Challenge and Selection . 

 I work for one of federal telecom operators . I ’m the Head of Commercial Department in one of the 

 regional branches . Our main product is mobile telephony including voice , SMS and 4 G mobile internets . 

 To make it more clear the company sells connection kits including SIM - cards with prepaid tariff plan . 

 Every day we face a great challenge to acquire new subscribers and retain the existing ones as the 

 competition environment is relentless . The basic channel of distribution is our own retail network . It 

 consists of mono - brand shops , where a customer can buy our product , connect / disconnect different 

 services , ask for advice , etc . To increase the customers ’ traffic in some of our mono - brand shops 

 collaboration with the coffee shops was made . The idea was that customers of the coffee shop would 

 convert in new mobile network users . After couple of months the idea seemed to fail , as the traffic 

 increased , but the conversion decreased , it was not the result we expected , because that meant that new 

 customers buying coffee passed by products and services we offer . 

 So we were to start with question number one « What is ? » to find out what the problem is . First we tried 

 to apply standard analytical approach , but did n’t get any distinct answer . So the alternative approach was 

 to apply one of the design thinking tools presented in the course . The tool we used was the tool of 

 Visualization . The idea was to imagine and design a kind of a simple customer journey map for two types 

 of customers : 1 ) those who comes only for the coffee and 2 ) those who comes only for mobile services 

 and then understand , how these groups of customers move physically inside the shop space . So when we 

 talk about imagination and visual thinking the tool of Visualization is the best choice . Concerning that 

 challenge it is the tool to identify pain points and find opportunities for improvements or solutions . 

 Application . , 

 The members of my team ( retail managers , marketing specialist , and trainer ) made consistently the next 

 steps : 

 1 ) Depicted on the flipchart the plan of every mono - brand shop including the coffee shop area ; 

 2 ) Marked all important zones , such as reception , showcases , lounges , windows , entrances , exits , etc . 

 by blue color ; 

 3 ) Marked all observable advertising materials by yellow color ; 

 4 ) Marked the free spaces easy to come through ( call them corridors ) by green color ; 

 5 ) Marked the spaces not easy to come through ( call them obstacles ) by red color ; 

 6 ) Envisioned different ways different customers move around the shop considering “ corridors » and 

 « obstacles ” and marked them on the flipchart by black color arrows . 

 After conducting that simple exercise it became obvious that we could n’t see earlier . The result was 

 exciting and the tool was applied effectively . It helped to look deep into the problem considering 

 customers experience . 

 Insight and Approach . 

 The insight we gained from applying the tool is that the new customers coming to the coffee shop have a 

 small opportunity to be involved in telecom operator mono - brand shop however both stores are in one 

 room . The layout of base elements of interior and advertising materials makes customers think that these 

 stores look like separate business not connected with each other . The coffee shop was supposed to be 

 built in the inner space , but in fact it became isolated . We were not able to notice that evident fact using 

 standard analytical approach . Another important thing is that Visualization was useful not only in 

 identifying the problem , but prompting some tactical solutions that we accomplished in short - time 

 period . 

 Next time facing similar challenge I try to apply design thinking approach first as it seems to be more 

 inspiring , productive and solution - oriented in conditions of uncertainty . It helps to look at the problem 

 from the different angle and explore the current reality more thoroughly . Starting out by developing a 

 better understanding of current reality is half the battle . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge and Selection . 

 I work for one of federal telecom operators . I ’m the Head of Commercial Department in one of the 

 regional branches . Our main product is mobile telephony including voice , SMS and 4 G mobile internets . 

 To make it more clear the company sells connection kits including SIM - cards with prepaid tariff plan . 

 Every day we face a great challenge to acquire new subscribers and retain the existing ones as the 

 competition environment is relentless . The basic channel of distribution is our own retail network . It 

 consists of mono - brand shops , where a customer can buy our product , connect / disconnect different 

 services , ask for advice , etc . To increase the customers ’ traffic in some of our mono - brand shops 

 collaboration with the coffee shops was made . The idea was that customers of the coffee shop would 

 convert in new mobile network users . After couple of months the idea seemed to fail , as the traffic 

 increased , but the conversion decreased , it was not the result we expected , because that meant that new 

 customers buying coffee passed by products and services we offer . 

 So we were to start with question number one « What is ? » to find out what the problem is . First we tried 

 to apply standard analytical approach , but did n’t get any distinct answer . So the alternative approach was 

 to apply one of the design thinking tools presented in the course . The tool we used was the tool of 

 Visualization . The idea was to imagine and design a kind of a simple customer journey map for two types 

 of customers : 1 ) those who comes only for the coffee and 2 ) those who comes only for mobile services 

 and then understand , how these groups of customers move physically inside the shop space . So when we 

 talk about imagination and visual thinking the tool of Visualization is the best choice . Concerning that 

 challenge it is the tool to identify pain points and find opportunities for improvements or solutions . 

 Application . , 

 The members of my team ( retail managers , marketing specialist , and trainer ) made consistently the next 

 steps : 

 1 ) Depicted on the flipchart the plan of every mono - brand shop including the coffee shop area ; 

 2 ) Marked all important zones , such as reception , showcases , lounges , windows , entrances , exits , etc . 

 by blue color ; 

 3 ) Marked all observable advertising materials by yellow color ; 

 4 ) Marked the free spaces easy to come through ( call them corridors ) by green color ; 

 5 ) Marked the spaces not easy to come through ( call them obstacles ) by red color ; 

 6 ) Envisioned different ways different customers move around the shop considering “ corridors » and 

 « obstacles ” and marked them on the flipchart by black color arrows . 

 After conducting that simple exercise it became obvious that we could n’t see earlier . The result was 

 exciting and the tool was applied effectively . It helped to look deep into the problem considering 

 customers experience . 

 Insight and Approach . 

 The insight we gained from applying the tool is that the new customers coming to the coffee shop have a 

 small opportunity to be involved in telecom operator mono - brand shop however both stores are in one 

 room . The layout of base elements of interior and advertising materials makes customers think that these 

 stores look like separate business not connected with each other . The coffee shop was supposed to be 

 built in the inner space , but in fact it became isolated . We were not able to notice that evident fact using 

 standard analytical approach . Another important thing is that Visualization was useful not only in 

 identifying the problem , but prompting some tactical solutions that we accomplished in short - time 

 period . 

 Next time facing similar challenge I try to apply design thinking approach first as it seems to be more 

 inspiring , productive and solution - oriented in conditions of uncertainty . It helps to look at the problem 

 from the different angle and explore the current reality more thoroughly . Starting out by developing a 

 better understanding of current reality is half the battle .
### Output: 