How it actually works on the ground

Step 1 – Exploration/Validation

Fieldwork is central to SolutionSync’s collaborative approach, where exploration, discovery, validation and making sense of people’s perceptions take place. 

To be in the field means to have direct, personal contact with people in their own environments. It allows for contextualizing research questions in their natural settings. The natural setting becomes the direct source of data and the skilled researcher is the key instrument. 

Our qualitative data analysts thoroughly work on largely descriptive data from interviews and observations to generate major themes, categories and case examples. 

By paying close attention to detail, descriptive vocabulary and direct quotes which people actually use, a sense of a story emerges. 

Systematic comparisons, deductions and thematic organization are carried out to better understand the underlying meanings of expressed ideas, beliefs and attitudes and to extract key findings from a wealth of detailed data about a defined number of people and cases.

Open-door policy and knowledge sharing

We work closely with our clients to engage all relevant stakeholders (e.g. marketing, business development, technical, R&D, production, risk management, finance, public relations, communication experts) in articulating the study objectives to ensure that existing gaps in knowledge are clearly identified.

The results and effects assessed through this approach are difficult to capture through standardized quantitative methods, which typically fit people’s ideas into predetermined response choices. 

Making sense of a given situation without imposing pre-existing expectations on the setting allows observations, comments and expressed views to drive towards the construction of general patterns and a picture that takes shape as the parts are collected and examined.

Step 2 – Concept Design or Improvements

Our interactive ‘Charrette‘ process is applied that fully integrates acquired in-depth understanding of consumers’ pains and need and which incrementally builds on the outcome of contextual research and input from key stakeholders to define and develop unique value propositions and/or concept designs or modifications in an iterative way of rapid prototyping. 

This participatory, results-oriented team process is focused on problem-solving and is based on intensive brainstorming, rapid prototyping and feedback loops. The outcome of this step is a novel prototype solution (e.g. concept, experience, and communication package or physical prototype) that is both consumer-driven and consumer validated.

Step 3 – Implementation support and project management

As unbiased, neutral players, we draw on our network of expertise in design, communication, engineering and project management to assist clients in:

• Transformation of concept and hardware prototypes into functional prototypes.
• Supervision of concept implementation and/or production of functional prototypes.
• Overlooking manufacturing to ensure user-led, needs-based development of solutions.
• Monitoring timelines, milestones, and outlined activities to ensure efficient execution of projects. 
• Ensuring quality consistency of solution development. 

We serve as liaison between client, communication agencies and manufacturing to ascertain manufacturing is led by the relevant consumers needs and business strategy in a consistent and sustainable manner.

Case Study: 
Crafting a culturally-sensitive Value Proposition based on consumers’ perceptions and needs.

Teams are a fundamental part of today’s workplace. However, as Katzenbach and Smith recognized in their landmark book “The Wisdom of Teams”, high-performance teams are extremely rare, and the difference in output between a high-performance team and an average team is enormous.

Many of the popular techniques to improve team performance – such as the use of consultants, special incentives, training programs, etc. – make only a small difference, because the true drivers of team performance are discipline, challenge, and creativity. SolutionSync designed a revolutionary results-oriented technique, Charrette, that enables teams of professionals to develop appropriate solutions to key problems and challenges in a systematic and participatory manner that builds on the “Design Thinking” approach.  

Charrette blends together key findings and relevant insights from the field, brainstorming, rapid prototyping and a series of deductions which participants undertake to reach an ultimate solution that is collectively rated as the ‘best’. In addition to its cost-effectiveness, a major value-added of Charrette lies in its ability to generate immediate results and to address the needs of a wide range of projects differing in scope and size. 

Charrette’s key strenghts include:

• Helping teams to sharply focus on a particular challenge that should be addressed
• Enhancing teams’ abilities to generate tangible results in a very short time
• Pushing up the bar with regards to how much a team could actually achieve
• Encouraging team members to think “outside the box” and to fully explore their creative potentials
• Promoting team members’ capabilities to build on each others’ ideas
• Creating a favorable environment, conducive to participation, collaboration and innovation

Teams from organizations of different scope and size who took part in the Charrette experience found it highly rewarding. Not only did Charrette inspire them to think “outside the box”, but it actually enabled them to deliver their organizations practical, novel solutions that addressed customers’ needs in a very short time. Examples of some challenging areas which Charrette participants successfully tackled include new product and service development, strategic planning, positioning and marketing, inter-organizational communication and coordination. 

Charrette in action

Clearly identify the design challenge
A well-articulated design challenge or “charter” is defined. It has to have a clear objective and a concrete output to be delivered within set timeframe.

