German multinational software corporation, SAP, has brought its Design Thinking concept to the Silicon Valley at its latest SAP AppHaus installation in Palo Alto. According to the company, this installation is being considered as Silicon Valley’s newest space for creativity, collaboration and innovation. It is one of three such spaces joining SAP campuses in Heidelberg and South Korea. This location falls under the SAP Design and Co-Innovation Center (DCC) where SAP Labs team is going to devote time for designing highly customized co-innovations with SAP clients.
Janaki Kumar, Americas Head of the DCC, of the Palo Alto space said, “When people come into the SAP AppHaus they are inspired to create and try something new. All the organizational silos, the constraints, the hierarchies, they don’t exist anymore. People come here to open themselves up to new possibilities.”
SAP’s Designer way of Thinking
According to SAP, design thinking is considered as the proven problem solving protocol which any business or enterprise can execute to fetch desired results. What design thinking does is, it merges creative and critical thinking leading to structured information and ideas. Moreover, it streamlines decision-making process because design thinking is focused on solutions rather than problems.
SAP claims that it is qualified to help explore emerging behaviors and new business models, and make value creating connections to disruptive technology, ensuring to stay relevant in this fast paced market which it calls as Problem Solving and Problem Finding, and the key to unlocking this potential is Design Thinking.
At Palo Alto, there will be a D-shop which will facilitate SAP employees, its clients and university students to experiment with latest technology including robotics, virtual reality headsets and 3D printing. SAP states that this space can help facilitate healthcare companies rethink how big data can help cure cancer, it can help professional sports league envision the future of athletic entertainment and performance, or an organization looking to experiment with machine learning. From virtual reality, chat bots to 3D printing clients can go to SAP AppHaus and work with the DCC staff for further assistance and design thinking.
Transformation focused on creative solutions
The idea of Design Thinking has been adopted by SAP from 2012, which makes it clear that it is not new to them, but it is trying to inculcate this into other businesses for quick development. SAP claims to work on the core principles of design thinking, that is; empathy, creativity, collaboration and iteration, and has taken a step further by extending its design-thinking offerings to customers. SAP is trying to help clients be more innovative by collaborating with them on specific projects, and helping entire organizations to think like designers and reorient their entire business around design principles.
According to Andreas Hauser, Global Head, DCC, “This think tank of SAP is an opportunity which is going help industry and its employees change the way they work and look forward and adapt Design Thinking.”