Design Thinking and Corporate Structure of Agendize

This paper explores the corporate structure and design thinking process of Agendize, a customer management company serving global giants. It delves into the design ladder, design value scorecard, and recommendations for incorporating design thinking in organizational systems. The key assets of the company are also discussed.

Running head: SaaS
SaaS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:................................................................................................................................1
Corporate structure and its type:......................................................................................................1
Design systems:...............................................................................................................................2
Design value: The design ladder:................................................................................................2
Non-design-.................................................................................................................................3
Design as form giving-................................................................................................................3
Design as a process:.....................................................................................................................4
Design as a strategy:....................................................................................................................4
The design value:.........................................................................................................................4
The current position of Agendize on the design ladder including analysis:................................4
The design value score card:........................................................................................................5
Beyond Strategic Design:............................................................................................................5
The role of design in organization: Recommendations and reason on importance of design
thinking process:..........................................................................................................................5
Key assets of the organizations:......................................................................................................6
The network structure:.....................................................................................................................7
Managers:....................................................................................................................................7
Consultants:.................................................................................................................................8
Administrators:............................................................................................................................9

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Engineers:....................................................................................................................................9
Technicians:...............................................................................................................................10
Key partners...............................................................................................................................10
Vendors:.....................................................................................................................................11
Creative values:.............................................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
Customer acquisition, engagement and retention have emerged into so important aspects
of business as well as the very base of revenue generation. Customer retention and management
is no longer limited to a mere business aspect. They have grown crucial to such an extent that
there are customer engagement companies which offer platforms dedicated to customer
acquisition, management and retention. Business organisations from diverse markets like
financial services and automobile sectors today hire these customer platform management
companies to manage their customer operations. The customer management companies on their
part have grown and evolved into multinational corporate organisations empowered with capable
corporate structure and business designs. The customer management companies in turn have
strong marketing analysis driven technologically developed designs. The aim of the paper is to
delve into marketing analysis strategy of Agensdize, the customer management company serving
global giants like France, Canada, Mexico and the United States. The ‘About Agendize’ page of
the official website of the company shows that Agendize serves companies like Nissan and
Allianze itself bears testimony to the strength of its marketing design. The paper would delve
designing a strategy of Agendize and its application by the company based on the client
expectations.
Corporate structure and its type:
The corporate structure of Agendize stands on an able team of leaders with the founder
and the president, Alexandre at the helm. The important leadership position in the company
consists of director of administration and finance, director of human resources, director of
marketing, graphic & web designing, digital marketer, digital marketing and communication
specialists, directors of projects, customer success manager, VP sales and marketing, director of

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strategic accounts, director of business unit banks, sales team manager, key accounts manager,
VP of engineering & IT, senior developer, web developer, scrum master, UX designer and
product director. It is evident from an analysis of the leadership team of Agendize described
above that the corporate structure of the company is crystallised around providing customer
acquisition as well as customer management services to its business customers. The corporate
leadership structure of Agendize draws its support from more than 50 employees from as many
as seven countries. Finally it can be inferred considering the pressing needs of customer
management and the dynamic business customer demands that corporate structure of Agendize is
tall in nature.
Design systems:
The following are the components of design systems of Agendize:
Design value: The design ladder:
The design ladder is a tool which measures the rate of use of design in product designing
in different companies in different stages. The entire tool stands on the hypothesis that there is a
strong positive link between supernormal revenue generation of companies and their use of
designs at different stages. The ladder or the tool further stands on the convention that design can
bring about positive transformations in the overall business SaaS products dependent on its rate
of usages.

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The following are the four steps of design ladder:
Non-design-
The design is the intangible part of the product in which expectations of clients/customers
plays very minor role. The design depend less on technology and more an aesthetics. It can be
pointed this step is not for Agendize considering the fact that manufacture of SaaS and customer
management software require high use of design. This is first step of the design ladder on which
Agendize needs to focus. This is in fact the basic step in which the company can again
information of the expectations and requirements of the clients. This would lead to the next step
where the software developers of Agendize would give the expectations of clients which is
intangible in the first step, a form by incorporating them in the future software versions.

