Business development is important for ensuring that a company keeps up to date and operates effectively. The successful development of products, services or processes benefits both the customer and the company. One good example of business development is the digitalisation of a certain job.
Digital solutions can reduce load on employees, as a computer can take care of things such as routine accounting tasks, allowing people to concentrate on interpreting data and making decisions. This means that even small actions can significantly increase the performance of an organisation.
Service design as a development aid
Business development begins with identifying existing problems and bottlenecks. What can we improve? What takes too much time?
Services produced for the customer should always be designed in a user-oriented way. Good service design means that the service simultaneously provides a good experience for the customer and meets the provider’s business objectives.
The smoothness of a service can have a significant effect on how willing the customer is to continue their customership and recommend the service to other potential customers. Smoothness also affects how much time organisation employees spend on the process.
Business development should therefore focus on processes not only from the customer’s perspective, but also from the perspective of employees who carry out practical work. Sometimes it is a good idea to use an outside expert to identify issues, as they see the situation from a different angle. How many times does a customer have to click a form before they can place an order? Can employees copy data from a previous order onto the new order, and therefore avoid inputting the data manually or copying it from field to field? What unnecessary corners could be cut from the process?
Conceptualisation and business development
When a business area in an organisation requires development, it is worth starting with conceptualisation. The first step is to analyse what is wrong with the operations by examining the existing processes. The next step is to specify the methods which could be used to change the operating model in order to reach a pre-determined target. The ready concept is tested either in practice, or through simulation, then developed and finally, implemented. The concept may include a new IT system, an operating model to facilitate physical work, etc.
An outside expert may help to determine business areas that require improvement and package solutions into a concrete concept. Our experts have an extensive view of the kinds of solutions that have been used in corresponding situations in other organisations, and how they can be adapted and improved for you. Feel free to contact us at any time you wish to discuss with our IT experts any challenges you face in your work!