Co-design supporting organizations’ internal change in the digital innovation era

Organizations must be inclined to innovation and rapid change in order to be successful in an ever-changing world that offers multiple and unpredictably evolving scenarios (De Smet A. et al., 2018). In recent years, the idea of innovation is rapidly converging into the digital innovation phenomenon, which consists of a vast range of technological, organizational, cultural, social, managerial and creative changes, and aims at improving the application of digital technology in human society. Like any novelty, the introduction of new technologies leads to the breakdown of balances within the “environment system” inside companies and organizations. In other words, firms adopting these new strategies may not see the expected results, due to their unsuitable organizational asset. In this scenario, the typical Design Thinking (DT) and Co-design strategic approach plays a key role in leading organizations through change. Nevertheless, we should not overlook that Design Thinking can be both a fundamental support for enhancing digital technologies, but still can’t do without these technologies so as to become more effective and to faster fulfil the needs of potential customers. The paper goal here is to show how a DT approach can change the organizational environment, making it more efficient at using new technologies. Then, paper aims to map the state of the art of the major technologies and companies involved in digital innovation, thus highlighting some critical issues related to the improper use and not enhanced tools. The objective of this contribution is to outline some guidelines on how a Co-design approach must guide the internal change of an organization that faces digital innovation, in order to create a versatile model that can be used in different environments.