Design thinking helps solve real problems, but the true impact is what it can do for customers.

Margarida leads our Hitachi Design Community, a space meant to bring our designers and business professionals from around the world and across the Hitachi Group together to co-create solutions, share ideas and lead with the design thinking process.

Being part of the Hitachi Design Community

facing similar challenges. We wanted to create a space where we could bring everyone together and work as One Hitachi to support each other.

Our goal is to make the community relevant, visible and contribute to solving common or complex issues. We believe that by working together and using the design thinking process we can support our mission of contributing to a better society for all.

We talk to experts in the field, share knowledge, articles, books and what we are doing. Right now, we have 300 members in the community, regularly interacting with each other, helping to breakdown silos, sharing a culture of collaboration and co-creation.

As well as running workshops to support the business, we run a series of podcasts and have experts share their insight.

Design Thinking is a tool for problem-solving

Design thinking is a process of using creative skills to understand users, challenges, and assumptions. It’s a process that helps redefine problems and create innovative solutions. It involves cognitive, strategic, and practical skills that are not linear; it is iterative and centered around the end user. Although common in places, in business we often find ourselves jumping straight into solutioning rather than truly understanding what the real issues are – we often forget about the end user.

Taking the design thinking approach helps us uncover the real problem, but the key is understanding our users, their needs, their habits and who is going to benefit from the solution. We observe, understand and go through an iterative process. It’s logical and organic and helps look at things from a different perspective - a unique, disruptive way of thinking outside of the box.

Why is it so impactful to Hitachi Vantara and our customers?

When we are designing and creating customer centric products, we focus on what the customer needs, what we think they need. By understanding the user in detail, we start to build a solution that will solve a genuine problem. It brings value to our own business through the workshops we run, but the real impact is what it can do for the end users, which eventually benefits our customers.