“New Way of Consulting”: Workshop with Accenture Digital
Students at Hochschule Fresenius Berlin create product ideas using the Design Thinking approach.
#ComplexityRocks #PeopleRocks #SpeedRocks #UnderstandingRocks! With this prelude Jan Lengfeld from Accenture Digital started his workshop session on the “New Way of Consulting” at Hochschule Fresenius in Berlin. Prof. Dr. Christian Lengfeld organized the event with more than 30 students from Bachelor and Master study programs Digital Management, International Business Management and Business Psychology who experienced an exciting, intensive and interactive session.
Jan Lengfeld is the Innovation Hub Lead Berlin at Accenture Digital, a division of Accenture that with 459,000 employees is one of the largest consultancies in the world. Together with his clients, Accenture is working on business models driven by digitization, artificial intelligence and rapid change in industries and societies. How can companies position themselves to help shape this new world? What products and services do we need? What will customers value in the future and what are they willing to spend money on? To answer these questions, Jan Lengfeld and his team use collaborative approaches, e.g. from Design Thinking. “The aim here is to focus entirely on the end customers of the companies and to understand and implement the so-called User Centric Approach as a holistic, iterative and innovative consulting approach,” explained Jan Lengfeld.
During the workshop, students gained exciting insights from Accenture Digital’s projects. In addition to the immense challenges for companies and entire industries such as the automotive industry, the students also learned about the opportunities offered by new business concepts. “Some companies that have earned a lot of money with a certain model for decades find it difficult to throw this model overboard,” said Jan Lengfeld. “Together we identify the wishes and needs of tomorrow’s customers, develop and test concrete business ideas right through to implementation. The Design Thinking approach and the visual and collaborative standards we use to work with our clients help to make this journey a success.”
STUDENTS CREATE THEIR OWN PRODUCT IDEAS
In the second part of the evening, the students then embarked on their own Design Thinking journey. Based on a case, they could experience the phases Discover, Describe, Ideate, Prototype and Test for themselves. As a result, they presented innovative and creative product ideas based on the hidden wishes, needs and characters of their respective team partners. The evening concluded with a feedback session, followed by networking.
Prof. Dr. Christian Lengfeld stated that such events are the core of practical and future-oriented teaching: “Only this kind of transfer prepares students for the exciting however also challenging topics and requirements of their future workspace. Expert Sessions like this, national and international excursions, and the setup of professional networks are therefore an integral component in study programs at Hochschule Fresenius.”