The success of any business is to a great extent dependent on it following the most appropriate well constructed and carefully monitored business plan.
The key ingredients that go to make up the most appropriate plan are total management involvement in and commitment to the common business strategy, which needs to be thoroughly documented to ensure consensus; a realistic appraisal of product and or service strengths and weaknesses; and finally the plan needs to include a financial budget to run the business by.
Any plan or budget will have a number of assumptions used to determine the overall framework of the business. Before committing data to the ubiquitous spreadsheets it is a vital step that all these assumptions are tested by the management team and reaffirmed or changed. A planning cycle which omits this step is not only useless but it is also positively dangerous to the corporate well being.
Having established consensus as to the key assumptions in the Plan, the management team, then need to be guided through the plan creation, review and sign of stages, which is an iterative process, until the plan is completed and adopted by the business.
Once the plan has been adopted, regular performance appraisal against the objectives will ensue successful and profitable company results.
The AVANGARDE APPROACH
As a means of delivery Avangarde prefers to operate on the basis of "hands on", working alongside its clients personnel with a view to constant knowledge transfer at every stage. Not only does this provide a tangible mechanism for constant measurement but it means that the client is always in control and "owns" the deliverable.
Avangarde does not engage in information gathering, translation and lengthy reporting, preferring to identify early wins and immediately commencing execution.
Avangarde is uniquely placed to apply the broadest range of business skills to compliment the business planning activities in order that its clients are aware of the complete impact of the activities undertaken.
Avangarde ensures that at the outset, the objectives are agreed and set, thereafter they are carefully monitored and measured, right through until final delivery.
After adoption of the business plan, Avangarde provides ongoing support to assist in performance measurement against the adopted plan and fine tune it where appropriate.
CASE STUDY
An international client providing software based enterprise solutions to the CRM marketplace needed funding for increased penetration in several new industry sectors, as well as sustaining preset annual revenue and profit growth targets across the company.
Avangarde was engaged to coordinate the planning cycle; manage the plan production through its various stages of development, iteration and approval process. A systematic programme of key management and staff interviews were quickly established as the best means of co-odinating input. A purpose built financial model using Microsoft Excel, was created for the purposes of interim review and final presentation of the plan.
Avangarde following the initial cycle was involved in business planning for the client for the next three years.
The client derived the following benefits:
- Raised the required funding of £ 5 million
- Increased profits and improved productivity
- Focus on Business issues
- Staff ownership and commitment to the plan and independent input
- Effective performance measurement
- Minimal distraction to the business during the planning cycle.
For further information, contact us