Canvasses on Steroids

A popular technique for quickly understanding or planning a business is the Business Model Canvas, introduced by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. This provides a high level ontology in the form of a one page diagram with boxes for key elements of a business.

The canvas idea has also been used for assessing other things including Business Value Proposition; Blue Ocean Strategy Ideas and Product and Service Innovations. There are a number of advantages to the canvas:

• It is quick and easy to use

• It is accessible to non-technical executives, managers and domain experts without modelling knowledge

• It is concise and low effort

• If well designed, it focusses attention on key concepts (provides ontology)

• It can be done for baseline and proposed scenarios and comparison

However, there are also drawbacks and limitations:

• It is often just a diagram with little formality of definition behind the concepts or consensus on what each category actually means
  (Resources may include People, Skill, I.P., Cash, Plant… )

• Users often mix concepts and instances in completing the blocks
  (Retail Customers, Govt. Dept of Energy…)

• There is insufficient detail behind the entries to perform more detailed analysis
  (For Revenue Streams we may list Hardware Sales, Software Sales and Services, but we don’t know that these contribute in the proportion 60%, 35%, 5%)

• Relationships and dependencies are not apparent
  (Which Partners or Resources or Activities are necessary to offer a particular Value Proposition?)

To solve these issues, facilitate richer analysis and integrate the elements in the canvas with other enterprise models and architecture elements, we implemented advanced features for canvasses in our Enterprise Value Architect (EVA) tool platform:

• Users can define canvasses using any concepts defined in the meta model (also user definable). Concepts are represented by user friendly names and icons

• Users can choose the canvas layout, size of boxes etc.

• Items captured into a cell can include hierarchies, thereby facilitating use of subcategories and templates, if desired

• Items captured are repository objects with relationships and any desired properties, which can include rich items such as documents, images, calculations etc. Items in the canvas have hyperlinks to view or edit these details

• Items can be related in the canvas by drag and drop. Related objects are highlighted when the cursor is hovered over an item

• Items can be included in any other tool view, including reports, generated documents, matrices and graphical models

• Canvas views can be linked into menus for easy access by users collaborating on a shared repository. Since the tool is web based, these users can be anywhere

These innovations make canvasses very powerful! Take a look at the demonstration below.

Role of the Repository

As architects we use many models and produce/share a lot of artefacts (models, documents, presentations, plans, posters). We collect a lot of references and create many “working files” (such as notes, spreadsheets, outlines, templates). We share with other parties in business, I.T., vendors and advisors.

It is a daunting task to keep all of this stuff straight, to find it when we want it, to ensure that we have the right version. Difficult to make a consistent change across the various mentions of a particular thing, for example: a Business Unit has been renamed - how can we reflect that across all references in all the various models and documents?

We can of course build a library of documents, often a network drive or Sharepoint portal. This may start out well, but often quickly devolves into a large bucket. A better solution is to have electronic document management, where artefacts are stored, indexed, versioned, searchable and sharable with appropriate permissions. This can work well with appropriate discipline. It still suffers from the maintenance problem we mentioned. E.g. Updating things mentioned _inside_ models, presentations and other artefacts consistently.

This is where we need a proper repository. This may do document management too: the key difference is that a repository will manage _objects_. These can be course grained, such as the documents and models mentioned. They can also be fine grained, such as the things of interest inside the documents, models etc. A repository allows having the same object reflected in multiple models, documents, reports, matrices etc. This greatly facilitates impact analysis and maintenance to ensure consistency. It also allows integration of different domains or perspectives. For example, I can mention Business Objects (which derive from a Conceptual Data Model) in a Business Process Model, or a Requirement Specification for a Business Intelligence Dashboard.

To provide this sort of flexibility, the repository should allow customisation of meta models. I.e. we should be able to define: the concepts we are interested in, the relationships that they can have to other concepts, the properties that are important to a concept. Also, how we want to represent the information in various ways including: forms, reports, models, documents, matrices, etc. The repository solution should provides easy import from standard formats as well as APIs for easy integration to other tooling. Global search facilities and a strong security system are valuable too.

Our EVA toolset provides such a repository. The philosophy is that it's easy to capture information from a variety of sources: CSV, XML, Web Forms, Graphical Modelling; store it all semantically regardless of source; use it for analysis; and output in many forms: Query, Lists, Matrices, Visualisations, Graphical Models, etc.

Read more about EVA here.

#enterprisearchitecture #enterprisemodelling #repository #tools

Prepare to Leap - Readiness Tool (How Prepared Are You?)

