Project Overview
This project applied Design with Foresight methodology to envisage alternative futures in client-integrated ecosystems to the year 2025. Research (secondary and primary) provided the foundation and current assessment for the topic, and a baseline future was defined. From this stance, alternative futures—and their implication to client-integrated ecosystems within Greater China—were explored, determined, and brought to life in vivid, immersive VR experiences.
Tools
Research Design and Foresight Framework:
Framing, Domain description: Describing the domain by characterizing its present status and reviewing the relevant recent past.
- Scanning, Current assessment: Identifying the forces of change and investigating the trends, early signs of change, and weak signals.
- Forecasting, Baseline future: Developing the baseline and alternative futures, challenging evidence, and identifying the assumptions for each piece of evidence.
Exploring the implications of alternative futures and identifying the strategic issues or opportunities they suggest. - Archetypes, Understanding future clients: Defining the characteristics, psychology, and attitude towards wealth, trust, social, and life.
- Visioning, Design brief/ concepts: Developing conceptual ideas, scenarios, value propositions.
Domain Map: A simple representation of a system that helped all participants to develop a shared mental model of their subject and delineate the boundaries of their study. In this activity, the research and design teams generated domain maps to be compared and used to develop a final domain map, thus outlining the focus of this project. Five distinct perspectives were considered: Living, Mobility, Health, and their relationships with Wealth and Trust provided the lens through which each inquiry field was investigated.
Future Cone/Matrix: Mega-trends analysis, along with the exploration of drivers of change (weak signals), revealed five distinct themes. Each theme was placed along a futures cone for visualization of time horizon and probability. A futures matrix approach was used to give insights into preferable/ desirable futures scenarios.
Archetypes: Understanding future clients: Defining future clients in terms of characteristics, psychology, and their attitude towards wealth, trust, social, and life.
Client-Centric Ecosystem: Integrated platform in the ecosystem provides a one-stop solution of comprehensive and personalized lifestyle services. In the ecosystem, many service providers were listed that are significantly relevant to an individual’s daily life. Multiple dimension of the value flow were integrated into the ecosystem, creating a complex web of tangible and intangible value exchange. An integrated platform is at the core, functioning as a value interchange hub, reallocating resources to various parties.
Trend Cards: A catalogue of trend cards were produced
Project Insights and Outcomes
Service providers will be key determinants of whether AI-assisted decision-making services become prevalent. Traditional wealth management can remain focused on economic values and employ AI and automation to improve the efficiency of transactions. New players will extend their reach for intangibles such as knowledge, relationships, and experiences, such as providing a platform that gives a comprehensive overview of consumers’ investments including the cause and effect of their actions in both tangible and intangible value creation. Intangible value perception is diminishing because of the difficulties in visualization and quantification. MR technology will make the linkage of people and objects within a certain space plainly apparent to individuals, making potential value identification and exchange more transparent.
Jörn Bühring 