STOF helps you to visualise your business model and how you collaborate with partners. A business model describes how you create, deliver, and capture value. In STOF you describe the business model from four connected perspectives: service, technology, organisation, and finance. It creates a shared understanding of your business model and shows how your company fits within the network of partners.

Time

4 hours

Complexity

Target group

Advanced

Download tool Download tool and explanation

Tips for use

Use the STOF Business Model Canvas template (page 4) to make a large printout and use it to brainstorm about your business model. Get inspired from the STOF Business Model of Spotify (page 5).

How to use

STOF Business Models are based on four interrelated perspectives or domains, i.e. Service domain (value proposition and customers), Technology domain (architecture and systems), Organisation domain (partners and collaboration) and Finance domain (cost and revenues). You can make a STOF business model by sketching the key variables in each domain. The questions with each variable will help you to find the answers.

Service domain

Customers and end-users

Who is the customer? Who will pay for the service?
Who is the end-user? Who will be using the service?

Value proposition and service offering

In what specific situation(s) would people want to buy or use the service (use cases)?
What does the service do for the customer or enduser?
- What are the unique and distinguishing benefits of the service?
What is the actual offering provided to the customer or enduser?
- What are the distinguishable elements of the service?

Technology domain

Technical Functionality

What (business) functions does the service require?
What is the global architecture of the service offering?

Applications (user applications running on the technological system)

What user applications should be running on the technological system ( e.g. for communication, interaction, content distribution, transactions)?
How are customer profiles and privacy managed?
How is secure access to, and use of, services arranged?

Organization domain

Actors

Which business roles are required to create and deliver the service?
Which actors can and want to cooperate and take up the business roles?

Actors' resources & capabilities

What are capabilities and resources that these actors can or should provide?
Which resources and capabilities are critical? Hence which actors are preferable?

Finance domain

Costs

What is the cost structure of the service?
- Investment costs, fixed costs and variable costs?

Revenues

What is the revenue model behind the service or product?
- direct payments: one-off sale, subscriptions, licenses, pay-by-tweet, …
- indirect payments: advertising, sponsoring, subsidies, commissions, …

Financial arrangements

How are investments, costs and revenues divided over the actors?