Bring the team together
Because a successful Charrette largely relies on commitment and creativity, it is of paramount importance that the right mix of participants be identified. They should have diverse backgrounds, skills and expertise. With the right blend of participants, Charrette’s unconventional environment allows many barriers, such as those related to organizational roles, functions, hierarchies and personality differences, to melt, making way for the creation of a liminal setting, where all sailors are on the same boat, sailing towards the same destination.

Learn from the ‘experts’
The team gathers ideas – as many ideas as possible – to immerse themselves quickly into the topic. They do this by interacting with experts, who depending on the situation might be a team member or people external to the team, and by brainstorming to generate and capture key ideas.

Brainstorming and rapid prototyping
Charrette relies on the  progressive reiteration of 

1. generating ideas; 
2. using those ideas to develop solutions; and
3. building on external feedback to refine and improve solutions.

The team performs the first of several ‘rapid prototyping’ cycles where they brainstorm ideas which could be part of a solution, select a few ideas for prototyping, build a prototype, and test it in real-time. After getting structured feedback on their prototype using the SMART formula, the team enters into another idea generation and prototyping phase. 

Ultimate prototype solution
Finally, the team consults the ‘experts’ once again, these could be external consultants, colleagues, or anyone who can offer an informed opinion – and builds a final prototype which captures the best elements of all previous prototypes and of the feedback they have collected. 

To carry out a successful Charrette workshop, it is best to have 3-4 groups with 4-8 members in each group. Selecting the right venue for a Charrette is equally important. It has to be quite spacious and comfortable. The Charrette ends with a review of the process to solicit participant’s views on the overall experience and the definition of the next steps.

Seizing Opportunities in Dire Straits

Today’s turbulent economic conditions are making it most challenging for companies worldwide to not only expand their client base, but to merely maintain it. In addition, many of those companies had already invested significant resources in the development of new products and services just before the financial crisis hit our world in 2008. In the midst of a weary, stumbling economy, many companies find it risky and costly to launch new products and services, given rising consumers’ hesitancy to spend and caution of companies to green light new projects.

Despite anxiety about the impacts of the economic recession, creativity and adopting novel means to rapidly respond to crisis, change and emerging social needs can help businesses discover new prospects. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of how a particular product or service can cater to current consumers’ perceptions, behaviors and lifestyles can open up new horizons for companies, help them seize opportunities and realize long-term gains.

With many projects in the pipeline and mounting pressure to reduce expenditures, companies today are looking for speedy high quality, low-cost solutions to prioritize most promising ventures. Rapid, qualitative field research can enable companies to make informed decisions and to respond promptly to people’s real needs, based on a profound understanding of what consumers essentially think and want.

On-the-ground Experience

SolutionSync has been recently engaged in helping a renowned food giant draw a roadmap for translating an innovative idea that has the potential of revolutionizing current practices and in which it invested considerable resources, into a unique initiative, based on the integration of a culturally-sensitive perspective that draws on an in-depth understanding of consumers’ views and needs.

Our team was contracted to assess and evaluate possible ways for launching a new system combining a food product and delivery system for home use. This entailed not only probing consumers’ views on the product and delivery system, but also their appraisal of a prototype system placed in their homes. The objectives were to validate hypotheses drawn by the marketing team, develop a value proposition based on grass-roots consumers’ insights and identify key triggers and motivations that can drive the acceptance of this novel system.

To achieve that in a most time efficient manner, SolutionSync designed and conducted a qualitative field research over a period of 10 weeks. With an experienced anthropologist, a carefully selected representative sample of consumers and a blend of established socio-anthropological research methods, SolutionSync was able to generate a rich pool of data that was meticulously analyzed to highlight key consumers’ perceptions, views and lifestyles which influence their assessment of and preferences regarding the product/delivery system. Insights deducted from the study were then used to craft a culturally-sensitive value proposition that would make most sense to the target consumer segment.

Collaborative Approach and Methodology

Working closely with the client, SolutionSync engaged all relevant stakeholders (technical, marketing, R&D and business development) in articulating the study objectives to ensure that existing gaps in knowledge are clearly identified. Following desk research of relevant data and a comprehensive review of available documentation, SolutionSync’s research department developed the field research methodology. The study was carried out over a period of 10 weeks utilizing 3 primary tools; namely, In-depth interviews; Contextual and behavioural observations; and Diaries.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with research participants at their homes. The interviews were split in two sessions, each lasting 2-3 hours and planned to allow tracing patterns which could occur over time. A detailed interview guide was followed to ensure comprehensive coverage of key research questions, while allowing ample flexibility for participants to express their feelings and views and to follow the rhythm of the household. The interview guide included numerous open ended questions which provided participants with the chance to reflect on their emotions, experiences and dimensions of their lives which enriched the study’s overall understanding. With permission from participants, interviews were audio taped and photos and videos were also taken when allowed.

