All tools are summarized in Tools for a Consultant’s Work - Summary.
Business Model Canvas
A tool that works perfectly with Impact Mapping is the Business Model Canvas. It is a method of consolidating your business model into a coherent message that fits on a single A4 page. At first, this might seem too brief, but it allows us to succinctly convey our business model.
This is useful in the context of an overly broad business offering that we want to present to the world. The number of possible solutions provided to the end customer may not actually address their needs. We often overwhelm them with options, failing to get to their real needs. Quoting a classic, “more is less.”
Additionally, in many companies, different departments often work against each other, undermining their efforts. Without a vision of where we want to go, it’s easy to focus on the wrong activities. Locally, we might be very efficient, but the whole organization won’t be.
Business Model Canvas - https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Model_Canvas Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas allows us to unify the vision of our product and focus on its most important elements. It is our direct statement of how our organization should operate—what to focus on and what to omit in our actions.
We start with the value we want to deliver to our customers. This is crucial because all our steps will need to align with these values. If not, it means we are misaligning the solution with our offering.
Next, we define the customer more precisely and how we will be able to reach them. Then, we move on to our activities—what we will focus on and who will help us generate the given offer. Finally, we turn to profits and costs to see if we can make money on the defined model.
While creating this kind of model, different groups can share experiences, express their concerns, and think about other ways to meet needs. Once this model is ready, individual departments can create strategies that align with the company’s overall goal.
Example of Use
A startup in the IT sector planned to introduce new IT services in the subscription market. The team had many interesting ideas on how to improve this market. However, this abundance ultimately led to decision paralysis and an overwhelming number of tasks and changes. Every idea seemed valuable, so each one was considered for implementation.
The Business Model Canvas helped unify the vision of the people in the project. Options were visualized, and then decisions were made on which area of the industry to invest time in first. This reduced the number of tasks, and the work itself became more focused on a specific business goal.
Why is it Beneficial?
If we cannot create an abstract on one A4 page, it means our specific business offer might be too inconsistent. The Business Model Canvas helps us choose what our main goal is and, based on this, take specific actions.
