When adding Mediation of Civil & Commercial Disputes to the suite of service offered by HCL, there were a number of things we had to consider. On reviewing them, it occurred to me that the principles would apply across many sectors of business. So here are my thoughts. Please feel free to comment or add to them:
- Where will your customers come from? No clients/customers = no business
- What is your USP? Unique Selling Point – what makes someone pick you over the other guy
- Can you make a profit? Unless it serves a particular business strategy, there’s no business case for it if it doesn’t make a profit
- What will have to change to accommodate this new service/product? More investment – equipment/staff? More space? Change of priorities?
- What admin & support do you need to make this a success? What does success look like? Plan the project & review & reset regularly. Look at the detail. Financial/tax implications? Compliance/regulatory/quality implications? Paperwork & processes.