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Design as form giving-
The designs are used to give forms to product or software designed. The companies
following this step of design ladder consider the products should have a design which would
satisfy the needs of the customers (Doherty et al. 2014). The software developers employed with
Agendize at this stage develop the software using using attributes according to the customer
expectations unveiled in the first stage. The developers the attributes in order to fulfil the
expectations of the clients.
Design as a process:
The companies following this strategy use design at the process. Design becomes an
integral part of the final product manufacturing part and involves use of experts and engineers.
The software developers from various expertise and skill areas at this stage carry out innovation
to design a software. This step upholds that design is not a tool but a process which have to be
executed using appropriate steps. The second does not attract involvement of other departments.
The technological and web designing team while developing software as a process involves the
other departments like finance and marketing,. This is because at this stage the development of
the software manufacturing takes the form of a project. The apex management of Agendize
forms project teams which look into the software product requirement of individual clients.
Design as a strategy:
The companies using this step of design ladder involve design right the strategic level.
The core product strategies of these firms include product design and the apex management
allocate resources towards acquisition of the designs. This ensures that the design is aligned with
the customer expectations which result in manufacturing of more customer oriented products.

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The design transcends the status of a process to a part of the core business strategy of
Agendize at this stage. The apex management at this stage supervises the entire software
designing activity as a part of the core product strategy of the company.
The design value:
The business organisations should design values which means that the design should
create value for the clients. The design manufacturing companies serve multinational companies
enabling the latter to manage and use customer data. Thus, here the designing of value refers to
manufacturing of SaaS in accordance to the needs of the final consumers which means the
customers the client companies serve.
The current position of Agendize on the design ladder including analysis:
Agendize is the fourth position and use design as a strategy. This is evident from two
facts. First, the company being found in 2003 has already gained a permanent client base
comprising of Nissan and Allianz which actually suffices the high level customer services of the
firm. Secondly, the very leadership team consist of SCRUM or agile experts. Thus, an analysis
of these two facts shows that Agendize is in the fourth step of the design ladder.
The design value score card:
The design value score card is a tool which enables the company to assess the actual
performances of the design. The tool enables the the companies in pointing out the roles the
designs actually play in the company against the target value which the company sought to earn
through the design. The companies also assess and predict the roles which the designs can play
in the business of the company.

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The design value score card below shows that Agendize canehnace the value creation to
clients by using appropriate strategies while manufacturing the software packages for the latter.
As shown below, points out the functional aspects like contact management and lead addition.
The score card should be integrated to other tools like business analytical tools and enable the
personnel of Agendize integrate it with sales reports.
Level of
design org
maturity
Attributes Aesthetics Functionality Connectors Integrator
Strategy
and
business
models
5
Optimized
Process
proactively,
continuously
Improved
Improve
niche
marketing
attributes
of customer
manageme
nt software
packages
The company
should
increase the
functional
aspect of the
software
packages.
The software
should
incorporate
features like
contact
management
and sales
team access.
The
company
should
increase the
connector
aspect of the
software
packages
The
software
package
should be
integrated
with the
existing
products of
the
company.
The sales
team
should be
able to
optimize
the client
details with
new
requiremen
ts and
changes like
change in
delivery
dates.
Optimize
d with
the
business
model
4
Managed
Process
modified/vari
ed based on
feedback
The
marketing
department
supervises
the
aesthetic
attributes
of the
product
The web
designing
department
should
manage the
entire system
of software
manufacturin
g. The
The web
designing
department
should
manage the
entire
system of
software
manufacturi
The
software
manufactur
e is
integrated
with the
entire
business
requiremen
Optimize
d with
the
business
model

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and their
value
addition to
customers
software
should
enable
addition of
new leads
generated ng
t. It should
be
integrated
to the other
tools like
business
intelligence
and sales
analytical
tools
3.
Defined
Process
standardized
The
standard
quality of
the product
should be
unhampere
d
The
functional
features of
the software
packages
should be
well defined
by the apex
management
The
connectors
features of
the software
packages
should be
well defined
by the apex
management
The
features of
the
software
packages
should be
well defined
by the apex
manageme
nt
Optimize
d with
the
business
model
2.
Repeatable
Basic project
management
The
aesthetic
features
should run
on all the
copies of
software
The
functional
features
should run on
all the copies
of software
The
connector
features
should run
on all the
copies of
software
The
integrator
features
should run
on all the
copies of
software
Optimize
d with
the
business
model
1.
Initial/Adh
oc
Heroic efforts
The
aesthetic
features in
the initial
phase may
be
superficial
The
functional
features in
the initial
phase may be
superficial
The
connector
features in
the initial
phase may
be superficial
The
integration
features in
the initial
phase may
be
superficial
Optimize
d with
the
business
model
Beyond Strategic Design:
Agendize should seek to create value beyond the strategic design. The value creation
design would consist of creation of value of end customer as well. The questionnaire show about
50 percent of the respondents opine that Agendize is a creative organisation and about 57.1
percent of the clients opine that company is strong in design thinking. This means that the apex

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management should integrate the aesthetics as well as functional aspects while designing
software
The role of design in organization: Recommendations and reason on importance of design
thinking process:
It has become very important to involve design thinking in organisational systems in
order to maximise revenue by serving clients more satisfactorily. The organisations can
incorporate design thinking more closely with their business requirements by considering
the business attributes of the clients for which they make the design right at the inception
phase. The below is the recommended steps which business organisations like Agendize can
consider to install design thinking in their operations. The below activities or steps would
take only the business requirements of Nissan, one of the most important customers of
Agendize.

