Computational Design Business Strategy and Outcomes

A business strategy helps us define our business, establish our goals, and gives it purpose. Through that strategy, we can establish a clear vision and define how we intend to develop a competitive advantage within the market.  Throughout the building and manufacturing industries, firm leaders continue to develop their business strategies as they attempt to keep pace with the ever-changing world. As the industry continues to change and evolve, having a plan for how to evolve alongside it can help keep your business relevant and competitive.

Computational Design is one of those evolving concepts that is empowering the industry to challenge long-held assumptions about the way we work; therefore, to maintain a competitive advantage, it should influence the business strategy. To realize the full benefits of what Computational Design can offer, it is critical to develop a functional strategy that supports the overall business strategy.

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.” –Kenichi Ohmae

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Business Outcomes

Understanding the business outcomes and compelling reasons to adopt Computational Design as a problem-solving methodology is the first step in developing a business strategy. The three business outcomes that we find to be the most compelling are efficiency, quality, and growth potential.

Efficiency: Increase the value of utilization by automating tasks and do more with less.

Quality: Ability to pursue and simulate the better design solutions.

Growth potential: Take on larger and more complex projects, leading to more revenue generated on a per project basis.

Developing a Business Strategy

There are three key components that we, at Applied Software, use when developing a business strategy for Computational Design: a gap analysis, a strategy roadmap, and an evaluation plan.

When developing a gap analysis, it’s important to understand the current state of the firm. What are the challenges and obstacles the team is facing as they continue to maintain a competitive advantage? The next step is to identify the ideal state, the goals, making sure these properly align with the overall business goals. Once you know the start and the end, identify the gaps that exist between the current and ideal states. Finally, develop a strategy to address each gap that you’ve identified.

Once the gap analysis has been completed, the next step is to develop a strategy roadmap which will be used to aid in the implementation. The strategy roadmap is often designed as a phased approach with key milestones and objectives. Although you are developing a roadmap, the journey will often be cyclical versus linear. Therefore, it’s important to consider how the aspect of continuous improvement factors into your business strategy.

Having a strategy and a roadmap is critically important, but if you are not accomplishing your goals laid out in the roadmap, then it means little. This is where the final component of business strategy development comes into play: an evaluation plan. This document helps the team define what success looks like and consists of a detailed breakdown of how each goal will be tracked. During the process, you need to determine the metrics to measure, along with how and when to measure them.

As Computational Design becomes more mainstream within the industry, those who have not considered how it will impact their overall business will quickly lose the competitive advantage that they once had. Developing a strategy that supports the overall company strategy will position any firm to realize the full benefits of this industry-changing problem solving methodology.

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When you need an experienced partner to help you with your computational design business strategy, contact Applied Software. The experts of Applied can help you develop the components you need to keep your company relevant and competitive.