Observation of the contextual and behavioural aspects associated with product use was carried out. Lengthy stay at the households allowed for observation of the physical environment where practices and rituals took place as well as research participants’ habits and gestures. Research participants were also asked to keep a diary of their day-to-day product use. Diaries were intended to shed light on participants’ practices and routines and to augment data obtained from interviews and observations.

In order to methodically address the study’s dimensions, research participants’ background attributes were explored, examined and interpreted. Some of these attributes –such as education, profession, values and beliefs- are related to socio-cultural factors which shape people’s perceptions and attitudes. Other attributes include life experiences and acquired information which similarly influence preferences and choices with regards to product use and preferred delivery system.

These tools were complemented with a thorough review and integration of key findings and lessons learned from previous studies and other related research. They were also augmented by incorporating the views of key stakeholders such as family members, retail partners and authorities.

Tangible Outcomes

A rich pool of qualitative data was analyzed by SolutionSync to identify the following:

• Key emotions associated with the introduction and use of a new product in the household, highlighting how these emotions are influenced by participants’ perceptions and attitudes.
• Participants’ key concerns, highlighting attributes which enhance and/or undermine confidence in the product, delivery system and the prototype.
• How research participants’ and households’ lifestyles are associated with the perceptions of and attitudes towards the product, delivery system and the prototype.

In-depth understanding of people’s perceptions, attitudes and needs enabled SolutionSync to provide its client with a set of valuable insights which it shared and brainstormed with all stakeholders; technical, marketing, finance, risk management, R and D, public relations and communication agencies.

Key findings and insights were illustrated by people’s real quotes and gestures, photos and videos. This helped bring the study conclusions and recommendations to life, in such a way that enabled all those involved to land on the same page despite their diverse backgrounds, agendas and interests.

The study successfully culminated in:

• Positioning a product offer based on an understanding of people’s needs and expectations.
• Crafting communication of a system’s value proposition in a way that makes sense to target consumers.
• Management support and approval of funding for next steps towards a global product introduction.

Open-door Policy and Knowledge Transfer to Stakeholders

To ensure smooth implementation of research and effective collaboration with clients, SolutionSync adopts a participatory approach and an open-door policy, whereby the research owner and its collaborates are encouraged to take an active role in the various stages of the research, from conception throughout its conclusion. This approach is intended to ensure a common comprehension of key issues, an effective transfer of consumer insights to relevant stakeholders and management of various parties’ expectations.

Needless to say, field research similar to the one outlined in this case study face various operational, organizational and communication challenges. Squeezed time frame, difficulty in recruiting research participants, respecting participants’ availability, responding to clients’ emerging needs, reconciling expectations of different functions within a given company and bringing diverse background on the same wavelength are only a few. However, hurdles that are bound to occur need not stumble a transparent, collaborative process. SolutionSync had learned that challenging situations are best addressed through free-flowing communication and cooperation with clients. Transparency, regular interim meetings and updates and orchestrated workshops for team members are means that we use to enhance collaboration and common understanding.

The Power of Fieldwork

Fieldwork is central to SolutionSync’s approach, where exploration, discovery and making sense of people’s perceptions take place. To be in the field means to have direct, personal contact with people in their own environments. It allows for contextualizing research questions in their natural settings. The natural setting becomes the direct source of data and the skilled researcher is the key instrument.

SolutionSync’s qualitative data analysts thoroughly worked on largely descriptive raw data from interviews and observations to generate major themes, categories and case examples. By paying close attention to detail, descriptive vocabulary and direct quotes which people actually use, a sense of a story emerged. Constant comparison, deduction and thematic organization were carried out to better understand the underlying meanings of expressed ideas, beliefs and attitudes and to extract key findings from a wealth of detailed data about a defined number of people and cases.

The results and effects assessed through this approach are difficult to capture through standardized quantitative methods, which typically fits people’s ideas into predetermined response choices. Making sense of a given situation without imposing pre-existing expectations on the setting allows observations, comments and expressed views to drive towards the construction of general patterns and a picture that takes shape as the parts are collected and examined.

Using Details to Construct the “Bigger Picture”

SolutionSync adopts a holistic approach that strives to understand situations in their totalities and to explain people’s viewpoints not only in their socio-cultural context, but also in light of local and global trends, economic and technological changes. We move beyond the telling details to create an embracing perspective, through which a product, service, innovation, or an opportunity could be seen with a new eye. Our anthropologists and qualitative data analysts combine efforts with multi-disciplinary expertise to generalize details in a broader context of competitive and strategic factors which influence today’s consumers and businesses.

