In today's competitive business landscape, Thai business owners, founders, CEOs, and heads of departments at lifestyle brands and SMEs are constantly seeking innovative ways to enhance their business and brand strategies. One powerful approach to achieve this is through design thinking. This methodology not only fosters creativity but also aligns your business strategies with market needs, ensuring sustainable growth and customer satisfaction. As an innovative entrepreneur and an innovation strategy consultant, I will be sharing the 101 of design thinking today.

Understanding Design Thinking

“Design thinking is dead”. You may have heard of it in the past few months, since the pioneer of the design thinking framework, IDEO, has laid off one third of their team. Despite the dreadful announcement of the pioneer, I am still a big believer of design thinking for so many reasons. For instance, although people say IDEO is the pioneer of design thinking, there are so many case studies and companies that exercise the similar concept even before IDEO without even calling it design thinking. For example Nintendo, Apple, Samsung, Honda, etc. Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that emphasizes understanding the user's needs and developing creative solutions. This process involves five key stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. By integrating the design thinking process into your business strategies, you can create products and services that truly resonate with your customers.

Empathy: The Heart of Design Thinking

Empathy is the cornerstone of design thinking. At WYLD, we experienced the power of empathy during our previous fintech startup. Our goal was to digitally transform the wealth management business in Thailand, aiming to become an all-in-one investment fund. We started by scoping the industry landscape, using empathy to understand the pain points and needs of our end customers.

We conducted over 100 qualitative contextual inquiries and customer interviews with investors and non-investors. We employed empathy mapping, tracked eye movements, noted voice tones, and repeatedly asked "why" to uncover root causes. Our research revealed a crucial insight: despite investors stating they wanted higher returns, their primary concern was avoiding losses. This insight was not apparent through traditional competitor analysis, which focused on offering better discounts or more free gifts.

Defining the Problem

From our empathy research, we defined the core problem: the investment industry was providing numerous expensive options without addressing the fundamental need to minimize losses. This overabundance of similar, costly products led to confusion rather than solving customer needs.

Ideation: Generating Creative Solutions

The ideation stage is where creativity flourishes. At WYLD, we encourage our team to brainstorm freely, adhering to rules that fostered a positive environment: avoiding toxic critics, encouraging even the craziest ideas, saying "yes and'' instead of "yes but," prioritizing quantity over quality, using various forms of presentation, and maintaining a 2:1 listening to speaking ratio.

We generated numerous creative solutions, one of which involved simplifying the investment process to focus on minimizing losses rather than maximizing returns. We validated these ideas through prototypes, role-plays, consultations with domain experts, and statistical projections. One effective validation method was discussing our ideas with senior industry executives to gauge feasibility and potential obstacles.

Prototyping and Testing

We developed prototypes and tested them with real users, refining our ideas based on feedback. This iterative process ensured that our solutions were aligned with customer needs and feasible within the industry constraints. However, we encountered challenges in operational feasibility, particularly in implementing innovative digital transformation ideas in a highly regulated environment. This experience taught us the importance of thorough feasibility testing when pursuing large-scale innovations.

Integrating Design Thinking into Business Strategy

Integrating design thinking into your business strategy can transform the way you approach challenges and opportunities. For Thai business owners and leaders, this means fostering a culture of innovation and customer-centricity within your organization. Here are some practical ways to integrate design thinking into your business:

Start with the Customer: Always begin with a deep understanding of your customer's needs. Conduct regular research and gather feedback to ensure your strategies are aligned with market demands.
Encourage Creativity: Foster a culture of creativity within your team. Encourage brainstorming sessions and create an environment where new ideas are welcomed and explored.
Iterate and Improve: Embrace an iterative approach to problem-solving. Develop prototypes, test them with real users, and refine your solutions based on feedback.
Collaborate Across Teams: Design thinking thrives on collaboration. Bring together diverse teams from different departments to work on problems and generate solutions.
Focus on Empathy: Make empathy a core value of your business. Ensure that every decision you make is informed by a deep understanding of your customer's needs and experiences

Case Study: Success Through Design Thinking

Our experience with our previous fintech startup is a testament to the power of design thinking. By conducting in-depth qualitative research and applying empathy, we identified a critical need in the investment industry that had been overlooked. This insight led us to develop innovative solutions that resonated deeply with customers. Although we faced challenges in operational feasibility, the lessons we learned have been invaluable in shaping our approach to design thinking at WYLD.

The Future of Design Thinking in Thailand

As the business landscape in Thailand continues to evolve, design thinking will play an increasingly important role in driving innovation and growth. By adopting this human-centered approach, Thai business owners and leaders can ensure that their strategies are not only innovative but also deeply aligned with the needs of their customers.

Conclusion

Incorporating design thinking into your business and brand strategy is not just about solving problems; it's about creating meaningful and lasting connections with your customers. By understanding their needs and developing creative solutions, you can foster innovation and drive sustainable growth for your business. At WYLD, we are committed to helping Thai lifestyle brands and SMEs harness the power of design thinking to achieve their goals. Whether you need help with brand strategy, market expansion, or new product development, we are here to guide you every step of the way.

By embracing design thinking, you can transform your business and create a brand that truly resonates with your customers. If you want to start your design thinking journey today and unlock the potential for innovation and growth, drop us an email at hello@worldwyldwork.com or simply contact us.

Credit

Primary author: Taishi Hasegawa - CEO at WYLD.

Author assistant: Manusavee Sattha

Graphic by: Patsorn Arayaluck

Design Thinking: Enhancing Business and Brand Strategy