Innovation Project Summary Cookhouse LabS
Innovating to Save Community Business During COVID-19
How can the insurance industry support small businesses in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic?
12
HOURS
ONLINE
2020
8
ORGANIZATIONS
3
MVPs
Challenge
How might we encourage and guide small business owners with access to expert knowledge and community support, in order to give them peace of mind?
WHY?
Understanding small business owners’ concerns during COVID-19
SEE
- Cost-cutting everywhere
- Business shutdowns since mid-March
- No other source of income
- Annual insurance payment due in next week
- Uncertainty
- Efforts to stay calm and healthy
- Families reduce spending to offset loss of income
- Other businesses are finding alternative revenue streams
SAY & DO
- Find ways to stay calm and healthy
- Move equipment from business to home to safeguard
- Freeze hiring for 2020
- Stick to current business instead of finding alternatives
- Reduce expenses while living on savings
- Lower prices for clients
- Increased loyalty towards insurance company if support offered
HEAR
- “The future is uncertain”
- Business growth has been delayed
- Some businesses are turning away clients out of precaution
- Everyone is staying calm and staying home
- Most businesses are losing customers and employees
- Happy to hear the project team ask, “How can the insurance industry help you?”
THINK & FEEL
- Not thinking of opening an alternative business
- Would prefer that insurance companies stopped payments altogether instead of deferring them
- Grateful for investors understanding
- Some confidence in current business model
- Worried about loss of income from business interruptions
- Choose to focus on planning for 2021 instead
DISCOVERY
As business owners struggle to maintain a cash flow, they seek government financial assistance and alternative revenue streams.
What impact does the COVID-19 pandemic have on small businesses?
How can we help small businesses in our community to maintain a solid cash flow?
What resources (such as skills, tools etc.) do we have available to help small business on short notice?
SOLUTION
Together, the team listed 70 solutions and selected the final idea: a 3-day virtual speed consulting event in partnership with the Big 5 consulting firms.
1
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Posts for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn were designed to create awareness around the consulting event. “You are not alone,” the text read, and informed small business owners that the insurance organizations would soon announce their solution to help owners through these challenging times.
2
LANDING PAGE
3
INTRODUCTION EMAIL
The team prepared an email to their small business clients to inform them of the upcoming virtual consulting event. The email was divided into sections that were dedicated to introducing the experts, offering event details, and providing information on the additional 1-on-1 consulting sessions that would be made available to these clients.
RESULTS
Over 4 afternoons, the team empathized with small business owners and understood in-depth the struggles and uncertainty they faced.
2
Empathy Maps
1
Customer Journey Map
21
Interview Questions
8
Customer Interviews
70
Initial Solutions
3
MVPs
1
Innovation Report
1
Project Presentation
PARTICIPANTS
More Co-creation Sprints
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