Conclusion

This case study illustrates how field data, generated from interaction with “real” people in “real” life situations, was interpreted, correlated and leveraged in relevance with a concrete issue that a business is attempting to address; i.e. crafting a culturally-sensitive value proposition. Contrary to a prevalent perception that qualitative research, including ethnography, consumes a lot of time and resources, this case study shows how a rapid, focused and well-articulated appraisal of a current situation resulted in generating insights about consumers’ needs and preferences, which promptly fed into a giant company’s product offer and communication package.

Today, socio-cultural understanding of consumers’ immediate needs and preferences is inevitable for grasping emerging consumption habits and patterns in a world that suffers from an unprecedented economic downturn. More than ever before, there is a pressing need to comprehend how social and cultural drivers come into play to shape new models of consumption. This entails a comprehensive understanding of how people manage their limited resources, spending and prioritization process within the broader context of revolutionary means of communication, trends, concern for the environment, lifestyles and social standings.

EER

Buying on sale is becoming “cool” as the recession has changed the way in which people perceive money.

Although uncertainties resulting from the economic downturn force people to consume less of many products, current quantitative reduction in consumption does not necessarily warrant the optimistic assumption that when global economy eventually pulls itself together, consumers will return to their previous spending and purchasing patterns. 

As per an Columbus Dispatch article, an overwhelming majority of American consumers assert that their lifestyles will be affected over the next five years by the economic downturn. 

It remains to be seen whether today’s economic crisis will result in qualitative long-lasting changes in American and European consumers’ behavior, similar to that which happened in Japan after the Asian 1990s crisis. It is possible that hardships might inspire people to reflect on whether they were happy, deliberate consumers in the past or were simply seduced on it.

To better understand the relevance of the post-crisis consumer behavior in Japan to today’s dynamics takes an anthropological investigation. In the meantime, we continue to speculate.   PEZ

Read also: From buy, buy to bye-bye [Economist.com]

Whereas designers turned to recycling and working with cheap materials to address past challenges, 21st century design is expected to expand into applying design thinking and design approaches to business systems rather than limiting itself to the creation of things. The need to transform businesses and enhance social services in response to our global crisis poses two areas in which the contribution of design thinking and creativity is expected to be invaluable. 

Get full article here – International Herald Tribune

“Optimism can help in bleak days …” that’s the message of this article. 

In the midst of growing fear and anxiety about the foreseen impacts of the global economic crisis, hope coupled with innovative ideas, unique initiatives and rapid responses to consumer needs can come useful. 

Despite a weary, stumbling economy, businesses such as JD Wetherspoon pub chain, Travelodge, Innocent and Tesco decide not to play it safe. They opt for innovation, expansion and seizing opportunities to realize long-term gains. While most of us lack confidence in the future prospects of a turbulent economy, these companies appear to see the economic recession as more of a help than a hindrance.

Get full article here – The Guardian

Trends don’t come from agencies or companies

The long tail – the audience is up to something

Market research is the worst way to learn what customers want

When in doubt – observe and ask

Researchers should have the following qualifications:

• A University or postgraduate degree in a social science discipline or at least five years of practical experience as a qualitative research practitioner.
• Experience in qualitative research methodology, which entails excellent interviewing and observation skills.
• Skills in data gathering, recording and reporting. This requires the ability to compile, review, decode, classify, organize and integrate different types of field data (such as written notes, audio tapes, photos, video) into summarized templates, detailed accounts, and other required reporting formats in a consistent manner.   
• Excellent skills in qualitative data analyses.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Willingness to travel, work flexible hours and ability to deliver under time pressure.
• Multilingual and good English writing skills.

Candidates send their C.V. to eman@solutionsync.com

O2 recently conducted a study to examine the effects of new forms of communication technology on how connected people are. It revealed that outside people’s main three networks of family, friends and work most are part of five main ‘interest’ networks, within which an average person is connected by just three degrees. The study affirms that the growth in the number and quality of connections now available to all is key to the reduction in the number of degrees of separation. Email and mobile phones were found to have the most significant impact on facilitating this reduction, making it easier than ever before to make connections and build networks of contacts.

A few interesting quotes:

My average class size is 115.

18% of my teachers know my name.

I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me. 

Only 26% … relative to my life.

I will read 8 books this year,

2300 web pages and

1281 facebook profiles.

I will write 42 pages for class this semester.

And over 500 pages of email.