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Microsoft

Reimagining the future

As Microsoft’s Design Thinking partner, we’re solving the world’s biggest challenges for Fortune 100 companies.

Overview

The Microsoft Industry Clouds are tailored to solve the biggest industry-specific challenges of today. But what about the challenges of tomorrow? As Microsoft’s trusted partner, we were asked to support Microsoft One Commercial and their executive customers in their pursuit to define the future across nine industries. With our Human Experience Innovation (HXI) approach, we established the vision for future collaboration, identified the critical problems, and composed the solution roadmap of the future.

Client name

Microsoft

Discipline

strategy

Approach

Using human-centered methodology, we guided the world’s top Fortune 100 companies through design thinking exercises to accelerate solutions to the world’s most critical challenges—from sustainable energy and life-saving healthcare to next-generation manufacturing and equitable financial services. These exercises aligned siloed business units and reshaped the way companies do business at every level.

A large circle that reads "Microsoft industry cloud" is surrounded by a ring of smaller circles representing different areas of the cloud

Solution

We focused first on understanding human needs and defining the right problems to solve. By putting humans first, we uncovered innovative products, cross-industry services, effective processes, and new lines of business, all powered through Microsoft’s Industry Clouds.

A behavior trends map of Aimee Richard in front of a customer journey map.

Human-centered strategy

Through market and user research, we informed Microsoft’s view of human behavior trends, social movements, and industry forecasting to shape how the Industry Clouds are deployed and marketed.

Envisioning workshops

We facilitated a series of virtual workshops to find new ways of collaborating between siloed working groups and to determine solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges with Microsoft technology.

A human behavior trend next to a workshop map.
A tablet showing a dashboard for analysis of a client, along with a phone with a dashboard for sustainable investing

Solution envisioning

Enabled by a Microsoft partnership, our design thinking approach was mapped across a three-horizon model to craft a joint vision of the future and outline the strategy to achieve it.

Vision demonstrators

We created visually compelling artifacts to bring the future experience vision to life. The value story was animated through clickable prototypes, vision videos, and proofs of concept.

Animations of food cooking on a stove, a farm scene behind a kitchen, and a plate of spring rolls next to a phone with an order screen

Results

We’re helping companies solve the biggest challenges of our time. Using our innovative strategy and vision demonstrators, we’ve helped companies successfully launch new lines of business, evolve digital products, and enable meaningful digital services through the Microsoft Industry Clouds. These companies are shaping the way healthcare is provided by cancer care specialists. They’re accelerating the deployment of international renewable energy systems. They’re making manufacturing more resilient to supply chain delays, and providing customers with connected end-to-end retail experiences. And because of the focus on ensuring human desirability, technology feasibility, and business viability from the earliest stages, the success of these solutions has been greatly improved by our HXI approach.

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Credits

Creative Director

Linsey Nancarrow

Creative Director

Bernadette Berger

Senior UX Designer

Jessie Bunning

Senior Design Strategist

Kelsey Seiler

Senior Design Strategist

Joey McGuinness

Senior Design Strategist

Christopher Daniels

UX Designer

Lulu McRoberts

Copywriter

Debbie Baer

Account Manager

Gil Pettegrew

Account Manager

Lorene Rumbaugh

Senior Design Strategist

Trish Brownlee

Senior Design Strategist

Basak Altan

UX Designer

Meghan Jimenez

UX Designer

Christine Lee

Engagement Manager

Devanshi Shah

Senior Director of Technical Writing and Editing

Lisa Rosenberger

Manager of Quality Assurance

Nicole Fourman

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