Solution Prototyping with Design Thinking – Social Media for SAP Store: A Case Study

Information and knowledge workers as well as other employees who are not part of a research or product development team are barely exposed to innovation creation processes. Design Thinking as an innovation method is typically used in R&D. This research analyses whether a short-cycled Design Thinking method can be developed, so employees outside R&D can be taken out of their daily jobs and innovate without falling too much behind with their operational work. Alongside with short-cycled DT session there are potential impacts on business and hence on management. Business Thinking barriers are tried to be broken and Design Thinking advantages are increasingly preferred by management. This case study based paper provides key insights into how DT phases and behavior can be changed for creating synergy across employees, management and products from which the end-consumer benefits. The Social Media for SAP store case study combines a conceptual and product oriented solution derivation with Design Thinking.