Space Advisors, a sales game developed by the Gronstedt Group for KPMG, has won silver honors in the 2018 International Serious Play Awards competition in the Corporate category.
Working in close collaboration with subject matter experts at KPMG, Gronstedt Group developed a Serious Game that helps uncover the full scope of a prospective client business requirements so that the company can select the appropriate KPMG service group to tailor a solution for each client opportunity.
Game Background
KPMG’s Advisory Professionals are trusted counselors to the world’s largest, most successful organizations. They face a big challenge, though: how can they best represent a rapidly growing network of over 40 KPMG specialty teams in constructing a comprehensive, tailored solution for each client?
Selecting the appropriate KPMG service groups for each client opportunity is an especially daunting task for newly hired professionals, who usually lack the organizational savvy required to craft an optimal solution.
Space Advisors is a Serious Game designed to help Advisory Professionals uncover client business requirements and select the key network players to solve them.
According to the developers, “Years of experience have demonstrated that clients often fail to understand the full scope of their problems (and potential). The game therefore encourages advisors to identify business issues the client may not have considered so KPMG can then bring the right mix of industry-leading capabilities and competencies to bear in solving them. By forcing advisors out of their comfort zones, Space Advisors supports the firm’s efforts to boost client financial results by integrating the entire range of service groups.”
Gameplay
The science fiction themed game is comprised of four increasingly complex client engagements.
In the first level, players visit the Healthcare Droids of Star System Trappist-1 to help them transform Medroid, Inc.’s financial system.
The player, who assumes the role of a KPMG Management Consulting practice member, is invited to attend a client scoping meeting to discuss the opportunity with a team of senior Medroid partners. The goal is to optimize KPMG’s value to the client by representing the firm’s values and promoting the “one firm” approach.
The player is challenged to gather information
about the client, assemble an initial presentation team, question MedDroid
leaders, and assemble the final team and a proposal.
Based on what they learn in the initial client meeting, players have to
identify the Client Performance Priorities and map them to the right KPMG
service team. They use a Service Network selector to pick the teams that will
provide the best solution.
Upon completing the first scenario, they level
up for the second one. Each subsequent client scenario is harder and more
complex than the one before.
The game thrives on compelling storylines with
colorful characters, real-world problem solving, level progression, game
aesthetics, hint-system, feedback and freedom to fail.