Image: Isiwal/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0 / CC BY-SA

A few weeks ago, I posted an article on how to prepare for emerging from lockdown and preparing to thrive in a Post COVID world. Much has been written and many things have become clearer during the last few weeks. On the other hand, the situation remains fluid with conflicting reports and research emerging daily. We mentioned that we were working on a Readiness Assessment Tool. This is the focus of this article. 

The tool takes the form of a tabular maturity model. See here on details of how maturity models are constructed and how to use and benefit from the insights that they generate. 

This particular one was constructed by us at Inspired, using collective experience and the information available at the time about the pandemic, as well as our background in business architecture, including scenario planning. 

The columns represent maturity levels, as follows:

• Initial - We are becoming aware of the problem and starting to assess our situation and the impact, but are far from ready

• Emerging - We have some measures in place, have a reasonable understanding of the problem and its likely impact and a plan of what may need to change

• Managed - We are executing on the plan, controlling negative impacts and seeking opportunities

• Optimised - We have everything under control, have delivered on most plan aspects and are monitoring success and adapting where necessary

The rows represent concern areas or competencies. The initial few are shown below. For each of these the cells show typical characteristics of that area for each maturity level. The approach is to examine each row to find where you currently fall (what resonates most with your current state / situation) and then mark that cell before moving on to the next row.

This will yield a “jagged line” of marked cells down the table representing the current maturity or readiness as assessed. Now comes the magic: Given your current level of readiness on each aspect, there are recommended actions you can take to move up the maturity/readiness scale. For each marked cell we want the set that will help us move up from where we are to the cell to its right. These can be compiled into an action plan and allocated to responsible parties. Obviously, this step will take into account practicalities like costs, resource commitments and relevant benefits.

My colleagues and I have prepared a set of such recommended actions, and integrated them into our Maturity Assessment Tool, which is now available online.

We hope that this instrument can help you on your journey to become better prepared to survive the pandemic and to thrive in the changed world as it abates.

Inspired can assist if you would like to work through a process of examining how it will affect your industry, your organisation and the various dimensions of your business moving forward. One form this can take is a remote/virtual facilitated workshop to understand the New Normal using PESTLE analysis, the readiness instrument, scenario planning techniques and rapid business architecture using tools such as the Business Model Canvas.

An interactive online version of our tool is now available. Generate a maturity report for your organisation quickly and easily.

Get Started

Contact us if you would like to discuss.

Read more on using a maturity model.

Don’t Bounce Back, Leap Forward

Photo credit: toledoblade.com & pixabay.com

The Novel Corona Virus/COVID19 pandemic has severely impacted many industries, including travel, hospitality, entertainment/sport, retail, finance, education and many more. Many people can’t wait for the end of “lockdown” and to bounce back to “normal”. We think that’s a bad idea...

Bouncing back to where you were and how you were configured and operating before the pandemic may be problematic, because there will be a new normal. Many changes that were happening before the pandemic have been accelerated, many “impossibles” have become de- facto, and many taboos have been broken. Bouncing back might put you severely at odds with the new context and even threaten your survival.

So what is the alternative? We believe you should take a hard look at what has and is changing and extrapolate that forward to the new normal. You then need to rapidly adapt your business to that new reality so that you can survive and thrive. Survival is about ensuring you can operate during the pandemic and as the world emerges from it. Thrive means being ready for what exists after the pandemic and finding opportunities within it to prosper.

Many things are likely to have changed, including:

• Physical distancing will remain in our culture and prevent large gatherings and physical interaction in the work place, education, entertainment, sports, religion and socially

• Travel will be reduced to “when necessary” rather than at a whim, or for leisure

• Work from home will be the new norm for many industries and job roles. Many businesses (e.g. large banks and insurers) who did not contemplate this before, will now see it as a viable model

• Products will become more virtual and dynamic. This is an acceleration of a trend that was already there. Witness music, movies, books, theatre and news dematerialising and being delivered on demand via streaming. Vehicles get new capabilities via automated updates over the Internet

• Physical retail shrinks and eCommerce and delivery become the norm

• Educators, entertainers, advisors and many others will move to remote delivery of services

• Most economies will suffer a major depression following the decreased economic activity during “lockdown”, with several years of “negative growth”. Unemployment will spike, with many small businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers and gig-economy workers having lost their livelihoods

