The Value of Design in an Enterprise Cloud Solution

The purpose of this paper is to examine the value of design in a product development organization named C4C that targets large enterprises looking for a cloud based customer relationship management solution. There is a general sense that design is important at C4C, but no attempts have been undertaken to formalize and quantify that value in a cohesive manner. A Case Study approach has been used to collect evidence surrounding the design team’s contribution to the organization. Design management theory and tools have been applied to validate the findings and reach the conclusion. The findings of this paper clarify and shed light on the design team’s undeniable contribution to the success of the product and quantify the value of design. The paper concludes by interlinking four main findings; one, percent of top line revenue; two, balancing ‘the triad’; three, increasing the design influence; and, fourth, the cloud influence.