• Despite widespread commitment to CX, 94% of Local Governments remain in Basic to Intermediate levels
• Leadership champions CX from the top, but councils lack the foundational infrastructure to scale
• Departmental silos and unclear ownership prevent councils from creating cohesive customer experiences across departments and channels
• Most councils collect feedback reactively and lack formal systems to analyse CX data
• The top performers are doing three things differently that the sector should take note of

Inside this research:

• See where you stand against 31 councils nationwide
• Discover what’s actually working through case studies from top performers like Mornington Peninsula Council, Georges River Council, and City of Port Philip.
• Get a practical roadmap with stage-specific tools for improving CX maturity
• Compare by context with breakdowns by state, size, and rural vs metropolitan

Whether you’re just starting your CX journey or seeking to advance from intermediate to proactive levels, this report provides the evidence-based insights and practical tools you need to deliver exceptional community experiences.

Essential reading for Council Executives, CX Managers, and strategic planning teams.

The post Discover Where Your Council Stands: The 2025 Customer Experience Maturity Index for Local Government appeared first on The Strategy Group.

This is an incredibly exciting moment for consulting. Two years ago, The Strategy Group had a vision that if AI were to disrupt consulting, we would be the ones to do it. Since day one, we’re proud to have partnered with InsightWise, supporting their bold vision to transform strategy and research with AI.

InsightWise is reimagining what consulting can be. Since its launch in mid-2024, the platform has grown exponentially, partnering with consultancies, government agencies, and major corporations worldwide.

Read the full article here.

The post InsightWise raises $1M to reshape consulting appeared first on The Strategy Group.

Shirohato, a leading Japanese manufacturer of face mask products, wanted to expand into Western markets and kickstart a global growth journey. In order to do so, Shirohato recognised that they needed to devise a customer strategy that was relevant to Western markets.​

​THE APPROACH

Mapping Emerging Opportunities Through a Comprehensive Market Scan​.

The Strategy Group used Design Thinking methodologies to conduct research into Australian mask-wearing beliefs and habits. Various research methodologies were used – from face-to-face interviews and encouraging interviewees to keep a ‘journal’ of their experiences to conducting street observations and ‘vox pox’ interviews.​

The purpose of the research was to identify insights relating to face masks in the Australian market and to see if we could uncover personas of both users and non-users. The Insights and Personas then helped formulate customer value propositions; how exactly would Shirohato appeal to the different market segments in Australia. Along with the customer value proposition, The Strategy Group helped build business models that would bring to life how the business would act on the identified customer value propositions. This helped Shirohato understand the different customer channels, key activities, resources, costs and revenue model that need to be executed in order to be successful.

OUTCOMES​

Formulating a Customer Strategy for Global Expansion.​

From the research, The Strategy Group identified various insights relating to face masks in the context of the Australian market. Along with these insights, we also identified five distinct personas of users and non-users of face masks. ​

In conjunction with Shirohato, we developed three business models that gave them the opportunity to enter the Australian market. The outcome of this phase will deliver a validated customer strategy that Shirohato will be able to execute, kickstarting their global expansion of their business.​

The post Devising a Customer Strategy in Order to Kickstart a Global Growth Journey​ appeared first on The Strategy Group.

The three joint venture (JV) partners (John Holland, CPB Contractors, and Ghella) have been involved in a series of tenders for Sydney Metro over the last years. After unfortunately not being awarded the most recent project, the JV partners engaged The Strategy Group to strategise on what needs to change in their tender process to maximise their chances of success with new Eastern Tunnelling Package (ETP) tender, adopting a more “client- & user-centric” approach.​

​THE APPROACH

As part of our involvement, we embedded the five principles within the tender team:​

1. Delighting the customer:​ Focusing on being customer centric with every aspect of the project ultimately drove the best solutions. The change in mindset was further realised through the customer value proposition we co-created.​
2. Empathetic communication: Ensuring 2-way communication enabled the team to be on the same page throughout the tender process. Asking open questions allowed JCG JV to truly understand the project’s needs. ​
3. Leadership advocacy: Having the project leaders fully on board with their customer-centric strategy encouraged the rest of the team to trust the direction they were heading in. Through leading by example and living the values of customer centricity, the whole team was empowered to embody these values in their practice.​
4. Clear messaging and storytelling: Reiterating the central message of delighting the customer and approaching problems with empathy engrained the CX mission within every team member. ​
5. Iterative problem solving: By planning, designing, building, testing and refining ideas, we delivered a technically superior solution that met the needs of Sydney Metro and the community. 

OUTCOMES​

Organisation-wide culture change to drive growth and customer-centricity​.

The three joint venture (JV) partners won the $1.6bn contract to dig the final tunnel section of Sydney Metro West under the city’s central business district (ETP).​

Sydney Metro mentioned that they have been ‘delighted’ by the joint venture partners along the tender process and that the great level of collaboration between their team and the JV partners team was a critical factor in the decision to award the contract.​

The post Embedding Customer-Centricity to Win a Large Public Tender appeared first on The Strategy Group.

