Deliverable 5.4 – Creating the business plan and dynamic action plan

WP5 has recently upload the most recent Deliverable, read a short summary below:

Deliverable 5.4 (creating the business plan and dynamic action plan) builds on prior tasks, which assisted UCs to review the context-specific factors that influence the adoption of DATS and determine a strategic vision and approach supporting the adoption and use of DATS. Commonly used and easily understandable tools such as the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas, from the business studies environment were adopted to design this workshop while elements of such tools were used selectively to aid UCs to rapidly and effectively plan their activities without getting caught up in academic exercises that do not relate to their “real world” situation.

Based on the UC reports, the majority of UCs have been able to identify and articulate their value Proposition, which forms the basis for a Business Plan. To a slightly lesser degree, most UCs were able to elaborate on an initial Action Plan, with several clear Objectives. An awareness of the challenges faced by agricultural actors was evident in almost every UC, and the UC Workshops served to link discreet problems with digital solutions. While certain UCs noted the difficulty of identifying customers and distinguishing between product functions which met the pains of, and created gains for, their clients, we consider these comments to be a positive start and something of a flag for future action. First, the workshop format dealt with ordinary and basic business language for business planning and strategy, so it served as an introduction to necessary terms and concepts that will be needed in the future. Simply put, if it is unclear who the customer is, this is a necessary discussion to be had. Secondly, DATS are designed to resolve the “pains” of the customer and must be able to show some tangible gain. Again, if this is not clear for digital tool providers and/or advisors, then we understand that the workshop will help to begin the process towards more clarity and put more emphasis on meeting the needs of digital tool users. In spite of acknowledging such challenges, the UCs did report back with very interesting observations on products and services, pain relievers and gains, thus suggesting that the concepts did in fact start to take hold to produce introspection and results.

Read the full deliverable here.