Can your SAP ecosystem be human-centered?

Transcription

1 Can your SAP ecosystem be human-centered? Activating Design Thinking enables IT organizations to both strengthen business relevance and drive increased adoption of SAP and other large-scale systems.

2 1 Design as a Service

3 Introduction Chief information officers have the opportunity to drive the business s digital agenda but sometimes struggle with delivering solutions that engage and inspire internal and external customers. Despite multimillion dollar investments in SAP solutions this past year, our clients explain that they are still challenged with maintaining business relevance. This is demonstrated by the fact that many business users refuse to adopt the products of multimillion dollar IT investments and that 60% of companies did not see the anticipated benefits of their implementation. 1 Furthermore, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that by 2020, 50% of the workforce will be millennials that expect their employers to provide the same personalized digital experience they are accustomed to outside of the office. 2 This will deepen the disconnect between IT and their internal customers. But it is important to realize that system adoption goes beyond the traditional user interface challenge. SAP Fiori solutions are intuitive and easy to use, but the adoption challenge still prevails. We realize that adoption is a design challenge, where design in this case is not just how the product looks or its role in the larger user experience, but the process by which the solution is conceived and developed. By fundamentally changing the way IT engages with their customers through a human-centered design process, we have seen our clients mitigate adoption risks in parallel with solution delivery. Benefits of being human-centered According to the Design Management Institute, design-led companies have maintained a significant stock market advantage, outperforming the S&P by 211%. 3 This is in part because practicing human-centered design provides organizations both the ability to identify new revenue growth opportunities with end customers and to drive adoption and operational efficiencies by maximizing opportunities with internal customers. We have seen first hand how IT organizations have benefitted from a human-centered design process in two ways: Bolstering technology solution adoption Empowering IT to drive the business and own their organization s digital agenda Specifically, this paper addresses the intricacies of running a human-centered design process within an IT organization with large-scale SAP investments. Practicing an effective human-centered design process can help guide successful SAP implementations by addressing common failure modes. These common failure modes include progressive project scoping as business sponsors provide IT with a laundry list of non-prioritized technical requirements, slow and siloed back-end development, discreet and unclear connection between corporate and IT strategy, and employees actively seeking alternatives and workarounds to SAP solutions. 1. Key Findings From the 2015 ERP Report, Panorama Consulting Solutions, Will Your Company Survive the Millennial Invasion? VUE Software, dmi: Design Value Index Results and Commentary Design Management Institute, Design as a Service 2

4 Practicing a human-centered design process One of the most common misconceptions among IT organizations is that design and user interface are one in the same. The UI is the final product, but it is strictly the consequence of a development process guided by a human-centered way of thinking. By placing such a large emphasis on the look and feel of the end product, it is easy to lose sight of the surrounding context that drives the end user s willingness to adopt the solution. Instead, the focus should be on the customer the customer being employees, vendors, third parties and endconsumers. This user-centered mindset is championed as a core tenet of Design Thinking. The SAP ecosystem has begun to embrace Design Thinking and provides its customers (our clients) with extensive training on the importance of empathizing with the user. 4 The Design Thinking model is highly iterative and is composed of the following phases: Empathize: understanding the needs of those you are designing for Define: frame the challenge in the context of use and what you have learned about the user Ideate: generate a wide range of solutions (brainstorming is just one ideation tool). We know that the wider the range of ideas, the greater chance there is to create a truly innovative solution 5 Prototype: communicate the core elements of the solution (does not need to be a functioning tool) Test: learn what works and what does not work (this is not a user acceptance test) It is important to note that Design Thinking is only a mindset. Activating a human-centered design process requires fundamental changes to an IT organization s way of working. Activating human-centered design in IT There are a number of different tools and methodologies that designers employ to make the mantra of Design Thinking real for their organizations. These tools complement each other and are maintained throughout an SAP implementation life cycle. There are three key components to activating the Design Thinking mindset: 1. Agility in process and speed 2. Prioritization by human requirements 3. Engagement proactively, not reactively 4. Sam Yen, Design Thinking Promotes an Innovation Culture, SAPinsider, April Shanna R. Daly et. al., Design Heuristics in Engineering Concept Generation, Journal of Engineering Education, October 2012, 2012 ASEE. 3 Design as a Service

