Create the infrastructure for your business
Overview
This standard is for entrepreneurs who need to create the infrastructure for their business. You need to plan processes, procedures and systems to make up your business infrastructure. The right infrastructure in your business will help you achieve your business goals and increase your competitiveness by improving efficiency, allowing staff to work together, managing running costs, helping you offer a high-quality integrated service and maintaining internal and external communications. It involves defining the infrastructure for your business, consulting with internal and external stakeholders, implementing your infrastructure and evaluating it to ensure it is working for your business.
You might do this if you are:
setting up a new business or social enterprise;
reviewing the current infrastructure;
expanding your business or social enterprise;
changing or adapting the products or services offered by your business or a social enterprise.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- set the goals and objectives for your business
- collate your customers' needs and expectations from your business
- define your business infrastructure requirements that meet your goals and objectives
- research and assess the options available that will help you create your business infrastructure
- identify the internal and external stakeholders to be consulted with or informed when planning infrastructure requirements
- identify the resources you require for developing your business infrastructure
- define what you and your staff need your business infrastructure to achieve
- define roles and responsibilities within your business
- seek any necessary advice from experts on the technical and legal solutions to create your business infrastructure
- evaluate and decide on a suitable infrastructure that supports your needs and your customer's needs
- develop and test the infrastructure
- plan and monitor infrastructure implementation
- keep your staff informed of progress while planning, developing and implementing the infrastructure
- organise the relevant training for your staff
- seek and evaluate feedback from relevant people about your business infrastructure
- use feedback to inform future developments
- update your infrastructure on a regular basis or whenever required
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
Business focus
1. your business goals and objectives and how your business infrastructure could help you meet them
2. how to define your business infrastructure requirements
3. the external associates and consultants required for your infrastructure
4. the internal and external stakeholders you need to consult with in creating your business infrastructure
5. your business administration systems and processes
6. the allocations and hierarchy of roles and responsibilities within your business
7. how your business infrastructure serves your and your customers' needs
8. how your business infrastructure could help you improve your customer service
9. the types of legal help and professional advice and where to find these
Infrastructure
10. the resources required for infrastructure planning, development and implementation
11. how to develop an infrastructure in accordance with your goals, objectives and priorities
12. how to develop an implementation plan including roles and responsibilities, timescales, budgets and contingency planning
13. the technical solutions required for your infrastructure
14. how to evaluate the different infrastructure options taking into account suitability, staff skills, budget and timescale of implementation
15. how to monitor progress of the plan through regular project meetings and reporting responsibilities
16. how to get regular feedback from customers, staff and other relevant stakeholders on the infrastructure
17. how to implement the feedback into the infrastructure to improve plans for future development
18. the training required for the staff to get the most out of your business infrastructure