Inspiration Space
Guides

How to assess your business environment before designing your business model

Identify the external changes that could affect your customers, costs and delivery, then decide what to monitor, test or change.

Published

If every trend feels important, The Inspiration Space view is that the business decision may be too broad. Focus on one decision, then identify the outside changes worth monitoring, testing or acting on.

What you’ll have at the end

A one-page scan of no more than three external changes that matter to one business decision, with a sensible action for each. No giant trend report required.

Who it’s for

This is for you if you are shaping an offer, reviewing your business model or considering a sizeable change. If you have not yet chosen a customer, start with customer discovery; otherwise, the research can wander anywhere.

Before you start

Pick one offer, one customer group, one decision and a useful timeframe. Bring together the customer, sales, supplier, competitor and official information you already have. Start there before opening another browser tab.