Manifest Digital Human Experience Society

Symbol: Transform

Type: Verb, Company Service

Text: To rebuild a business from the inside out using a consultative approach that addresses marketing, user experience, and/or technology. Business and operations consulting.

Interpretation: There is no automatic update to become a human-centered business prepared for the 21st century. A company may see that it needs to adopt new technology in order to keep up with the market, but that is often just the first step. In order for technology to do any good, internal practices and principles must often be modified as well. There is no point in gathering new data or creating new capacities if no one knows how to use them. Relationships with users (from vendors and partners to consumers and the public) must also be re-conceived. It can be a grueling process, but when it is complete, a client’s value will be more clear than ever before.

The Transform move is rarely accomplished without a Change Agent. Someone within the company must see that the old ways of doing business are leading to inefficiencies, redundancies, and missed opportunities. But Transform is not a means for one person to dominate office politics. Instead, through the user-centered design process, every aspect of a client’s operation is re-aligned with its future market value. The resulting changes are often surprising and sometimes frightening, but rarely without reward.

Commentary: “With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Connections: Transform often requires multiple applications of Transition, Transfuse, and Transfer. A Change Agent is also essential.