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Incorporation of design
thinking process of
Agendize while serving
Nissan
Management of
Agendize meet to
form startegy on
incorporating design
to serve Nissan more
efficiently
Apex management
approves payment
Agendize
independently scans
the market of Nissan
Agendize scans the
market in
collaboration with
Nissan
Managers meet to
discuss findings
Submit findings and
reports with apex
management
Apex management
holds meetings and
discusses the
findings
Form staretgies by
incorporating
designs according
to the finding
Evaluation and
monitoing of the
design
Taking corrective
measures if
requiired
Key assets of the organizations:
The key assets of Agendize consists of its leadership team supported by the employees
spread across the three markets. The other assets of the company consist of fixed assets and
currency. The immense technological power along with its immense customer database are also
important key assets of the company.

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The network structure:
The network structure of Agendize consists of managers, consultants, administrators,
engineers, technicians, key partners and vendors. The entire network structure of Agendize
crystallise around the apex management of the organisations under the leadership of founder and
the president of the company. The following are the elements of the network structure of
Agendize:
Managers:
The managers play a very important role as far as networking activity in Agendize is
concerned. Smith (2014) mention that managers in large business establishments play a
significant role in ensuring decision making in different spheres of business. As far as Agendize
is concerned, the firm operates in several sectors ranging from financial sector to automobile.
The firm in addition have offices in France, the United States of America, Mexico and Canada.
An analysis of the leadership team of the company reveals that the company involves several
technology based operations like development of SCRUM and user experience design (UX
design). This means that the company has several managerial posts each overseeing important
business aspects. Further it can also be pointed out that the designing of customer experience
software is dependent on the type of customers being served. For example, Agendize serves
Orange Business Services, Allianz and Nissan (Agendize.com. 2018). Orange Business operates
in the information and communication technology market while Allianz operates in the financial
sector. Nissan on the other hand operates in the automobile sector. It can be also be pointed out
that the customer segments of these three clients of Agendize are also different. Graham, Harvey
and Puri (2015) mention that companies in order to serve customers satisfactorily have to map
the total customer experience map in order to create appropriate experiences and ensure retention

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of the customers. This means that these companies while hiring services of Agendize require the
latter to take into consideration their specific customer requirements. This brings into the light
the immense role while managers at Agendize play in ensuring customer satisfaction and
generation of revenue for the company. First, the dedicated managers communicate with the
clients to gain information about their specific requirements. The managers in the organisations
thus function as important points of communication between the company and the clients.
Second, the managers communicate the directions of the upper managers like senior developers
to the subordinate employees. Thus, the third role of managers is to carry out the decisions of
the leadership team and to ensure efficient implementation of the strategies (Bolman and Deal
2017). The fourth role of the managers as far as the business network is management of the
global business. Xie, Batra and Peng (2015) opine that in case of global business managers
located in the different locations enable implementation of the central business strategy in
accordance to the local market conditions. This brings into light the fifth role of the managers
which is management of the global business. The managers of Agendize located in the
mentioned market provide the apex management the information related to the specific markets
the specific customer design requirements of the clients based in these markets. Thus, the apex
managers are able to form strategies to design customer management software which result in
client satisfaction in these different markets. Thus, it can be inferred that the managers play a
very significant role in the global business network of Agendize.
Consultants:
The consultants play a very significant role in the business network of Agendize. It has
already been pointed out that Agendioze serve various clients from diverse industries like real
estate and automobile technology. Zhang, Levenson and Crossley (2015) opine that consultants

