A finance company that embraced the consumer to reposition the business and disrupt the industry

Room 3 | 9:40 am - 10:10 am | Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The client, Softlogic Finance, is part of a diversified conglomerate with the vision to set new standards across the industries it operates in. In line with this vision, Softlogic Finance wished to relaunch its business with the intention of disrupting the status quo in the financial services industry.

The financial services industry in Sri Lanka is largely undifferentiated. There are many “me-too” players offering similar product offerings. Many non-banking financial institutions are struggling to survive in this environment. To disrupt the industry and differentiate it was important to elevate the offering beyond functional benefits and connect with the customer at an emotional level.

Through our design thinking process, we collaborated with the client and outside experts to uncover deep life insights, financial pain points and identified opportunities for the client to play a meaningful role in the lives of the customer. We used storytelling to paint a portrait of the richness, depth and nuances of the consumer’s life and to identify intervention points for Softlogic Finance to deeply impact their lives.

Using storytelling enabled us to successfully shift the mindset of Softlogic’s finance team, which was accustomed to dealing with numbers, to a mindset of embodied understanding. It created space for innovation based on life insights as opposed to market–led innovation.

This work resulted in a new brand identity for Softlogic Finance in which they now differentiate themselves from the rest of the competition by solving problems that have deep life relevance for the consumer.

Key takeaways:

1. The application of design thinking principles on insights-based innovation requires more than the rigor in process. The spirit of collaboration delivered through empathy towards the target audience enables richer, valuable and accurate decisions being taken.
2. As a tool, storytelling can drive empathy across all functions (finance, supply chain, Human resource, marketing, etc.) and align them towards a common understanding for decision making. Keeping the customer in focus in decision making is more effective when everyone understands and empathizes the customer beyond demographic details or in this case, financial numbers.
3. Bringing customers to life through the story telling tool enables them to visualize and absorb the full opportunity in not only creating the brand but also delivering it through product solutions and service.

Topic covered:

Financial Services Joint Presentation Methodologies