Vodafone – Customer-Centric Digital Service Development

In the highly competitive mobile and smartphone market, network operators are constantly looking for an edge and one customer-centric strategy pursued by Vodafone involves deeper customer engagement through its digital services.

PDD helped Vodafone to explore and define a new retail-related business concept that would add value to customers. PDD visualised the idea so that the company’s senior managers would approve future development. By creating a series of user stories and a prototype device, PDD helped the concept’s in-house sponsor to gain the internal support needed. This led to PDD taking charge of the user-experience prototyping phase of the project.

The network operator also asked PDD to investigate an innovation style known as co-creation (or co-design). This advocates working directly with customers to develop compelling service and product concepts. To help demonstrate the value of co-creation to an internal Vodafone audience, PDD developed a set of guidelines specific to the company’s own processes and corporate structure. Vodafone had already judged the quality and usefulness of a series of controlled co-creation sessions, and these assessments helped PDD select the right content for the guidelines.

After understanding how and when Vodafone would use co-creation, PDD decided to print the guidelines as a quick-reference book aimed at two distinct user-groups. The part aimed at designers focused on how to conduct and manage co-creation sessions, while the sections for business executives provided a rationalised approach to integrating co-creation within the innovation process. Written in plain English and using info graphics, the book gives Vodafone a useful, tangible and easily accessible tool that guides staff on co-creation techniques and applications.

Throughout the relationship with Vodafone, PDD has used a unique blend of design expertise and consumer market knowledge to underpin its insights and innovations.