You cannot innovate unless you have a clear customer focus, which we think of as a user, a buyer, in use case focus. Then you need to understand what really makes those users and buyers tick. What they're perceived and latent needs are, and why it's so very important to understand these deeply in order to do a design, those design drivers. But then we get to the actual design itself, architecture, modularity, layers of technology, product system, services, processes, and then platforming the secret weapon for building something that is more than a onesie, but as scalable to a range of different applications. It's a very special thing to learn apply. But then we get to this module which is about making the business case. I think the only profession where you can be a designer, you can innovate, you can design, and you don't really need a business case is probably in my day job, which is as a professor. I think we're the only ones who have the excuse of innovating without having to make a business case for that innovation. Come to think of it. But that's not you folks. At least not most of you. Most of you when you have an innovation idea, no matter what it is, you've got to sell it to somebody, somebody with the resources, the money, the budget to make it happen. Unless you're looking in the mirror and selling it to yourself, which is usually not the case either. In order to do that, you need to make a compelling, realistic business case on either how the innovation is going to produce new streams of revenue or greater profitability, or how it's going to reduce costs. If you can do that in a simple clear way, well, now we'll make your innovation proposal stand out and we'll get you to where you want to be. Every innovator, whether they're a corporate innovator or they're an entrepreneur, you got to be your own salesperson; you have to sell your ideas. You need to focus on the value delivered from the innovation, and just not on the nitty-gritty of the details of the innovation itself. Design, yes, but business case for the design, yes too. In this module, we are going to look at how to make the business case for different types of projects. You will include this as a first draft in your own projects for this course. We're also at the end going to talk about the design and style of a good executive level pitch, and how to think about doing some stakeholder management before the pitch is made in order to increase the odds of success at the presentation itself. Some pre-selling, so to speak. Now, let's go into the specifics of making the business case for innovation, eg, the numbers. To do this, our first step has to be to understand the financial drivers in any business. From this you look at business models and from this, you come up with the business case for your particular innovation. We're going to get into this now. You may not have studied accounting before, that's okay. The actual design of business cases is not that hard. It's the thinking within them or behind the numbers, which is the work. Numbers tell a story, or if you can tell a story about your numbers, it will be all the better. In other words, you reveal the organization or business benefit of your innovation through the numbers in the business case for your innovation. If you don't like math and you don't like the numbers, well, now it's a good time to practice a little bit and just get over it. Because every innovator, big company, new company, big healthcare provider, independent practice, you need to think like an entrepreneur, and if you're in a big organization, you're a senior management through your VC. If you're an entrepreneur, all your VCs are your VCs, if they appreciate the problem you're trying to solve, the design of the solution for solving that problem, the next thing they're going to turn to is the numbers. Well, the next thing they are turning to is you, you and your team. Do you have the know-how and ability to actually make that design real? But then they'll turn to the numbers. Just like a good product or service design, your numbers have to tell that story of a financial return on their investment. Again, it could be new revenue and profitability from that revenue or it can be cost takeout. Those are the basic principles of business case development. The good thing about healthcare is that also sometimes it's not just all about the numbers. We are a industry, a business with a moral purpose. That's actually what makes it so much fun to teach innovation for healthcare industry professionals. It's just not about making money, it's about doing some greater human good. We will also hear from Dr. John in this module about how the Mayo Clinic has a balanced view on its own investments in new technologies and new services. With that said, let's take our first step, and that is to understand the financial drivers just not in healthcare but in any business.
