Building efficient services with effective methods
Product design has always been a concern of production organizations. However, the services offered by organizations, both for end customers and internal services, were usually developed according to their own methods, often empirical or intuitive, without having a set of rules behind them.
Service Design is a method of rethinking the services offered by organizations, starting from the outside (customer) to the organization and not in the classic way, from the organization to the outside (customer). The ultimate goal is for the customer experience, internal or external, to be the best possible. Implicitly, this also brings internal benefits: a simpler and more efficient organizational structure, by eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and by reducing costs that do not have a direct impact on the outcome.
Design Thinking is primarily a creative method of solving problems within organizations, but also the main tool used in Service Design to identify the real needs of customers (internal or external), respectively to generate solutions in process redesign.
Design Thinking courses are offered at Design Thinkers Academy Eastern Europe and are certified by Design Thinkers Academy.
The course is mainly addressed to managers and process design people.
Adela Cristea is the managing partner of Ascent Group and founder of the consortium. Adela's academic background is in Economy and Law, at the "West University" Timișoara and "Vasile Goldiș" University, Arad. Throughout the years she's become specialised in numerous areas, studying at universities abroad (Gent University - Belgium; Göttingen University - Germany; National Democratic Institute - USA), as well as become trained in the Systems Thinking course at Oxford University.
Adela's wide experience of 20+ years, particularly that pertaining to the area of management and human resources, has been accumulated with multi-national companies such as Unilever or International Resources, as well as with consulting groups, such as Archimedes Consulting Group and Ascent Group.
All along, Adela has been engaged in multiple business start-up projects, company restructurings, labor conflicts and training, for multi-national companies, as well as for local businesses in a wide array of fields, both in Romania and abroad. Adela's multi-disciplinary experience is rounded off with a 15-year stretch teaching at the university.
Since 2017, Adela has become the co-founder of Design Thinkers Academy Eastern Europe, contributing to the development of the company to reach over 20 countries in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia.
With a background in academic and marketing research, Diana has a Ph.D. in Communication Studies and significant experience as a facilitator in Design Thinking projects, as well as with brand consulting.
Her inter-disciplinary awareness and curiosity to explore and connect people from various areas of activity have made her activity, over the last 15 years, revolve around organisational consulting and diagnose, soft skills and personal development trainings, brand consulting, marketing research, Design Thinking, customer & employee experience, communication and marketing.
Diana is a relentless explorer, who, whether online or in class, building on the relevance and clarity of her content, engages with participants as a highly empathetic and playful trainer, enabling a unique learning experience for them, one in which not only their curiosity will be catered to, but one in which good cheer and smiles are a natural byproduct, too.