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provide advices to companies in specific areas. This fact is very applicable for Agendize. For
example, the leadership team of Agendize is composed of positions like Scrum Master and
senior development. DaSilva and Trkman (2014) mention that Scrum is an agile process.
Seethamraju, (2015) points out that development of software as a service (SaaS) plays a very
important role in serving customers. It can be pointed out that out both Agile and software
development are subject to changing market trends like customer preferences and technology.
This fact can be applied to the network designing of Agendize. The software development
experts employed with the firm hire consultants to advice the firm on the latest development in
SaaS design. Thus, it can be inferred that the consultants firm play a very significant roles in the
designing network of Agendize.
Administrators:
The administrators oversee the entire network of software designing and marketing.
Kumar et al.(2016) point out that administrators come into play when business organisations
need to manage large customer data on their knowledge management system. The business
organisations capture, manage and share immense amount of data on their KMS and cloud
communication systems. Further, the managers and the staff using those pieces of information
require to accede to them on several hardware like laptops, smart phones and tablets. The
administrators at Agendize ensure continuous up gradation of the software systems to ensure
access to the cloud by managers and all the other technological experts. Thus, it can be inferred
that administrative experts
Engineers:
The engineers play a very important role in the networking structure of Agendize. As
pointed out in the questionnaire, the company initiatives projects in which it incorporate the

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value design to form appropriate software package for its customers. The calls for the
involvement of engineers with specialisation in diverse fields like web development, agile and
information and communication technology. Rai, Agrawal and Khaliq (2017) mention that
development of software requires efficient operations by engineers. As far as Agendize is
concerned, it makes software as a service (SaaS) which clearly mentions that the company
involves web designing. This means that engineers form an important part of the entire core
operations of the company. This predominant position of engineers in the operations of the
company is evident from engineers as important members of the central leadership team in the
positions of VP of engineering & IT and UX director. The design ladder clearly shows
technology plays several roles like as an element of customer service strategy and as a process
(Simeonov et al. 2017). This clearly means that engineers play significant roles in both at the
strategy making level as well as at the process level. Thus, it can be inferred that engineers play a
very important role in the network structure of Agendize.
Technicians:
The technicians play a very important role in the network since the entire operations of
Agendize is very much based on use the cloud computing. The technicians play a very important
role in the operations of the Agendize. This is why technicians play a very important role in its
value creation network (Borchert et al. 2018). The entire creation of value of Agendize is based
on software application which is very complex. This complexity of the design creation requires
technicians to use their skills, knowledge and experience to ensure that the software are created
as per the expectations of clients. Thus, it can be inferred that technicians play a very important
role in the network of Agensize.

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Key partners
The key partners refer to the stakeholders both individuals and groups which the firm
serves. The key partners consists of the government bodies at the three levels which form the
laws which the company has to comply with while manufacturing the software. For example, as
far as France, one of the main markets of Agendize is concerned, The Online Privacy Law
obliges the business organisations holding customer information to protect the privacy of the
customers (Loc.gov. 2018). This means that Agendize should comply with the law in two ways
while designing the software. First, in the capacity of serving the multinational clients and
second in the capacity of serving the end customers indirectly through its customers. The second
partner which forms a significant part of the network of the company are the banks. The
company manufactures real-time analytics reports for its business customers which is driven by
software. Development of new software design to serve each customer satisfactorily requires
launching of new projects. These projects require continuous inflow of financial resources which
necessitates involvement of banks. The multinational banks provide gateways for inflow and
outflow of cash (Lam 2014). The other important partners which form significant part of the
value design creation of the frim consist of suppliers of computer components like chips and
hardware. Thus, it is evident that the partners like suppliers of ancillary parts and banks form
significant parts as value creation network of the firm.
Vendors:
The vendors or distributors which partner with Agendize consist of firms which pave
ways for the firm. It is mentioned in the official website of Agendize that it manufactures user
friendly real time apps to manage customers. This means that the company is use services of
several vendors maker of the apps, the firms actually owning the apps and the digital platforms.

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These firms enable Agendize to distribute its service products (Agendize.com 2018). For
example, companies like D&B Hoovers provide sales lead on Agendize. Thus, the former is a
vendor which the company use to serve its clients like Nissan and Allianz (Hoovers.com. 2018).
Thus, it can be pointed out that the vendors use the portal of Agendize to provide sales and sale
intelligence related related, thus forming very significant part of the data creation process of the
Agendize.
Creative values:
Agendize creates value for customers by creating software as per their expectations. Aaen
and Gjerløff, (2015) while explaining value creation process in SaaS manufacturing companies
describe that the value creation in these companies are dependent of ongoing products designed
to keep on making and upgrading the customer management infrastructure of the client
companies. They mention that development of SaaS requires use of Agile development process
which involve small and dedicated groups of experts. This means that the development of
software involves not only some steps but networks common known as value creation network
(Ojala and Helander 2014). The experts use the network design ladder which means design
functions both as process and as a strategy in creating value for clients.

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Figure 1. Steps of a design ladder
(Source: Wrigley and Straker 2017)
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