The business plan is often disputed because everything is always changing and it only takes one innovation for the grandiose business plan we had worked out to be called into question. But going blind is never a good idea unless you’ve gotten caught in the magic potion of happiness.
The business plan drawn up before the pandemic has certainly seen many changes in these few months. If the communication of trade fairs and face-to-face conferences certainly has to be rethought, exported or imported, there will always be ideas that must of course be questioned in view of this constantly changing world, but which ones can serve as a common thread .
Before starting your business, should you create a line in the business plan to move to other methods that better suit current applications? the business plan is he definitely dead and buried?
Until recently, all companies, or at least a very large proportion of them, did not hesitate to invest significant resources in order to create a business plan that was as realistic as possible. Remember that the business plan is the implementation of a really planned strategy, an in-depth study of the market before starting a business and launching a specific activity. But in the age of the internet, social networks, and connected objects, it is now safe to assume that the business plan is seeing its final hours and that new methods and new uses are emerging.
The contribution of digital
The amazing tool internet, social networks like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, connected objects are very likely to end up under the Christmas tree this sweet Christmas season… We are currently living in a real transitional period since the internet was in our homes, workplaces and public spaces. Everything has been largely revolutionized, changed, modified and the field of company formation did not escape him. Starting a business is a lot easier today than it used to be, but the budding designer also has great tools at their disposal that didn’t exist a few years ago. For example we can cite the StartMyStory.com website that allows any business founder to benefit from a business plan created entirely online, the Montpellier Business Plan software for a more computerized approach to the business plan, or even EBP, better known for accounting, but also offers a software solution for creating a business plan.
Outdated methods?
The business plan has therefore been overtaken in a short time by very advanced and functional analysis, forecasting and calculation tools, but also by access to incredible databases thanks to the Internet. Where a business founder had to take the time to conduct surveys, study the competition, go on-site to see the ranges sold at physical outlets, today it only takes a few clicks to accurately identify the activity of a competing company and that of the entire market in general. Let’s take a concrete example: A few years ago it was necessary to go to a commercial court to gain access to a company’s financial data. Today everything is possible online with just a few clicks. Can we talk about business plan 2.0?
A reality on the ground is nevertheless necessary
It is clear that today’s business plan has changed into a networked form, we can now speak of business plan 2.0. Let’s not go so far as to say that the business plan is dead. It has only developed strongly in its form, but not in its substance. Let’s not forget that every entrepreneur must have an anchor in the field, in the existing commercial realities. Also for the founders of start-ups in the IT world, it is still necessary to visit future customers or even future competitors to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the project to be implemented. No entrepreneur can be successful without this anchoring in the field, and the Business Plan 2.0 in particular makes it possible to maintain this contact with economic reality. So yes, the business plan is not dead, but its evolution is not over in the internet age!
