise to oppose the fact that great design leadership is crucial in delivering great results for a company. However, the role played by change management in this process is much greater. Management in this case is applicable to activities such as branding, budgeting, engineering development and innovation. With the right management in place, design will effortlessly integrate in these activities.

Companies should have a long-term commitment to achieving great results during the design transformation process. It may take a company more than five years to excel in its industry by consistently delivering products or services that clients like. As a business executive, you have to let the design transformation process take its course as required.

Hiring the Best Talent is Not Enough

Company executives should be aware of the fact that hiring a highly qualified design expert won’t help them achieve their desired goals quickly. It is a frustrating experience to spend lots of money on hiring such an expert and fail to achieve great results. It will take time for your company to recover from this loss.

The key to succeeding in your industry is to create a sustainable environment for design to thrive. Create the environment by making your employees understand what design entails. This process requires time and patience from you and your employees for it to be effective. With the best talent and a sustainable design environment, your firm will definitely improve in terms of revenue generation and customer service.

Build a Culture of Design in Your Company

To reap great benefits from design, your company must rely on a design culture. It is quite impossible to reap these benefits overnight without putting more effort on building the design culture. Build this culture by making your staff understand how design fosters strategic advantage in your firm. Make your staff understand the resources that are useful during this endeavor.

Let the professionals know how your company’s operations should conform with its design efforts. Through capacity building, your staff will be knowledgeable about design and how it can impact growth in your firm. This knowledge will help them realize the role that they should play to achieve your firm’s business goals. Always train new employees for the culture to grow.

Always Measure the Investment Returns of the Design Process

Since investing in design is a long-term endeavor, it is important to measure the returns. You should measure the emotional impacts that design has on your targeted customers. Spend money on services that study consumer behaviour. This initiative will help your organisation to know the reasons behind people’s decisions to choose or not choose your products. It will also help you determine the products that your customers like and those that they don’t like.

The good thing about measuring your firm’s design investment returns is that you get to make changes on your firm’s financial planning approaches. Your ultimate goal for serving customers with certain products or services is to get high returns. With the right information on how they make purchasing decisions, you can improve on the customer service. Be sure to involve your staff, high ranking executives and board members of your company when analyzing this set of data.

Conclusion

Design thinking is essential in today’s startup environment. In the late 90s and early 00s, startups focused on technical problems. They had to bend existing technology to accomplish even simple tasks. Those days of tech-first development are over. The tools of development get better with every year, and there’s almost no limit to what we can build. Today, successful startups are the ones that follow design-first principles.

To build a corporate design company, you need a clear strategy and vision. You also need a leadership team that has the right skill set to drive this strategy and vision. To achieve success, you should have an organized structure and adequate resources in place. Depending on the nature of your business, some methodologies of process’s organization may be less effective than others. Make an effort of building a culture focused on embracing the diverse dimensions of design. Your firm also requires a professional team that is knowledgeable and experienced in various design disciplines.

Tags: business design, business goals, company, corporate strategy, creative, design, management

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.