Do you agree that simplicity is nowadays a key competitive advantage? Explain why or
why not.
Simplicity is a very difficult term to define or explain. However, many businesses and designers
focus on achieving a simple design that would attract customers and provide a better user
experience. New products or services are compared based on the simplicity they offer. Simplicity
has been linked to various things like responsiveness, availability, robustness, manageability,
scalability, flexibility, reliability, sensitivity, or comprehensiveness, etc. (Zhu, 2020). For a
business to achieve all these uses of design thinking is critical.
Design thinking is an approach that focuses on the user and uses an iterative process to challenge
assumptions and redefine problems to arrive at solutions that may not be reached with our initial
level of understanding (Dam & Siang, 2020). It focuses on the consumer and not on the product
or service. This change in focus helps to provide solutions that satisfy the customer.
Additionally, it's a faster process that relies on building while thinking and repeating these steps
(Brown, 2009).
A firm that has achieved a high level of simplicity using design thinking will certainly have an
edge over its competitors. Finding new and better ways to work and manage daily life for
everyone has been a focus for innovator (Yen, 2014). Simplicity meant to push the designer and
innovator to push the boundaries to find new and bold ideas by having a correct focus and goals.
Various companies have applied the concept of design thinking which increased their customer
satisfaction and profits.
What other factors do you consider relevant for adding value to customers?
Adding value to customers could be defined as the economic enhancement a company gives its
products or service before delivering them to customers (Hayes, 2020). This might be adding
new features to the product that affect user experience or simply attaching a brand to a product.
Firms put a lot of resources and time to find innovative ways to add value to a product or service.
One of these ways is by making a product design simple.
However, simplicity may have been overused and misused by the community. A simple product
may not always be equal to an easy-to-use product (Friis, 2018). Attributes like effectiveness,
efficiency, and satisfaction should be considered as well. Customers value the interaction,
experience, and environment that a brand creates not just the product or service. Another
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