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23 PEOPLE FLOW |
How does it feel to move
through a busy building
in a wheelchair or with a
baby stroller? KONE plans
to find out in this year’s
People Flow Day.
TANGIBLE IMPROVEMENTS
Launched last year, People Flow Day
received an extremely positive reaction.
Walter Sirchi, KONE’s Branch Manager in
Genoa, says that customers in Italy have
been “sincerely impressed” by KONE’s
inventive approach to investigating cus-
tomer and user needs. “They appreciated
our employees’ passion and pride.”
Italian researchers made a number of
interesting discoveries which have led
FOR MORE ON
PEOPLE FLOW DAY, VISIT
to tangible improvements both large
and small. User feedback revealed,
for example, that the 0.5 meters per
second speed of the escalators in the
Rome underground was too slow. Such
a minor speed adjustment will bring a
major improvement in user satisfaction.
TEXT SILJA KUDEL PHOTO KONE
A DAY
IN THE LIFE...
Ateam of KONE employees
from 32 countries will take to
the streets on October 27 to
look at the world through the
eyes of users and customers. KONE’s
annual People Flow Day focuses this
year on the theme of accessibility.
Teams will be visiting retail, residen-
tial, office, hotel, transportation hub
and medical buildings to conduct
customer interviews, observe behaviors
and collect user observations. Special
attention will be payed to the acces-
sibility challenges of five specific user
groups: visually impaired persons,
wheelchair users, senior citizens,
parents with young children, and busy
people.
“This ‘field day’ helps KONE em-
ployees see what People Flow is on a
practical level, giving them a better
understanding of users, customers and
building types,” says the project’s global
coordinator Kim Blomberg.
“All the insights we gather go into a
database that benefits us and our cus-
tomers now and in future product devel-
opment. The better we can understand
different groups, the better we can meet
their needs. By gaining new insights on
barriers and enhancements to their
mobility, we can increase customer satis-
faction and strengthen KONE’s offering
and product development.”