The Strategy Group facilitated a full-day Design Thinking training workshop to upskill the Customer Experience and People & Culture teams at Camden Council on design thinking methodologies, tools and frameworks. ​​

The aim of the training session was to empower participants in the session to leverage design thinking methodologies and act as practitioners within the Council.

THE APPROACH​

Deliver a tailored training program with content and activities to explore the use of Design Thinking methodologies, tools and general knowledge​.

Our approach focused on empathising the importance of placing the customer at the centre of work conducted by the Customer Experience and People & Culture teams by adopting Design Thinking practices. Throughout the day, participants completed a number of collaborative exercises, tailored to the context of Camden Council, where they could learn and understand how different frameworks and tools can be leveraged to deliver successful outcomes for their customers/stakeholders.​

Workshop contents included:​

1. Introduction to Design Thinking ​
2. Strategy from the inside-out vs outside-in​
3. Scoping problems​
4. Empathising with the customer​
5. Defining the problem to be solved​
6. Ideating, prioritising and fleshing out solutions​
7. Experimenting and testing solutions​.

OUTCOMES

“I highly recommend the Strategy Group for their expertise, professionalism, and practical experience in design thinking. They crafted a practical workshop that allowed our Camden Council staff to tackle real and relevant issues. It is evident that The Strategy Group practice design thinking in their everyday approach to work. The facilitator was able to draw on a deep level of expertise and practical experience and was very engaging. The training has left a lasting positive impact on my team, empowering us to tackle challenges with curiosity and confidence.” ​

​

– Chloe Morris, Manager Corporate Performance and Customer Experience​

Participants were equipped with a deep theoretical and practical understanding of the fundamentals of Design Thinking methodology​.

Throughout the full-day workshop, participants were equipped with the following:​

• Ability to apply Design Thinking practices to solve problems​
• Understanding the difference between inside-out and outside-in thinking​
• Scoping problems and defining them clearly​
• Developing empathy with the customer​
• Ideating, prioritising, and fleshing out solutions​
• Experimenting and testing solutions to ensure success​
• Knowledge of different frameworks and tools that can be leveraged to deliver successful outcomes for customers/stakeholders such as Empathy Mapping, Affinity Mapping, Concept Canvas, Storyboarding​

The post Facilitating Design Thinking training for Camden Council​ appeared first on The Strategy Group.

Tokio Marine recognised the need to enhance customer-centricity to thrive in a rapidly changing world. The company sought to shift its mindset from an inside-out to an outside-in approach, ensuring every decision delivers clear customer value.​

To achieve this, The Strategy Group delivered a Design Thinking training program to foster a culture of customer obsession.​

THE APPROACH

Context Analysis: Establishing the Need for Customer-Centricity.​

The engagement began with a thorough context analysis highlighting the need for increased customer focus within Tokio Marine. This included outlining the stakes for adapting to an unpredictable world and identifying the gaps in current practices that hinder a customer-first approach.​

A 2-hour interactive Design Thinking training session was carefully designed and facilitated for Tokio Marine staff.

The session:​

• Introduced the principles of customer-centricity and outside-in thinking through Design Thinking methodologies.​
• Engaged participants through real-world examples, collaborative exercises, and role-playing activities.​
• Concluded with a debrief to reflect on learning outcomes and discuss how to apply Design Thinking in their roles.​

These materials were reviewed and tailored to ensure relevance and resonance with the participants.

OUTCOMES​

Training Facilitation: Embedding Design Thinking Principles​.

Delivering actionable insights to enable customer-first transformation:​

• Understanding Customer-Centricity: Participants gained a deeper understanding of how Design Thinking principles can be used to prioritise and deliver customer value.​
• Action-Oriented Mindset Shift: The session sparked a change in perspective, encouraging staff to apply Design Thinking tools and frameworks in their decision-making.​
• Foundations for Change: The training laid the groundwork for Tokio Marine to evolve its approach and deliver greater value to customers through a culture of customer obsession and innovation driven by Design Thinking.​

The post Tokio Marine Customer Centricity Engagement​ appeared first on The Strategy Group.

Youth Justice NSW cares for young people in Youth Justice Centres and the Department of Education manages a school for specific purposes (SSP) in each of the six Youth Justice Centres across NSW. The longest school holiday period occurs at the end of Term 4 in December/January, which is approximately six weeks in duration. This six week period has been identified by Youth Justice NSW as a time where further support is required to enable continuity of learning for young people in custody, in particular regarding the development of literacy and numeracy skills. ​

The Strategy Group partnered with the Department of Education and Youth Justice NSW to identify and develop opportunities to support young people in custody during school holidays. ​

THE APPROACH

Shaping a range of services and support initiatives to meet the deeper needs of young people as part of school holiday activities.​

The Strategy Group provided recommendations for a range of service/support initiatives to be piloted in NSW Youth Justice Centres to improve the school holiday experience for young people in Youth Justice Centres across NSW. This was achieved through conducting a series of immersive interviews with young people from diverse genders, ages and backgrounds to uncover their deeper needs, drivers and barriers in relation to what they would like to engage in during the school holidays. ​​

Co-design workshops were then facilitated with a diverse group of stakeholders to explore services and support initiatives that would meet the identified needs of young people in custody.

