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Computer-Aided Business Model Design

Mike, a senior business analyst with a large financial group, wraps up support could make creating, storing, manipulating, tracking, and
the first of a two-day workshop he is facilitating with a group of 24 communicating business models far easier. Such support would
executives. He collects the business model prototypes and ideas that seem to be almost a requirement for collaboratively working on busi-
participants sketched on large Canvas posters and hurries to his office. ness models with geographically disparate teams.
There, Mike and his team enter the ideas into a collaborative Doesn’t it seem strange that we can design, simulate, and
computer-aided business model design program to further develop build airplanes or develop software across continents, yet we can’t
the prototypes. Other business analysts working overseas add manipulate highly valuable business models outside of the board-
resource and activity cost estimates, as well as calculations of room and without paper and pencil? It’s time to bring the speed and
potential Revenue Streams. The software then spits out four dif- power of microprocessors to the development and management of
ferent financial scenarios, with business model data and prototype new business models. Inventing innovative business models certainly
diagrams for each plotted on large posters. The following morning requires human creativity, but computer-aided systems could help us
Mike presents the results to the executives, who have gathered for manipulate business models in more sophisticated and complex ways.
the second day of their workshop to discuss the potential risks and An example from the field of architecture is helpful in illustrat-
rewards of each prototype. ing the power of computer-aided design. In the 1980s so-called
266 This scenario doesn’t yet describe reality, but it soon will. A Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems started becoming more
Business Model Canvas printed on a large poster and a big box of affordable and slowly were adopted by architectural firms. CAD
Post-it™ notes are still the best tools for triggering creativity and made it much easier and cheaper for architects to create three-
generating innovative business model ideas. But this paper-based dimensional models and prototypes. They brought speed, integration,
approach could be extended with the help of computers. improved collaboration, simulation, and better planning to architec-
Turning a prototype business model into a spreadsheet is time- ture practices, Cumbersome manual tasks, such as constant redraw-
consuming, and each change to the prototype usually requires a ing and blueprint sharing, were eliminated, and a whole new world
manual modification of the spreadsheet. A computer-aided system of opportunity, such as rapid visual 3D exploration and prototyping,
could do this automatically and make possible lightning-quick, opened up. Today paper-based sketching and CAD happily co-exist,
comprehensive business model simulations. Furthermore, computer each method retaining its own strengths and weaknesses.

Prototype of a computer aided business
model editor: www.bmdesigner.com

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