Using the 5Ws Framework: Example Business Case
Now that we’ve gone through all of the Ws in the 5Ws framework, let’s apply it to an example business case for an organization embarking on a digital transformation and modernization program.
This organization is a B2B manufacturer of premium forestry and land management products (think chain saws, brush cutters, safety helmets, chaps, etc). Their headquarters is in Burlington, Vermont and they have customers in all 50 US states, along with a few provinces in Canada.
There are 150 employees and a handful of contractors that align to one of four departments:
Sales: reps travel up to 50% of the week
Operations: half of this group works 4 days per week at the headquarters, the other half is distributed remotely across the US
Service & Support: responsible for onboarding new customers, servicing equipment returned to the headquarters, and traveling to customers with premium service plan
Product: designs, sources materials, and produces the various products
Currently, they use a mix of FedEx, UPS, and their own delivery trucks to ship product to and from customers.
Systems that are currently used are:
Microsoft 365 for email, collaboration, and documentation
Basic Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM implementation
MailChimp to send an irregular newsletter and end of year holiday “cards”
Paper-based inventory reconciliation on clipboards
This year, they reached a new milestone of $25M in revenue and have plans to grow more rapidly over the next 5 years.
Their goals for this digital transformation and modernization program are:
Create a customer portal for self-service ordering and support
Collect payments online with appropriate tax calculations
Track inventory better inside their headquarters and fleet of delivery / service vehicles
Start marketing to prospects and existing customers
TLDR: Read the example case, set a timer for 5 minutes, and capture as many questions as you can using the 5Ws framework.
