Impact & Influence

This chapter examines the relationship between where service designers sit within an organization and the impact they feel they are making. Does reporting to the C-Suite correlate with higher perceived impact? Does being in a dedicated Design department empower you more than being in IT?

Filter the Data

Level of Impact

This question was first introduced in the 2025 survey, allowing us to track these sentiments over the last two years.

How much impact do you feel you’re making through your work?

Do you see your efforts leading to noticeable improvements, changes, or results within your organization or for your clients?

Respondents could choose from the following options:

5 - Major: I see my work leading to major changes.
4 - Significant: I see my work having a big impact.
3 - Moderate: I see clear results from my work.
2 - Minimal: I see some small results from my work.
1 - No impact: I don't see any results from my work.

Does Measurement Drive Impact?

Is there a correlation between having measurable business outcomes and feeling like you're making an impact? This scatter plot compares the Percentage of Projects with Measurable Outcomes against the Perceived Impact Score, while highlighting how Design Maturity plays a role in reaching that "sweet spot" of high impact and clear results.

The Hypothesis: As organizations reach higher levels of Design Maturity, they naturally achieve both higher Perceived Impact and more Measurable Outcomes. You can validate this by observing where the high-maturity groups cluster on the plot.

Change in Influence

How has your level of influence on the business evolved this year?

Think about your influence at different levels within your organization. Are your ideas being heard and acted upon by your team, your department, and the wider organization?

This chart visualizes the net momentum of influence. Bars to the right (Green) indicate respondents whose influence Grown, while bars to the left (Red) indicate it Declined. Neutral responses ("Stayed the same" or "Not sure") are excluded from the bars to highlight the direction of change.

When sorting by Score, the chart ranks dimensions by Net Momentum (Percentage Grown minus Percentage Declined), placing the most positive trends at the top. When multiple years are selected, the data is aggregated to show the overall trend across the selected period.