This immersive event showcased the Innovation Lab's user-centric approach, demonstrating how it can drive innovation in service development offering the opportunity for attendees to connect, investigate and explore potential service concepts, while emphasizing the importance of community engagement and the voice of the customer. By hosting this summit in Silicon Valley, attendees were able to draw on the unparalleled ecosystem for collaboration, as well as the region's rich tapestry of tech expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and a diverse pool of talents.
The summit began with a unique twist, as participants volunteered at the Valley Verde urban farm in San Jose, California, which serves low-income families with affordable, sustainable, and culturally relevant food sources. This experience set the tone for the summit by highlighting the importance of community engagement and understanding the real-world needs and challenges of the people Volvo Group serves.
On the second day, two important briefs were introduced by portfolio managers from Volvo Trucks and Volvo Trucks Nort America. The briefs addressed a potential safety-reporting service for highway vehicles, and a vehicle health awareness service for drivers, and would form the basis of the summit’s creative endeavors going forward.
“Getting the voice of customer early in the new product or service design process is absolutely critical.” Said Alex Leonov, Digital Services Manager for Volvo Group North America. “The Service Design Summit focused on giving us the right tools to do just that, and more. I spent three event-packed days in the heart of Silicon Valley with a stellar cross-functional team interviewing the customers, brainstorming new service concepts, and having candid discussions. The Innovation Lab made a tremendous job putting this together and making the summit productive and fun.”
Understanding the voice of the customer is paramount in the service design process. The attendees had the opportunity to conduct interviews with multiple stakeholders across the industry, allowing attendees to understand stakeholder needs, pain points, goals, and to validate assumptions.
The final day of the summit was dedicated to translating the valuable insights gathered during interviews into practical service concepts. These concepts were carefully crafted to deliver clear, continuous value to each stakeholder within the service ecosystems and if pursued, would provide scouting requirements for partners and startups for proof of concept.
“Going from user interviews, pulling out themes, to white boarding, and translating it into a usable service concept was super interesting. A big eye opener.” said Andy Jordan, Senior UX/UI Designer, Volvo Group Connected Solutions Innovation Lab, Sweden.
Link to Innovation Lab website and more success stories
