Maybe a case is taking too long. Maybe decisions are stuck between departments. Maybe different teams work in different ways, even though they are solving the same type of task. Or the organization has grown, while responsibilities, routines and follow-up are still based on a previous way of working.
Sometimes business development leads to new ways of working, clearer roles or better governance. In other cases, technology becomes an important part of the solution, for example through automation, AI, better data analysis or an operational system that supports the process. Regardless of the solution, development needs to be both strategic and practical: it should be based on the organization's goals and be noticeable in how work is done on a daily basis.
What is business development?
Business development is the systematic work of improving, changing and further developing a business so that it better achieves its goals.
This may involve:
- Improve processes
- Clarify responsibilities and roles
- Create better decision-making data
- Reduce duplication of work
- Strengthen operational management
- Make the organization more adaptable
- Automate manual tasks
- Introduce or further develop system support
Business development is close to business development, organizational development, digitalization and change management. The difference is that business development usually focuses on how the business functions on a daily basis: processes, responsibilities, working methods, system support and follow-up.
Business development is about understanding how a business creates value and improving what is needed to make the work work better: processes, responsibilities, working methods, governance and support that make value creation easier, faster and more accurate or quality assured.
Business development is often about more than efficiency. It can also be about quality, information security, work environment, environment and other areas where governance needs to be translated into functioning routines.
Digital business development
Digital business development is not about introducing new technology for the sake of technology. It is about using technology to create better flows, better decisions and better benefits.
Sometimes it means automation. Sometimes it means better data quality. Sometimes it means consolidating multiple manual routines into one business system. And sometimes it means that old ways of working need to be reworked before the technology can have an impact.
Business development today often has a digital dimension. Research describes digital transformation as organizational change, Forrester links it to the development of internal processes and customer experiences, and Gartner describes digitalization as something that changes how organizations create value and compete.
Therefore, business development often needs to take into account data, system support, automation and AI, even when the goal is better working methods, clearer responsibilities or more efficient processes.
Governance holds development together
Business development and business management are closely related. Business development changes how the organization works. Business management helps the organization see if the change is going in the right direction.
Without clear governance, there is a risk that business development work will become a series of stand-alone projects. Each project may seem reasonable on its own, but lacks connection to the whole.
Therefore, business development should be linked to a few basic questions:
- What goals should the change contribute to?
- What key figures show that we are moving in the right direction?
- Who owns the working method or process?
- How is the benefit monitored?
- How do we capture new needs over time?
When the governance is clear, it becomes easier to prioritize correctly. The point is that the solution should follow the need, not the other way around.
Business development is about understanding the current situation and the problem first
In practice, business development often begins with a problem that many recognize, but which few have had time to properly sort out.
It could be that employees are spending too much time on administration, decisions are getting stuck between departments, or reporting requires manual Excel files. It could also be that customer or member issues are handled differently depending on who receives them, or that the business has multiple systems but lacks a unified overall picture. In some cases, the need is instead to replace multiple separate systems with one platform.
The first step is therefore not to choose a solution. The first step is to understand the current situation.
According to the IIBA BABOK framework, the current state analysis sets the “baseline” and context for a change, while the vision clarifies what needs to change. It is a good starting point in business development: first you need to understand how work works today, what problem needs to be solved, and why the change is needed.
Then you need to ask questions that make the problem clear:
- What problem should we solve?
- Where in the process does the problem arise?
- Which roles, departments and systems are affected?
- Which steps are manual, repetitive or person-dependent?
- Which decisions need better data?
- Which requirements are mission-critical?
- How should we measure that the change has had an effect?
When these questions are answered, it often becomes clear that business development is not an isolated project. It is a work where processes, systems, responsibilities and change management need to be interconnected.
Three tools in business development
When business development is to become concrete, you need to understand the current situation, formulate the needs and make the change work in everyday life. Three tools that are particularly useful when the work leads to changed processes or new system support are: process mapping, requirements gathering and change management .
1. Process mapping
Process mapping shows how work actually happens. It makes it easier to see duplication of work, waiting times, manual steps, unclear responsibilities and systems that do not support the process.
This is especially important before you choose or develop a system. Otherwise, you risk digitizing a way of working that should actually be simplified first. The OECD’s review of research on generative AI shows the same basic principle: the technology can create productivity gains, but the effect depends on how it is used in tasks and organizations.
2. Requirements gathering
Requirements gathering translates business needs into requirements that can be prioritized and implemented. It's not about collecting everything everyone wants, but about understanding which needs are most important and what the solution actually needs to accomplish.
Good requirements describe users, purpose and decision-making situation. This makes it easier for operations, IT and management to discuss the same thing. The Swedish National Audit Office's review of large government digitalization projects shows why this matters: deficiencies in requirements, competence, governance and follow-up recur as problems in large projects.
3. Change management
Change management ensures that new ways of working are actually used. A change is not complete when the process is designed or the system is launched, but only when people work in the new way and the business benefits.
This is especially true in digital business development, where new systems often change roles, information flows and decisions. McKinsey’s global AI survey shows the same pattern: organizations that benefit from AI are not just working with technology, but are redesigning workflows and making organizational changes.
How to set up a business development project
There are many methods for business development. Which model is right for you depends on your organization, goals, and problems. But in practice, many successful initiatives follow a similar logic.
This is what business development work can often look like in practice:
- Understand the current situation: Gather facts through, for example, interviews, data, statistics, workshops or observations.
- Map the processes: See how the work actually goes and where bottlenecks, duplication of work or unclear responsibilities arise.
- Formulate the goal: Describe what should be easier, faster, safer or more data-driven.
- Prioritize requirements: Distinguish between what is mission-critical, desirable, and possible to take later.
- Choose a solution: Determine whether you need to change your working methods, adjust existing systems, choose a new standard system or a system adapted to your business.
- Implement and follow up: Introduce the change, ensure accountability and measure whether it has the desired effect.
- Continue to develop: Adjust processes, requirements and system support as the business or the external environment changes.
Common mistakes in business development
Many organizations have high ambitions but still fail to achieve the impact they expect. Often, this is not due to a lack of will, but rather because the work starts at the wrong end or lacks sufficient anchoring.
Common mistakes are:
- Not mapping the current situation properly
- Lack of a clear goal
- Building on old ways of working instead of questioning them
- Letting each department optimize its own part
- Underestimating change management
- Lack of clear ownership during or after the project
- Starting with system selection before the process is understood
- Collecting requirements without prioritizing them
- Not measuring benefits after implementation
Much of this can be avoided by investing more time in the beginning. Not to slow down development, but to build the right things faster once the work begins.
