Leeds-based change enablement specialist – CDS – has recruited Dom Baker as its new head of innovation.
He joins the firm with a creative career spanning design, customer experience, and production roles, including 15 years specifically in innovation-focused positions.
Most recently he was innovation director for a range of household brands and has created and run successful programmes for some of the world’s best known organisations, such as Public Health England, Jaguar Land Rover, Google, NatWest, the Royal Navy, Arthritis Research, the BBC, and Transport for London.
Drawing upon his ability to determine where organisational, technological, and societal obstacles restrict effective user engagement, his approach is to ‘find a way, or make a way’.
Baker said: “I’m hard-wired to focus on people – the users of a process, product or project, both internal and external.
“I love to unpick what they want, what’s in their heads, and how we can devise different approaches and solutions to drive behavioural and system change.
“Transformation is an overused term in the tech space and wider business environment. But the need to transform remains, and inspiration for how this should happen can often be found in the most surprising places.
“It’s about exploring, designing and testing the best solutions, with a clear view of how they scale. And it’s my job to support CDS clients — as well as our 170 -strong team – to uncover insights, get innovation started, embed the right behaviours, and leverage the power of relevant technologies, to enable problem solving that never stops.”
CDS’ marketing and innovation director, Adrian Odds, said: “The only constant in our clients’ world is change, and innovation is often the catalyst that enables them to take a new view of what needs to change, when and how.
“We often encounter private and public sector challenges that can be addressed with user-centred innovation strategies, which prove value quickly, are scalable, and can be safely deployed with good governance.
“Resolving these challenges leads to positive user, stakeholder, and operational outcomes, resulting in improved experiences, greater engagement levels, and revenue growth.
“Dom’s experience means that he deeply understands both the needs of users, and the knottiest of challenges that large and complex organisations typically face.
“He has an ambitious outlook and an unswerving drive to create things that work well, look good, and deliver the impact they set out to achieve. Dom is the ultimate problem solver – and the perfect hire for our growing innovation team.”
CDS clients include some of the UK’s largest and most important public bodies, such as The Cabinet Office and Home Office, as well as private sector clients in regulated markets like financial services, healthcare and education.