If there’s one way to explain human behavior, look at mice. In the book ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’, Spencer Johnson describes the world of mice who vie for a block of cheese. People aren’t mice, but we suffer from the same resistance to doing things differently, says Pace. This is why the principles of change management are so important for a company. Simply put, change management is a term for preparing and supporting individuals, teams, and organizations to make organizational change. And it’s not an easy task.

Design Thinking is a problem-solving framework that has been steadily gaining popularity in the last decade as organizations strive to become more human-centric. The hallmarks of design thinking–empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing - influence major companies like PepsiCo, Charles Schwab, and Walgreens to solve problems for a better customer experience. We sat down with Troy Atlas to discuss insights from the conference, trends in this field, and what’s in store for the future use of Design Thinking.

For many manufacturing industries, the Internet of Things is already here, and the race has already started. The following are Stonehill’s analysis and findings, based on what we have seen, on how to win this new arm’s race.

Design Thinking is a central tenant of our philosophy at Stonehill, and we love to share the benefits of this mindset. We use workshops and organizational consultations to help bring Design Thinking principles to a wide range of industries. We recently had an opportunity to help a client strategize plans for customer retention and longevity. This client works in an industry that provides both short-term and long-term services, so together we discussed innovative ways to transition short-term clients into longer-term customers.

At Stonehill, we have the privilege of working across industries to help innovate and implement process improvement strategies. We are seeing increasing trends toward business-to-business partnerships in standardizing pricing structures and ensuring quality services. In the insurance industry, this translates to preferred provider networks. These have a proven track record in the auto and health insurance industries, but very little presence in other insurance sectors. This missed opportunity for many insurers is poised to radically change the insurance landscape.

Like all doctors, her office has a reception desk and waiting room, so recently, while I was waiting to see her, I began to process how Design Thinking could improve a visit to the doctor’s office. As a Design Thinking consultant, someone who helps businesses grow by focusing on customer empathy and prototyping innovative concepts, I couldn’t help but envision changes. We've become an experience-centric society, and what could be more human-focused than a visit to the doctor?

Healthcare is complicated. The Affordable Care Act alone is 600 pages (at 400 substantive words per page) with over 20,000 pages of supporting regulations. Healthcare is big. There are some 800-pound gorillas in the room. Or more specifically, there are some $208-billion-McKesson, $200-billion-UnitedHealth, $185-billion-CVS, and $130-billion-Cardinal-Health gorillas in the industry. Healthcare is dynamic. Every day, companies try out disruptive innovative delivery systems, business models, and technologies.

RPA is becoming a popular term. It’s entering our business consciousness, showing up in speeches, articles, blogs, and online searches. As RPA enters our business lexicon, business leaders should know what RPA is and what it’s good for.

Over the last few weeks, we have been asked to facilitate multiple sessions for corporate innovation. Our clients end the session filled with excitement about Design Thinking and ask us for a few tools that they can use once we leave. We are dedicated to making others successful compiled some of our favorite innovation concepts below. We encourage everyone to explore each of these concepts to see if they have a place in their organization.

One of the most interesting books written in the last few years is Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal. The book explores organizational dynamics in the military and how they can best be applied to corporations. The main concept within the book is that a small, well-trained team, with a clear mission, superior communication, and mutual trust can defeat a larger force that is less agile.

Over the past few months, many people have asked why we named the company Stonehill. They comment that it seems to be a very boring name for a company that is involved in such exciting projects. With the work that we do in data analytics, customer experience, automation, and growth they would have expected something a little cooler. Everyone is surprised when we explain the story.

In recent years, a trend has emerged where Chief Marketing Officers (CMO’s) become (or are replaced by) Chief Growth Officers (CGO’s). The trend has gotten increased attention in 2017 because large companies (like Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, and others) are jumping on that bandwagon. So, is this just a trendy title change, or is there more to it?

In our practice, we often get asked what is the secret to a good PR campaign. In all reality you need a good strategy, you need a plan, and you need a good team to execute on all the individual tactics. With that being said there are a few items that Stonehill works to make sure is included within every strategy that we create and implement.

Over the past few months, we have worked with numerous businesses to help them establish new services and design innovative customer experiences. Many of our engagements leverage the Design Thinking methodology as the basis for our interactions and clients are always intrigued by the approach. Last week I was approached by one of our customers who asked the simple questions of “what is the magic to the Design Thinking methodology. Why is it so special?”

In today’s day and age, just about every business is fighting for the same thing; the key to creating long-term revenue.

Many of the solutions lie within the idea of enhancing the customer’s experience for a long-term relationship. Currently, customer attention is at a premium, due to the thousands of advertisements, spam emails, and telephone calls they receive every day. Consumers are simply looking to different avenues to learn about products and businesses of their interests.

Big Data has been the talk of the century. Firms are constantly searching for new strategies to collect and analyze big data for predicting consumer behavior, leveraging business segments, and improving the overall business. But when does "Big Data" become "too much data"?

Over the last few weeks, we have worked with some customers on identifying ways to decrease employee turnover. In our discussions, I have been amazed at the benefits and incentives that business owners have provided to their teams. The interesting thing is that regardless of what they provide, they tell me that the turnover KPI still does not decrease. I have done some extensive research and found the number one way to decrease turn is sometimes the most overlooked.

Over the last 20 years, my career has been rooted in professional services. As anyone knows, professional services is all about time. The only inventory you have is the time of the people that you have on your team. Efficient uses of time result in a thriving organization, non-efficient uses of time result in an underperforming organization.

When launching a new product or starting a new company it is very important to be able to explain what you do and the benefits of your services in a one-minute elevator speech. I have found that although this is much needed, people are much more visual than we believe. Furthermore (even in this digital world) there is something brilliant about putting the visual on a piece of paper, providing not only a visual but also a tactical experience.

As our firm consults with clients we continually hear growth plans that center on hiring more salespeople while expecting immediate results. When asked about marketing strategy, sales process, or leading indicators we get a variety of responses, but only in rare cases is the plan fully outlined. Without this clarity, it is impossible for the team to understand the expectations and leverage the individual skills they are good at.