Capturing a Snapshot of a Financial Services Future

In Vietnam, it is still very common to pay monthly housing rent in cash. A collector comes by on a monthly basis to pick up envelopes with notes, no receipts are exchanged, and relationships are almost always only based on trust. But as the country’s entrepreneurial population has developed, and the proportion of youth has grown tremendously, new attitudes and needs have come to life, resulting in a market that’s ripe for change.

Our client recognizes this opportunity, and sees potential in creating solutions that will help people more effectively manage their lives and businesses. Beyond simply extending products they have in place in other markets, they see the need to meet Vietnamese consumers’ specific needs, and on this journey, they turned to Heist for design research.

Over the course of a 2-week sprint, Heist set up a pop-up studio in Vietnam, and conducted 8 in-depth interviews and 50+ conversations with people ranging from an English teacher to young entrepreneurs, Grab drivers to stay-at-home moms. What we found was that while people are finding ways to operate within the cash-based aspects of the economy, they are highly receptive to new digital services, especially when they are designed specifically for their needs. This is the challenge the client will take on with Heist’s insights in hand: Designing a digital financial services future for one of Asia’s fastest growing economies.