Skip to main content
search

Visionary Voices

From Tools to
Transformation

From Tools to Transformation: How Experience Design Shapes Performance

Terry Peters
Product, Service, and Experience
Design Leader

In our latest Visionary Voices conversation, we sat down with Terry to explore how organizations are redefining the relationship between people and technology. The most compelling insight? The companies winning today aren’t those with the flashiest tools—they’re the ones placing human-centered design at the heart of everything they do.

Here’s what stood out most:

Employees Aren’t Starving for Information—They’re Drowning in It

Terry gets to the root of a widespread issue in today’s workplace:

“You search for something, you get a billion results—and most of it’s junk.”

The challenge isn’t a lack of information or tools. It’s surfacing what employees need, when they need it, based on what the organization already knows about them. That’s where AI becomes transformative—not as a replacement for human insight, but as an orchestrator of better experiences.

Instead of forcing employees to search, read, or file tickets, AI can “just do the thing”—dramatically reducing the distance between need and resolution.

The CHRO Is No Longer an Administrator—They’re a Strategic Change Agent

Terry highlights a powerful shift in how HR is perceived:

“HR was traditionally seen as an administrative function, focused on compliance and legal risk. Now, it’s evolving into a strategic partner driving employee experience, organizational culture, and business outcomes.”

This evolution includes people analytics, AI-enabled recruitment, employee sentiment tracking, and workforce strategy. CHROs are increasingly at the center of technology adoption and transformation efforts—shaping how people work, not just where and when.

HR is evolving into a strategic partner driving employee experience, organizational culture, and business outcomes.

Without a Great Employee Experience, You Can’t Deliver a Great Customer Experience

The connection between employee and customer experience is now measurable—and undeniable.

“If someone doesn’t have the right tools or support internally, how can they deliver a great experience externally?” Terry asks. “Just like a carpenter needs a sharp saw to build a cabinet, employees need well-designed tools to deliver value.”

The ROI may not show up overnight as a 20% revenue spike—but the long-term impact is real. As Terry puts it:

“It’s like taking your multivitamins. You won’t notice the benefit immediately, but over time, everything works better.”

Organizations that invest in thoughtful experience design consistently see improvements in engagement, retention, and operational efficiency.

Organizations that invest in thoughtful experience design consistently see improvements in engagement, retention, and operational efficiency.

Service Design Isn’t Just for Customers—It Applies to Every Process

Terry’s team brings service design methodology far beyond traditional brand or marketing applications.

“Any business process—whether it’s finance, healthcare, claims, or provider relations—can be redesigned through a human-centered lens.”

The approach starts with personas: Who are the key actors in the ecosystem? What are their goals, pain points, and interactions? From there, the team maps the journey—what people are thinking, feeling, saying, and doing at each step.

This methodology uncovers both friction points and missed opportunities, directing focus to where it will have the greatest impact.

AI Is Accelerating—But Human-Centered Design Still Leads

Even in an AI-driven world, the fundamentals of experience design haven’t changed.

“AI should be helpful and supportive—not take over,” Terry explains.

The design principles remain the same: give users control, visibility, clarity, and safety. Provide undo buttons. Organize content intuitively. Maintain hierarchy and coherence. AI should simplify, not complicate.

At its core, Terry says, “AI is just a bigger, smarter version of search—we’re just making it cooler. The goal is still the same: serve the human.”

Three Realities That Will Define the Future of Work

1

Experience-First Technology: Organizations must evaluate tools not just by their technical specs or cost savings—but by their impact on human experience.

2

Cross-Functional Integration: True transformation happens when HR, IT, data, and CX teams work together to create holistic, intelligent experiences.

3

Continuous Optimization: Experience design isn’t a one-time initiative. Like a daily multivitamin, it requires consistent effort, measurement, and improvement to drive engagement, efficiency, and satisfaction.

The Bottom Line

In a world where access to tools and data is ubiquitous, competitive advantage comes from how thoughtfully you design the intersection of people, process, and technology. The future belongs to organizations that prioritize employee experience—not just as an HR initiative, but as a core business strategy.

If you’re ready to place human experience at the center of your transformation—let’s talk.

Visionary Voices is a segment of RGP’s LinkedIn newsletter, Mindshift. Each month we highlight a unique futurist who challenges us to think differently and to drive innovation. Mindshift also contains valuable research and curated content.

RGP logo
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.