Design Thinking & Visual Storytelling

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Design Thinking & Visual Storytelling is a virtual instructor-led training, taking place across four sessions of four hours each. 

Under the guidance of veteran BA instructors, you will practice advanced Business Architecture techniques through hands-on, team-based exercises in Miro. Systems Engineers from Cisco and its Partners will join the same classrooms, where they can exchange ideas and best practices. 

You will be empowered to:

• ​​Influence customers through consultative selling
• Shape 1-page strategies
• Develop customer insights on any industry and understand the drivers of primary personas
• Identify and detail industry-relevant use cases
• Orchestrate partner ecosystems and co-create solutions
• Facilitate collaborative design thinking workshops
• Build executive storyboards to secure the sponsorship of key stakeholders​​​​​​​

The training will enable participants to develop 4 BA skills essential to all Systems Engineers:

• Strategist | Envision the 1-page strategy to picture where the business wants to go, how it’ll get there, and map out the strategic innovation domains for the years to come.
• Orchestrator | Prioritize the use cases that will propel the business into the future and shape the integrated plan (architecture, roadmap, and partner ecosystem) to bring them to life.
• Innovator | Run Design Thinking workshops with stakeholders from Business & IT, turning challenges into MVPs that you can rapidly code and start generating business outcomes​.
• Storyteller | Tell the relevant story and do the cost-benefit analysis to convince LoB & IT executives to invest​.

Business Architecture Skills, Methods and Tools

• Day 1, Strategist: Creation of a Digital Journey Dashboard (DJD)
• Day 2, Orchestrator: Creation of a Business Architecture Roadmap (BAR)
• Day 3, Innovator: Implementation of a Business Innovation Sprint (BIS)
• Day 4, Storyteller: Creation of a Executive Storyboard (STORRY)
• Final discussion: Why BA? Why Cisco?

Cisco Partners and Cisco Employees

Before joining this advanced training, you must start with Stages 1 & 2 of Cisco Business Architecture training, which is free for Cisco Partners. These on-demand learning maps in SalesConnect lay the groundwork for what will be put into practice across the four days of guided learning in Design Thinking & Visual Storytelling.

• Stage 1 – Understand the value Cisco BA brings to the sales cycle and how it can improve your competitive posture while increasing the size of your strategic opportunities. Deliver an elevator pitch and know who to contact to initiate a BA-led engagement.
• Stage 2 – Discover, qualify, and successfully position BA to your customers. Understand how BA fits into Cisco’s selling motion and how to utilize the available resources. Learn about the four skill domains at the heart of Cisco BA and the steps needed to become an equipped BA Maker.

Across the four days of Design Thinking & Visual Storytelling, you will go hands-on with each of the four key tools. Each tool correlates to one of the methodologies listed above, allowing you to better incorporate the Cisco BA approach into your sales motion.

• Digital Journey Dashboard (DJD)
• Business Architecture Roadmap (BAR)
• Business Innovation Sprints (BIS)
• Executive Storyboards (STORRY)

Before the course starts:
Download all templates, including Miro boards, PowerPoint, InDesign, etc.