The year 2025 has kicked off with a bang. Technology, politics, economics, the labor market – the pace of change is dizzying, though the direction of these changes remains unclear. It might feel like preparing a company for all these shifts at once is an impossible task. Our response? A portfolio of unique, skills-focused workshops and training sessions, now part of the EDISONDA Development Programmes’ accessibility offering, following a successful pilot phase.
Business Wargaming
The typical process of launching a product or service to the market involves introducing the idea into the company’s offering, observing customer and competitor reactions, and then deciding whether to withdraw the offer or make adjustments. However, it is possible to address key issues before confronting the market, which not only saves resources and minimises frustration but also makes it harder for competitors to offer a better service in a short time.
Our experts are constantly searching for the best methods to support our clients’ ideas and businesses. One of the methods adopted last year is Net Assessment, a comprehensive analysis technique developed by the U.S. Department of Defense during the Cold War and still in use today.
Net Assessment is a comparative analysis of a company’s strengths and weaknesses in the context of its business environment.
The goal is to understand the company’s relative ability to achieve sustainable success in the industry. By using Net Assessment analysis, different scenarios can be created, testing the reactions of competitors, partners, and customers. This allows for the identification of weak points in the idea (whether strategic, product-related, etc.), as well as uncovering unexpected advantages.
One of the key stages of Net Assessment is simulating the implementation of a change (e.g., introducing an offer to the market), known as Business Wargaming. A wargaming workshop is an innovative approach that we successfully implemented for both EDISONDA and one of our key clients. Miłosz Michałowski-Żuk shared insights about this during our Trajectories conference in the fall of 2024.
🎬 Watch video “How does Wargaiming help business?”
The Business Wargaming workshop allows organisations to test event scenarios, providing a clearer understanding of their position, the attractiveness of their offering, and the ability to adjust action plans. This workshop maximises the chances of success while minimising risks, offering a safe space to test ideas without any consequences for the company’s market position.
Speculative Design
Most tasks assigned to designers focus on solving today’s problems. Paradoxically, given the current pace of change, concentrating solely on the here and now could hinder a company’s growth. The solution may lie in analysing signals of emerging trends and seeking opportunities and solutions for future challenges. This approach enables organisations to stay ahead of the competition and prepare for changes in the business environment before they occur.
We have adapted the speculative design approach, popularised by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby in their book „Speculative Everything”, as a business-design workshop. The workshop is based on a benchmark tailored to a specific business – its industry and target groups.
The prepared benchmark, along with a description of the solution’s target group and the problems we aim to address, serves as the starting point for a speculative analysis of possible future scenarios. As Piotr Dziadowicz, who has been developing this design approach at EDISONDA, puts it:
„We focus on probable scenarios, not on creating utopias or dystopias. We speculate based on trends to design digital products and services that will meet the needs of future users.“ says Piotr Dziadowicz.
The outcome of this workshop includes ideas for new products and services aimed at addressing the challenges of future target groups, as well as a proposed roadmap for implementing improvements to existing products.
AI in the Digital Workplace
Artificial Intelligence is discussed in every possible context – identified as a panacea for humanity’s problems or as the greatest threat to our species’ survival. However, in many companies, its application in business remains more of an aspiration than a reality.
For the past two years, we have been successfully exploring available solutions, seeking applications for Artificial Intelligence in the workplace. We collaborate with Bielik AI, develop AI assistants for the Grant Thornton network, and identify value and optimal solutions for our clients.
Last year, we introduced an AI in Research training programme, which has already been utilised by teams from diverse industries, including public administration, FMCG manufacturing, and financial services.
We are now adding additional courses focused on the effective use of AI tools in modernising the Digital Workplace:
- Effective use of AI tools – a course dedicated to the possibilities offered by the most popular platforms currently used for cognitive work, namely Google and Microsoft. Participation in this training enables to quickly familiarise with the tools available on the selected platform, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as ways to apply them to optimise work.
- Creating custom AI agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio – this course is based on our experience in developing AI assistants for companies within the Grant Thornton group. The course allows participants to create their own AI agent, operating on the knowledge base collected by the user and integrated with other Microsoft tools.
Accessibility
In June 2025, the „Act on Ensuring that Business Entities Meet Accessibility Requirements for Certain Products and Services” will come into force, aligning with the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
This legislation extends the obligation to ensure digital accessibility beyond public institutions and their partners, encompassing online stores, banks, and financial institutions.
Accessibility is a critical aspect that must be integrated throughout the design process. Therefore, knowledge of accessibility-compliant design principles is essential for UX and UI designers, product owners, and other professionals working on digital products.
🎬 Watch video “AI, technology and accessibility from a blind person’s perspective”
The Digital Accessibility for Designers course focuses on deepening knowledge about creating user interfaces tailored to the needs of individuals with specific requirements related to vision, hearing, motor skills, or reduced cognitive abilities.
We cover the latest accessibility guidelines and their practical applications in projects.
We explore and define best practices that drive accessibility in product design, highlighting common mistakes in projects and solutions to avoid them.
We explore which elements ensuring accessibility should be included in the interface design handed over to developers and how they should be presented.
As Joanna Hostyńska, our Accessibility expert, says:
„All the elements covered in the course enable the project to be prepared—designed and coded—in line with accessibility principles. This ensures that the digital product will be accessible to a wide range of users with specific needs while also being more user-friendly and intuitive for everyone.”
If these topics interest you, feel free to reach out—we’d be happy to discuss the details and tailor an offer to suit your company’s needs. Stay tuned for more training sessions and workshops designed to support businesses in these times of rapid change.
