IT solutions can work, but they require enormous amount of planning and experienced insight. We got plenty of both.
Creating business through use of templates
In web design, template approach to development of web pages is a widely accepted and used methodology. The same can (and should) be used in business and here is an explanation how.
Ever since I completed my MSc in Business Management, I have been constantly wondering about the topic of 'business templates' and how one could be utilised for successful incorporation of businesses, which have hight chance of success.
For past two years or so I have been running an unofficial, but very extensive, research about how this could and should be approached, so that it is flexible, scalable and effective.
I have gone through various approaches on gathering this information such as: on-line research, in depth analysis of existing business planning templates, conversations with business owners, people who are planning to start a business and those who invest in businesses, reading up extensively on the subject, writing various business plans for other people and my own business.
I have also been writing all my findings into a concise book with guidelines on how to successfully start up a business, and how to effectively approach a seemingly boring and worthless task of business planning.
An important conclusion I have reached is that business planning is essential to success of any business.
It is also important to distinguish that modern business plans do not necessarily have to be a very detailed and precise outline of exact 'whereabouts' of your business in the next three years (after all we call those sorts of documents project plans, rather than business plans).
It is crucial to have as detailed a business plan as possible and regularly add to it as time goes past, so that the business plan is kept as a form of a 'master knowledge management document' and a strategic guideline on what the business ought to work on.
I have also managed to prove to myself that every business nicely fits into a fairly generic, yet well broken down template, which can quickly be utilised for the purposes of thinking about a business, risk managing its future, scoping out its financial reach and various other useful things.
Writing a business plan is also incredibly powerful communication tool when working with other people and when presenting yourself to others – after all it is one of those things which signifies the fact that you have really thought about what you want to do and what you are aiming towards.
Writing down your business goals also helps to firm up your own aims and objectives, helping you psychologically to 'settle down' into one strategy, being able to focus your creative energies towards value adding activities which help make the business plan a business reality.
Writing a book on the subject of business planning has definitely helped me concrete my thinking and understanding of how business creation should be approached, and early version of my book has already started proving as an effective tool towards communicating my thinking with other people (i.e. it is like a business plan on its own).
So, write your thoughts down, plan ahead and think strategically. Analyse what you want to do and you will have much less chance of making a mistake in the long term!
6:15 PM 
