Design Thinking at ACCS

To kick off the Americas Cash Cycle Seminar, hosted by Currency Research, Tom Meehan, Kim Scott, and Chris Watros of CONTROLTEK facilitated a workshop with conference delegates to work through the CONTROLTEK Method of Design Thinking. The workshop offered the opportunity for delegates to work together to explore and brainstorm creative solutions for the coin circulation challenges.

"A Design Thinking workshop is an invaluable experience where industry professionals can get together to solve relevant challenges in a creative and low-pressure environment. It provided everyone an opportunity to think outside the box, explore different perspectives, and unlocked a new level of creativity,” said Tom Meehan, president at CONTROLTEK.

The CONTROLTEK Method of Design Thinking is a human-centered design process that is used to develop solutions for our clients. It is a process that challenges preconceived notions to come up with different strategies not obvious at first glance. The basic premise of design thinking is that by understanding the user, we can design better products, services, and experiences.

During the workshop, participants were challenged to look at coin circulation from all angles and considered the end-users affected by the challenge that were outside their day-to-day professional area of responsibility. The design thinking process is both fun and challenging, and it helped participants to develop new skills and ways of thinking. Through design thinking, individuals learn how to think creatively, work together effectively, and come up with innovative solutions.

The first step of the process is understanding. The important part of this stage is to set aside our biases and gain a deeper understanding of the challenge we are faced with. The participants were shown research techniques and were tasked to develop unique personas to develop solutions for.

The second stage is ideating. That goal of this stage is to brainstorm as many creative ideas as possible. The CONTROLTEK Method encouraged delegates to think outside the box and to challenge each other to view the problem in different ways, inspiring true innovation.

The third step of CONTROLTEK's Design Thinking process is creating a prototype. The prototype should be quick and easily testable. Prototyping can be done in various ways from sketching the solution, storyboarding the user experiencing the solution to creating a physical model of the solution. In this workshop, attendees took time to create a storyboard of how their solutions would impact the end user in their daily life.

The fourth and final step of CONTROLTEK's Design Thinking process is implementing the solution. This involves putting the ideas into action using a working prototype, roll-out plan, and feedback loop to ensure that the solution meets the user's needs. This step is also integral for increasing user adoption of the final product or service.

The CONTROLTEK team is looking forward to partnering with Currency Research for future events to provide an opportunity for industry collaboration and interaction through these Design Thinking workshops.

“The Americas Cash Cycle Seminar was a great success as we had fantastic educational and thought-provoking sessions on the evolution of the cash cycle from industry leaders, including FIs, CITs, Central Banks and solution providers. With close to 70 companies, 20 countries, and 150 thought leaders in attendance, the networking in San Diego was phenomenal,” said Shaun Ferrari, VP of Currency Research. “CONTROLTEK’s design thinking workshop was a highlight, as it allowed industry professionals to come together and participate in a workshop focused on innovated problem solving. We look forward to partnering with CONTROLTEK again next November at the Americas Cash Cycle Seminar in Orlando!”