Talk / Organizations
Inside the Acquisition
Michelle Berryman & Niklas Mortensen
Wait. Am I a consultant now? What just happened?
As design is increasingly seen as a competitive advantage and a marketplace differentiator, more and more organizations are seeking creative talent and innovators to bolster their service offerings. For many organizations, it is easier and more effective to acquire talent than to build the capability internally. This has brought new companies into the the design industry as employers - companies that traditionally did not hire or utilize design talent. Among these newer entrants to the field, we find corporations, technology firms, systems integrators, and management consultants, to name but a few.
With any type of acquisition, the integration of talent, culture, scale, work styles, processes, etc can be chaotic and challenging. This is especially true when you are the one being acquired and you suddenly find yourself in a large organization with a completely different culture and focus.
This talk aims to look inside the acquisition and changing world of design, creative services and innovation to see how we have gone from small boutique firms to become transformative forces inside large multi-national firms providing information technology, consulting and business process services. There are lessons learned and a roller coaster ride, but in the end, we both feel it's been totally worth it.
About the speakers
Michelle Berryman
I am a Principal, Innovation & Strategy at Capgemini Invent/Fahrenheit 212 in Atlanta, GA. My practice centers on guiding the vision and innovation efforts for digital customer experience with websites, social channels, e-commerce initiatives, software, portals and applications. Throughout my award-winning career, I have worked with brands like Coca-Cola, SAP, Kroger, SEI, NCR, Honeywell, Electrolux, Nike, Express and Hewlett-Packard, to build meaningful customer experiences across channels within the digital ecosystem and in the physical world.
I am a Fellow in the Industrial Designers Society of America, have served as IDSA President and was named one of the 50 Most Influential Designers of the last 50 years by the membership. Currently, I serve on the board for the IxDA (Interaction Design Association) and the advisory board for Good Design Australia. I've spoken and led workshops at conferences around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Poland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States.
Niklas Mortensen
Managing Director @ Designit Oslo. Since 2003 I have overseen a range of projects; consulting with everything from small start-ups to large brand owners. In recent years I've worked with clients such as Statoil, Telenor, Pareto Bank, SEB and DNB among others.
Co-founder of IxDA Oslo, and board member at Interaction Design Association, a global non-profit organization for UX/IxD professionals.