Business Modelling – Overview

Starting from the top – it is useful to understand the business model of the organization. Why are they in business and how do they add value for their customers. Some approaches that have worked for me in the past are:

1. Variation of the Porter five forces approach: Competitors, Suppliers, Replacements, Customers and Regulatory. Gives you a good overview of where the organization is today and can help you identify problems and opportunities within the overall market place.
2. High-level value chain analysis of the top 5-10 business activities can also tell you a lot about how the organization approaches its operations. A good way to quickly identify the problems and opportunities at the highest level of operational delivery within the business.
3. Top-down organizational structure and capability analysis provides insight into how the organization works and the barriers it has erected internally to operational efficiency. This type of analysis gives you a quick way to identify areas that need to be strengthened and barriers to efficiency that need to be overcome.

These initial business modelling approaches can be done in a few half day workshops with senior business and IT executives. They help to build overall consensus on the need for change and the direction it should take. This helps to prioritize what needs to be done and helps you scope and schedule the projects you will need to undertake to effect change.