Syngenta Flowers EAME
Improving the business of Syngenta Flowers with a new digital strategy and concept
Syngenta Flowers is one of the worlds biggest providers of young plants and seeds for the horticultural sector. As the business is still very traditional, they asked us to come up with a online strategy and concept which helped them to move forward in the years to come.
The outcome of this project has not been released by Syngenta Flowers to the public. That's why, unfortunately, I can't show or tell you much about the content and outcome of this project. So I'll try telling you without giving away its secrets.
When Syngenta asked us to come up with the question to think of new concept and online strategy for their business, we knew we got work on our hands. The 'young plants and seeds -business' was not something we knew a lot about. So, we set up a two month project in close collaboration with a core team of Syngenta Flowers. During this period we went on a small tour visiting growers through Europe. We Did a lot of interviews and talking. And we ate a good few pounds of chocolate during one of the many workshops we did together. And in between we also created a good portion of deliverables in the shape and form of strategy, UX, concept and design.
My role
Senior UX Design (Dept)
Project type
Concept & online strategy
Team
Justin Kniest, Armand Kruizinga, Ferry den Dopper
Year
2017
Visiting growers in Poland, Germany, France and Holland
The first step in the entire process was to find out as much as we could. We wanted to know more about the company Syngenta Flowers. How do they operate? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What do they stand for and opportunities do we see? By interviewing and involving key stakeholders we started to understand where the business was at that moment.
Another important, and also really fun part, was to visit sixteen different growers across Poland, Germany, France and Holland. We wanted to know everything about how they grow, how they run their business and what they need from suppliers like Syngenta Flowers. We ended up having some really good conversations and surprising insights. Investigating it all from up-close and into their worlds, gave us the necesarry compassion and input needed to really make something out of this.
Once all our visits were behind us, we gathered all our insights and plotted them on the customer experience maps. This way we had insightful summary of what we knew so far and could start defining solutions that would improve the gains and take away the pains.
The next step was ideation. We had to come up with solutions to improve the customers journey. We organised workshops with fun exercises to think of how to take away the pains, but also how to improve on the gains, so the total customer experience would improve along the entire journey. All our insights, ideas and solutions we plotted the earlier designs customer experience maps, so they became more or less service blueprints. These blueprints were really helpful getting the entire team onboard and focusing on improving the entire journey by digital solutions.
From customer journey maps to service blueprints
Syngenta Flowers really wanted this project to be successful. Therefore we closely collaborated with a core team of Syngenta Flowers. The team consisted of key stakeholders and managing directors that knew the business inside and out. They are the decision makers and that really helped us moving forward in a fast pace. All steps of the design process, (except for research part, because we didn't want to be biased) we did by collaborating. From the first draft of the online strategy, wireframes, visual design to eventually the final concept presentation and roadmap, everyone was on board and had a say in approach and the decisions that were made. From our side an ideal situation, since we knew that nothing would come as a surprise and Syngenta would embrace the concept, since it was theirs too.
The design process done with a core-team of Syngenta Flowers
Looking back
I will remember this project probably as one of the most immersive work-related experiences I've ever worked on. It was really nice to see and feel how growers work in several countries and how everything comes together before plants reach the end consumer. What I also really liked was the fact that the team of Syngenta was deeply involved and motivated to get the best result.
In terms of my personal development this project was also important to me. Besides the usual UX stuff (research, wireframes, flows etc.), I got the chance (in my new role as senior UX) to also get involved in the creation of the online strategy. I got to learn a lot from Justin (strategist), especially on the business-side and how you as a strategist peel of the layers of a business to get to it's core.
All and all a very fun and instructive project that helped me maturing as a senior UX designer. Love to do it all over again!