5 Agility in process and speed An agile approach to program management enables more fluid engagement with customers. As an IT organization, after receiving a request from an internal customer, it is common to break down the solution by individual component, develop the solution and deliver back to the business upon completion. There are two problems with this siloed and waterfall approach that directly impact adoption. One is that, because end users and business stakeholders are not incorporated in the development process, there is no shared sense of ownership over the solution. End users therefore have no incentive to employ the resulting solution and often wonder why the solution was developed in the first place. This solutioning in isolation sends a message that IT organizations simply fulfill requests even though the knowledge and data assets they control should be driving the business digital strategy. The other adverse effect of the traditional siloed, waterfall model is that users are not exposed to the solution or any of its functionality until final deployment. This means that IT is provided with infrequent or inadequate feedback on how the solution should operate and cannot make adjustments to even meet customer expectations. Given the modularity of SAP S/4HANA, IT teams can take advantage of the shorter development cycles and release solutions as a series of minimally viable products (MVPs). By breaking down the solution into a group of MVPs to continuously develop and test with users, you are also providing the users with a series of touch points to familiarize themselves with the solution and its features several times before final deployment. This means that users are already familiar with basic functionality, and it may even replace the need for full-fledged training and change management efforts. Prioritization by human requirements A key driver of an agile process is building and maintaining a backlog of user stories. These user stories break down the different requirements from the point of view of the end user: who they are, what they want and why they want it. While this sets the tone from the beginning that technology solutions need to be developed from the customer s perspective, it is not clear how these user stories are created, and they are often overlooked. Building personas helps empathize with end users and are foundational tools that enable further exploration and use-case development. Personas are concrete representations of groups of real or fake people based on REAL data. They are a communication tool that helps summarize the quantitative and qualitative user insights that have been gathered over time. Personas are created through both qualitative and quantitative research. The persona s degree of detail is directly proportional to the level of intimacy in research and observation. A best practice in creating personas is to study a group of individuals day in the life, shadowing them both at work and at home (live with them if they let you). Design as a Service 4

6 Case in point For a global media and entertainment leader, EY applied a human-centered design process to successfully implement an SAP Fiori procure-to-pay process and reduce the burden on quality and technology service teams by more than 85%. Seventy percent of the 2,500 affected users indicated that the final product offered greater transparency, and users were eager to adopt the new product. Our process also uncovered more than 125 significant and unarticulated counter points across 5 geographic regions and fueled the rejuvenation of their innovation strategy for new content development. For a major home and industrial equipment provider, EY introduced human-centered design methodologies with the SAP Business Intelligence (BI) team to help change the way they engage with the business and become the preferred internal strategic partner. Through an Art of the Possible session, the BI team leveraged its core data assets to expose the business to its digital capabilities and align on a digital strategy to guide IT and business efforts over the next three years. While the act of building personas is valuable in the sense that they show customers that IT is thinking about them and their needs, they really allow IT to identify potential super users and provide a framework for IT to prioritize solution layout and required functionality. For example, if a key business leader requests a mobile, real-time data feed for a system that the majority of end users are only able to access once a day, rather than unnecessarily divert funds and resources IT can push back and substantiate its claims with documentation on its users. Nevertheless, the market is saturated with incomplete soft personas, and because of their qualitative nature, it is hard to know how many personas to create or whether or not the persona is truly representative of the target audience. This is why it is important to organize personas by personality dimension, not by job function, and calculate how well the descriptions in each dimension align with the underlying data and observations. Only then is it possible to substantiate the qualitative claims. The calculation is repeated for each persona until a critical mass of the target audience is represented, signaling that no more personas are needed. Once personas are created for all customers (employees, vendors, third parties and end customers), mapping their interactions on an experience map will help an IT organization understand the context of how technology solutions impact the organization at large. It is important to map interactions end-to-end and not in the context of a single business process because IT needs to recognize how its solutions will impact all elements of the business to avoid surprises after UAT. This end-to-end understanding, combined with the individualized insights summarized in personas, allows IT organizations to anticipate a user s unarticulated needs. Engagement proactively, not reactively Armed with the ability to recognize unarticulated needs and prioritize solution features by human requirements, IT is ready to engage the business instead of the other way around. Nevertheless, to be positioned as a strategic partner and solidify business relevance, the CIO organization needs to organize around a shared future-forward vision. Because of the overarching shift of companies becoming digital experience providers, the CIO organization is uniquely positioned to drive the organization s digital agenda. One way to do this is to share the Art of the Possible in how the business can drive growth through new opportunities with the end consumer. These new opportunities become apparent when analyzing the touch points with the end consumer on the experience map and comparing them with internal data capabilities that are available but not yet monetized. Hosting an Art of the Possible workshop helps align the IT strategy with the corporate strategy. This also mitigates the emergence of competing agendas moving forward and provides business users with a clear picture of how the solutions IT delivers will improve their jobs and help them reach their longer-term business goals. Nevertheless, hosting an Art of the Possible session requires the right balance of imagination and rationale. The creativity that is channeled throughout the session is key to stakeholder engagement and adoption. Now, instead of questioning why an IT solution was developed, users may be more willing to embrace it. Once the shared, future-forward vision is validated, applying the decision framework given by the personas allows IT to go from the Art of the Possible to the Art of the Practical and develop solutions that make the most sense given the context of intended use. 5 Design as a Service

