Creating an impact: Bridging the gap from research to product in multidisciplinary innovation to enhance business value

Abstract

In recent years, design has become a crucial component of corporate innovation. Large corporations such as Deloitte have implemented design capabilities as a method to enhance employee experience, achieve innovation and maintain a competitive advantage. This research aims to demonstrate how design can perform as a catalyst of innovation within a corporate environment.

This report will touch upon the role of employee experience teams within organizations, and the way in which economic and societal change creates a demand for ethical employers with a clear purpose. It will further discuss challenges and opportunities in multidisciplinary collaboration, as a process to achieve innovation. Lastly, it will demonstrate the business value of design as a tool for communication, co-creation and user centred research.
This master thesis is done in collaboration with Deloitte Amsterdam. The project focuses on the digital@deloitte team, a multidisciplinary employee experience team that develops digital solutions using agile, design thinking and user centred research in co-creation with Deloitte employees. The team is driven by use of design methodologies in their approach, collaboration and research techniques.
By investigating a team within Deloitte Netherlands, this thesis will explore ways in which design can improve multidisciplinary collaboration, foster innovation and enhance business impact. Through interviews, creative workshops and co-creation sessions, this project will reveal ways in which the team can enhance their business value and create a bigger impact on employees.
This thesis will introduce the development of a curated tool-kit that aims to improve the team’s collaborative process and perform as a catalyst for multidisciplinary collaboration, by creating focus and bridging the gap between research and product development.
The primary use of the tool-kit will be for team alignment and discussion.

This report will demonstrate how the tool-kit was developed, and how it can be implemented and used to enhance the team’s creative collaboration, communication and finally business impact. A road map will reveal the potential of implementing the tool-kit into the collaborative process of the team, and how it can evolve into an evaluation tool for products, enabling the team to set clear measurable targets. Eventually, the tool-kit has the potential to perform as a decision making tool that can enable the team to become more self steering and enhance their value.