OUTCOMES​

Concrete recommendations for designing a two-week “Supports and Services Package” to be piloted in a youth justice centre in 2022​.

The project has highlighted four actionable recommendations (with detailed initiatives) for the Department of Education and Youth Justice to consider as next steps:​

1. Test and validate recommended priority initiatives with young people in custody ​
2. Identify a diverse range of providers who can assist in delivering the solutions and services package​
3. Formalise a feedback process to continuously collect feedback from young people in youth justice centres​
4. Ensure collaboration and communication across all of the youth justice centres to enable the cross-pollination of ideas and sharing of valuable lessons learnt.​

The Department of Education and Youth Justice now has a clear path forward to experiment and trial the ‘Supports and services Package’ that can meet the needs of young people in custody and improve their school holiday experience. ​

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The post Developing opportunities to support young people in custody on school holidays​ appeared first on The Strategy Group.

Based on the opportunity areas and recommendations provided in the Innovation Benchmark Assessment project, The Strategy Group was engaged again by NSW Health Infrastructure to develop the end-to-end idea to execution Innovation Framework and accompanied recommendations for implementation.​

THE APPROACH

We embarked on a 2-phase journey to develop an Idea-to-Execution Innovation Framework:​

• A series of ideation workshops conducted with internal and external partners ​

A series of ideation workshops were conducted to ideate what initiatives HI can undertake across the opportunity areas identified in the Innovation Benchmark Assessment project. ​

• A series of working sessions conducted with members of the Innovation Working Group​

Through the working sessions, the Innovation Working Group selected 7 priority areas to be fleshed out to co-create the Idea-to-Execution Innovation Framework.

OUTCOMES​

• Seven key priority areas for innovation emerged from the ideation workshops.
• The final report comprised all seven key priority areas for innovation, as well as as an end-to-end Idea-to-Execution Innovation Framework and eight recommendations for implementation.​

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The post Developing an Idea-to-Execution Innovation Framework​ appeared first on The Strategy Group.

The Strategy Group was engaged by NSW Health Infrastructure to conduct an innovation benchmark assessment to understand the current state of innovation across the organisation.

THE APPROACH

The Innovation Benchmark Assessment comprised two key phases:​

• One-on-one interviews with each of the NSW Health Infrastructure’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) members​
• An Innovation Index which was sent out to the whole of Health Infrastructure as an online survey. The Innovation Index is a proprietary diagnostic developed by The Strategy Group to measure an organisation’s innovation capability. This tool was tailored to meet the bespoke needs of Health Infrastructure.

OUTCOMES​

• Ten key qualitative themes emerged from the interviews which were analysed alongside the quantitative data from the Innovation Index. ​
• The analysis revealed areas, sources and employee segments across Health Infrastructure with strong innovation performance and capability, as well as areas of weakness and opportunities for improvement. ​
• The final report comprised all results and insights as well as as a set of key opportunities and actionable recommendations.​

The post Innovation Benchmark Assessment & Current State Analysis​ appeared first on The Strategy Group.

The Strategy Group worked with students from the Creative Intelligence and Innovation degree to solve complex industry problems. Over the course of a semester, a group of students worked with The Strategy Group to develop solutions for current business challenges, applying design thinking and innovation methodologies to create practical, forward-thinking recommendations.​

THE APPROACH

Collaborating with students from the Creative Intelligence and Innovation Degree at UTS.​

As part of the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation degree, over 200 students collaborate with dozens of industry partners to tackle leading-edge challenges in their fields. Across a 12-week semester, we engage with a small group of BCII students, presenting a problem space and guiding them through a co-design process that blends their design thinking expertise with our own industry experience.​

Throughout the program, students iterate their ideas through regular presentations and feedback sessions, refining their solutions into compelling final proposals. This collaboration is more than just an academic exercise—it’s a dynamic exchange of ideas, where students gain real-world insights, and we benefit from fresh, innovative perspectives on industry challenges.​

The Strategy Group has engaged in this process for 3 consecutive years, focusing on various topics including using AI tools in projects, expanding into the retail sector, and redefining human roles to adapt to AI-driven environments.

OUTCOMES​

The collaboration has been mutually valuable, delivering meaningful benefits for both students and The Strategy Group.​

​For students, it offers hands-on experience tackling real-world challenges, applying design thinking in a professional context, and gaining insights into business innovation. They refine problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills while building confidence in presenting ideas to industry professionals.​

For The Strategy Group, working with BCII students brings fresh perspectives, exposing us to novel approaches and creative thinking that challenge traditional industry views. Their innovative solutions spark new opportunities, contributing to broader discussions on the future of work and innovation while reinforcing our commitment to staying ahead of industry trends.​

The post Solving Complex Problems with Young Innovators appeared first on The Strategy Group.