• Money supplies have increased with many governments “printing money” to support business and individuals. Unfortunately, this is not coupled with any increase in output of goods, services or value (quite the reverse, in fact). This is likely to result in high sovereign debt, higher debt servicing costs as a proportion of national budgets and hyper inflation due to more money in the system pursuing the same or less value

• Virtualisation, remote working and other trends will generate opportunities for previously local businesses to become global

• Governments have curbed freedoms and assumed powers under emergency legislation. Rights and freedoms are likely to take a long time to be fully restored. Governments are likely to have a much larger role in the economy, which they generally do badly. This also equates to higher taxes

• Decision cycles will be altered. Some will be slowed down due to uncertainty, others accelerated due to fear, need or altered priorities and relaxed controls

• Contracts (legal, social, moral) will be up for renegotiation or irrelevance. Parties may escape their obligations with legal and government sanction, e.g. “Rent Boycotts”. Other parties may have their rights infringed without recourse to justice e.g. Insurers or employers forced to pay for things they never committed to. Some contracts will be renegotiated between reasonable parties e.g. Repayment Holidays, or extended payback periods for borrowers

• Surprising new collaborations can arise. This may involve players in an industry who were previously competitors; across industries previously unconnected; or between government and private sector

• Relative value of different professions and jobs will shift. Many have a new appreciation for health care workers, teachers and cleaners, for example

Organisations will have to rethink their value proposition and delivery as a result. Some industries have benefitted from the pandemic, e.g. Telecommunications, healthcare, security. Others, including restaurants, theatres, retailers, travel and accommodation and all sorts of other “non-essential” service providers have seen their revenues disappear overnight. Formerly major industries like airlines are suddenly facing closure. Gig-workers such as Uber drivers and entertainers have essentially become unemployed. Creative and lateral thinking may be essential to deal with radically altered realities.

There are some silver linings in the “new normal”, including:

• A focus on essentials and real value over the frivolous or political

• A worldwide reduction in pollution and pollution-related disease and deaths. Similar reduction in pollutants responsible for global warming

• Collaboration versus competition - “we are all in this together”

• Boundaries that were previously regarded as inviolate have suddenly become permeable

• Remote working and service delivery enables reaching geographies that were previously unavailable, even for very small enterprises

• There is an “unfreezing” which makes changes possible that were previously not contemplated

• A rethinking of globalisation driven only by economic considerations and a return to more self sufficiency and considering factors other than cost

So what is up for grabs / may need to change? Many things, including:

• Value proposition

• Organisation structure

• Customer Interaction

• Product and Service Mix

• Value chain / network / who we partner with and how

• Data required / intensity / immediacy

• Technology dependence / infrastructure / platforms

• Staff interaction

• Legal and contractual arrangements

We suggest that you deeply examine what assets, values and strengths your organisation has and how these can be leveraged in the new normal. These could include:

• Expertise / Skill / Experience

• Connections & Network

• Infrastructure

• Platforms

• Resources / Reserves / Intellectual Property

• Creativity

You may need to adopt the startup mentality of “pivoting” to meet the real needs of customers and opportunities in the market. This may mean emphasising aspects of your business that were previously peripheral, or even adapting skills and capabilities to entirely new needs. It may mean partnering with different players, it may mean completely new product / service configurations or delivery channels. Some examples include:

• Previously sit-down restaurants leveraging their kitchens for catering and serving customers through delivery services (outsourced or their own)

• Customers keeping favourite local businesses running by making “investments” via vouchers, redeemable at a future date for goods or services at a discount. This may leverage booking or crowd sourcing platforms

• Bricks and mortar retailers transitioning to business to consumer (B2C) eCommerce

• Delivery of previously physical products (e.g. face to face training) via virtual delivery through video conferencing or full online delivery

• Advisory services (consulting, investing, healthcare, coaching... ) delivered remotely via video conferencing

• Teaching others how to operate in the new normal i.e. leveraging skills your organisation already has to assist others with things they are grappling with for the first time

• Providing products not previously required e.g. helping parents to home school; enabling professionals to work from home; charging seldom used vehicles for owners who are “locked down”; pivoting technologies to new purposes: e.g. using cell phones to track people at risk from proximity to COVID victims, or warn of areas where it has been diagnosed

At Inspired, we have focussed on delivering “Desirable Futures” for over two decades. We are thought leaders in business strategy, agility and architecture. We are preparing a New Normal Readiness Assessment tool to assist you in determining how ready you are (or aren’t!) for the new normal and what to focus on to get ready to Leap Forward instead of bouncing back in an unfit state. Contact us for more info and watch this space!