December is “Write a Business Plan” Month
Are you ready to wave good-bye to 2020 and looking forward to 2021? Do you have your business plan completed and ready to execute? Did you remember to include IT in your business planning process? December is the perfect time to create or revisit your company’s business plan. By starting now, you’ll have the necessary time to complete, communicate the plan to your team and be ready to execute in 2021!
Why Do I Need a Business Plan if I’m Not Looking for Investors?
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Even if you’re not seeking investments, a business plan is beneficial for the following reasons:
- Companies that have business plans grow 30% faster than companies without plans (Source).
- It creates an opportunity to critically assess your organization by performing a SWOT analysis.
- Clarifying your goals and gaining alignment from your team ensures everyone is working toward a shared objective.
- Documentation of your business plan allows your team to establish roles and accountability.
- The plan can be used as a benchmark to compare actual results to, both from a top-line and cost perspective.
How Do I Start?
The most difficult part of business planning is getting started. Fortunately, there are several great resources available online. Try not to get too caught up choosing the perfect template or spending money on unnecessary planning software. Most importantly, remember that creating your business plan is for YOUR benefit. Moreover, the real value in doing a business plan is going through the strategic planning process of clarifying your organization’s goals and developing the road map for your company to achieve those goals.
Why It’s Important to Consider Information Technology in Business Planning
A Business Plan communicates who you are, what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it. For example, most business plans include the following:
- Executive summary
- Company description (often includes value proposition, mission statement, history, financials, objectives)
- Target audience/Path to purchase
- Competitive analysis/SWOT analysis
- Marketing and sales strategy
- Financial/Operational Planning
Often, very little attention is given to Information Technology during business planning. Unfortunately, this is a missed opportunity to ensure your company’s network, data security plan, computer systems, cloud storage, malware, etc. are robust enough to help your organization achieve its goals in the coming year.
Take the time to share your organization’s 2021 plan with us at SOL-IS Technology Solutions so we can ensure your information technology resources are aligned to help achieve your goals in the coming year! Feel free to contact us at 952.279.2424 or online to set up a meeting!