Design thinking places end users at the centre of the design process and enables teams to collaborate and work more efficiently. IBM leverages this framework in their Design Thinking practice across its diverse portfolio of products and services to help clients reduce costs, increase speed, and design better solutions. IBM commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by engaging IBM’s Design Thinking practice. The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate design thinking’s potential financial impact for both individual projects and a grander organizational transformation.

To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed four of IBM’s Design Thinking clients and surveyed an additional 60 executives who have employed design thinking at their organizations, some with and some without IBM. These organizations turned to design thinking to address a variety of challenges:

• Refine business strategy to invest in solving the most promising opportunities while mitigating the risk of bad investments.
• Remedy an inhibiting ‘No’ culture by energizing and empowering employees to think creatively without fear of failure or retribution.
• Design better products to improve customer experience (CX) and sales.
• Speed up sluggish project design and execution.
• Streamline burdensome processes to reduce overhead.

Interviewees found that IBM’s Design Thinking practice successfully partnered with their organizations to address these challenges and enhance culture, speed, efficiency, customer experience, and profitability.

1. Executive Summary
2. Isolating IBM Design Thinking’s Business Impact
3. Voice Of The Market
4. IBM’s Client Journey
5. Per-Project Financial Analysis
6. Composite Financial Analysis
7. Financial Summary