7 How is this different from the traditional approach? One of the elements that makes Design as a Service unique is its combination of tools and methodologies that are best practices in different and seemingly separate domains in a single process that represents a fundamental change to how many IT organizations currently operate. We can highlight the key differences between the human-centered design approach and the traditional IT development approach with respect to the impact on people, process adjustments, governance model nuances, and how tools and technology are used. People Process Governance Tools and technology Traditional approach Mission and vision motivates users to buy in Focused alignment among internal stakeholders Hypothesis-driven analysis with defined assumptions Stage gate order of operations focused on delivering a single end product Vertical hierarchy where leadership carries decision authority Jobs organized by key function or product/service affiliation Reliance on IT department for data validation and reporting needs Digital tools are prioritized when executing tasks Design Approach User discovery and needs motivates the business mission and vision Stakeholders include both internal users and external touch points (customers, third parties, partners, etc.) User observation informs a unique course of action Agile development with continuous iteration when releasing minimally viable products Decisions are prioritized by impact on end user Jobs are organized by corresponding phase of the end-to-end user journey All functions assume data and analysis responsibility Analog methods are sometimes preferred to facilitate collaboration SAP-specific challenges User discovery is often limited and the SAP team rarely interacts with stakeholders beyond the application requester SAP teams are typically driven by the standard solutions available in the SAP ecosystem SAP is usually implemented by module which, by design, focuses on interactions and transactions in isolation SAP development team is often siloed and physically disconnected from business stakeholders Decisions are often made based on system limitations instead of user preferences Organization-wide stigma that SAP systems are bulky regardless of actual performance System integration with non-sap third parties is challenging SAP Fiori and SAP Business Objects TM have limited interface design flexibility SAP shops are well-equipped to practice design SAP provides its customers with many of the right tools to practice and reap the benefits from a humancentered design process. This includes everything from training modules to educate IT resources on Design Thinking to collaborative front-end design tools to better engage with users. Build.me is one such engagement platform. When working with their internal customers, practitioners can co-create with users and draft the technology solution s look and feel quickly. Build.me is a digital sketching tool that allows for easy collaboration. Designs can then be immediately exported to SAP Business Objects TM for realization and technical development. Furthermore, SAP Business Objects TM and Lumira allow IT departments to deliver mobile-enabled dashboards with a wider array of display options and features. However, it is important to note that these assets are only focused around developing the UI. From an architecture perspective, transitioning to the SAP Cloud Platform enables more frequent front and back-end solution iteration and data availability. This is far more supportive of the agile development process that human-centered design requires. Furthermore, SAP S/4HANA allows for faster response times and the ability to store and analyze unstructured data. This is important as it relates to humancentered design because it enables the development of individualized solutions that meet an individual s specific needs. Design as a Service 6

8 Design as a Service While it is now clear that understanding the user is more important than just understanding their information requirements, this is easier said than done. Even with all the right tools, it is not easy for IT organizations to bring it all together and practice Design Thinking. Through a series of activities to empathize with users and collaborative workshops to define the Art of the Possible, Design as a Service is our prescribed and scalable approach to help IT both drive innovation and increase stakeholder adoption of its investments. We employ the following key assets: Agility in process and speed: Iterative design reviews in line with 3-4 week sprint charter plans Agile scrum master project management support Education modules to train the IT workforce on Design Thinking tactics Prioritization by human requirements: Persona development with the EY Persona Fit Index calculator End-to-end experience mapping identifying counter points, proof points and signature points that highlight key areas of differentiation Use cases for human-centered functional requirement scoping Proactive engagement: Art of the Possible collaboration session to align on future forward strategy. Bringing in the right groups across your organization for a proprietary ideation session fueled by imagination and creativity 3-5 year road map outlining foundational next steps to realize the Art of the Possible 7 Design as a Service

9 The bottom line It is clear that when IT practices a human-centered design process, the business benefits from increased adoption of new and existing solutions as well as the ability to realize new growth opportunities with endconsumers. It is also clear that executing a human-centered process in IT is far from trivial. It represents a fundamental change to the current way of working and requires employing new methodologies and educating the workforce in the art of identifying and providing digital experiences. With Design as a Service, EY brings expertise in managing the intricacies of a human-centered process and leverages its alliance with SAP to target the specific challenges that SAP organizations face using the development tools and modules already in use. Key contacts David Takeuchi Principal, Ernst & Young LLP Digital and Enterprise Experience Design david.takeuchi@ey.com Gundeep Singh Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP IT Advisory, SAP gundeep.singh@ey.com Greg Caputo Consultant, Ernst & Young LLP Digital and Enterprise Experience Design greg.caputo@ey.com Design as a Service 8

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