Business Planning

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust had developed a real time information management system and sought to understand whether it would be possible to market this outside of the organisation as a standalone business. In-Form Solutions was asked by the Board of the Trust to develop a robust business plan for the system, which would explore the feasibility of it generating revenue and look at the establishment of its financial, operational, structural and marketing operations.

In-Form Solutions initially undertook a considerable amount of desk research and familiarisation, working closely with the senior management team that had been established to oversee the new business, as well as senior Board members of the Trust. We held a number of structured workshops and one to one meetings, discussing and agreeing the key strategic issues, risks and timeframes. We then wrote sections of the business plan for the senior management team’s review and amendment. The results of this were later collated into a full five-year plan, including a roadmap and milestones for implementation, investment requirements, identification of the key market opportunities and risk assessment.

Our work included:

• Working with the Executive Board to formulate the strategy
• Engaging with appropriate stakeholders to formulate opinion and gaining support.
• Working with the management team to collate the plan.
• Quantifying the resource allocation and performance with Finance and Information teams, modelling and test checking.
• Supporting with the development of a marketing plan and then a communications and engagement plan.
• Writing and formatting the plan with the management team.
• Successfully delivering the full strategic Business Plan to the Executive Board.

The outcomes of our work were the delivery of an objective and independent assessment of the proposed new venture, facilitating a team building process and the completion of a full operational business plan. This plan successfully gained the support of the Trust Board and new investors at the first time of asking. The venture has now expanded and is a nationally recognised system throughout the NHS.