This document discusses complexity in retail and how to simplify it. It notes that complexity has become a problem as technology, suppliers, consumers, and teams have added to it. However, complexity can be reduced by focusing on the customer experience through service design and empowering sales associates with technology that removes mental tasks and allows them to focus on experiential selling. The key is to gradually introduce new capabilities, give employees control, and design experiences for the team as well as the customer.

1. SIMPLIFYING COMPLEXITY
- DISCUSSION
Dan McMahon - Head of Retail APAC
@dan_mcmahondmcma@thoughtworks.com

2. Strategy,technologyandservicedesignformodern
retail.Wehelpourclientsbecomeagile,tech-enabled
retailersthatchallengethestatusquo.

3. OUR STRENGTHS

4. WHAT IS COMPLEXITY?
WHY COMPLEXITY
WHY NOW?

5. WHY HAS IT BECOME A PROBLEM NOW?

6. WHY HAS IT BECOME A PROBLEM NOW?

7. WHAT IS THE ARCHAEOLOGY
OF YOUR BUSINESS?

8. COMPLEXITY IS WINNING
-n
( )=
n!
(n-2)!2!
n
2
= n2
2

9. COMPLEXITY

10. THE SPREADSHEET QUOTIENT
# of
Per employee

11. WHERE DOES COMPLEXITY COME FROM?
TECHNOLOGY
SUPPLIERS &
PARTNERS
CONSUMERS
TEAMS

12. THE RISE OF THE
MACHINES

13. EXTERNAL ENERGY
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
DONE BY HUMANS

14. DIGITISATION

15. CONDOR

16. VS HUMAN

17. CONDOR
VS BIKE

18. “Humansaretoolbuilders.We
buildtoolsthatamplifythe
inherentabilitiesthatwehave
tospectacularmagnitude.
Forme,thecomputerhas
alwaysbeenthebicycleofthe
mind.”
Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

19. THE 4th
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Unlimited
possibilities
The WEF has recently given the name “4th industrial revolution” to the
oncoming technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the
way we live, work and relate to each other.

20. “There are a lot of things I see Libratus do that I really like. However, they are
really only possible because they are mixed and randomized by the reasoning of a
computer,” says Les. “Its balanced dispersion of hand ranges into different actions
is not really feasible for the human mind to imitate correctly.”
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THEN?

21. EXTERNAL ENERGY
MENTAL ACTIVITY
DONE BY HUMANS

22. EXTERNAL ENERGY
PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY
"Alexa,
Turn everything
off"

23. EXTERNAL ENERGY
MENTAL
ACTIVITY
"Alexa, who is
Lady GaGa?"

24. EXTERNAL ENERGY
"Alexa, which
insurance should I
buy?"
"Alexa, get me
some more milk
and bread ... and
chocolate"

25. EXTERNAL ENERGY
MENTAL
ACTIVITY
PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY

26. THE CRAP IN ANALYTICS PRESENTATIONS

27. OKAY, BACK TO
WORK

28. SO HOW SHOULD IT WORK?
TECHNOLOGY
SUPPLIERS &
PARTNERS
CONSUMERS
TEAMS

29. HOW SHOULD IT WORK ?
TECHNOLOGY
SUPPLIERS &
PARTNERS
CONSUMERS
TEAMS

30. THE ROLE OF SERVICE DESIGN
Process of appointment booking highlighting customer touch points, data, customer
experience, business impact and opportunities for improvements.
Dashboard measuring completion
rate and time, digital take-up and user
satisfaction.
Front and back stage mapping. Usability testing.

31. FRONT STAGE
MID-STAGE
BACK-STAGE

32. Ihopetheydon’tjustbuyaretail
clientelingtoolandmakeususeit.
Becausethat’snotwhatwedo.
Source: Store visit, Madison
Avenue, New York 11.09.15

33. PROVIDING
INFORMATION
PROVIDING
DIFFFERENTIATING
EXPERIENCES
SALES ASSOCIATE 1.0 SALES ASSOCIATE 2.0

34. CHANGING THE ALLOCATION OF TIME
STOCK / ADMIN SELLING TRANSACTING
EXPERIENTIAL SELLING
SALES ASSOCIATE 1.0
SALES ASSOCIATE 2.0
Where does the time come
from?
‣ Making the world easier
AND/OR
‣ Making them better at what
they do

35. CONTINUOUS
LEARNING
TECH CHANGE
IS GRADUAL
ZERO EFFORT
• Focus on how to take
your best merchants
and skill them on
modern methods
• Experiment with
integrating new
capability
• Use technology to
introduce removal of
mental activity before
physical activity
• Give the people control
• Product teams iterate
with business teams to
abstract away
complexity• Flip service design around to
focus on the experience of
your team
• Use the CX skills you've
already built
Key take-away

36. • xxx
THANK YOU
Dan McMahon
@dan_mcmahondmcma@thoughtworks.com