Feasibility studies – Are you paying them enough attention?

The term “feasibility study” refers to an assessment of the practicality and suitability of a proposed course of action. These projects are designed to offer unbiased insight, helping businesses to make better decisions. By taking the time to more fully understand the potential points of weakness and opportunity within a particular development plan, business leaders can gain competitive advantage when making big decisions.

The structure and output of such studies can vary significantly depending on the type of business requiring the research and the nature of the question at hand. In broad terms however they boil down to an assessment of the cost and risk associated with a project alongside its potential benefit and value. Utilising this information, a business can then optimise the plan of attack (or decide to shelve the project altogether!).

A well-defined feasibility study will produce outputs which can help make and save large sums of money. In addition to which the benefits of exploring the position of potential clients and competitors in one market can be directly helpful across the business more broadly.

Getting Started with a Feasibility Study

The first step in getting started with a feasibility study is understanding what the business wants to achieve through a given course of action. Is there appetite for this new product and if so with whom; is there a gap in service provision in this jurisdiction/market more broadly; can our wider platform/capabilities allow us to outflank market competitors here; are there viable recruitment options; is there a regulatory challenge; how can we best approach potential clients? All questions which regularly face businesses considering a new venture and which take time to fully explore.

The use of third party consultancy/research providers helps businesses to access unbiased insights, where the opinions of market makers and influencers can be represented in a neutral and digestible format. For executives who are deeply entrenched in their business and industry, it can be a refreshing advantage to leverage feasibility studies presented by an impartial party. Within businesses, senior decision makers often approach a plan with an agenda or ingrained perspective, and so a report which presents clear insight and information to be considered and discussed ‘around the table’ can act as helpful tool in bringing the team together with a common purpose.

Here at Edward Drummond, we design and deliver feasibility studies to help your business understand the often wide ranging opportunities and challenges of a proposed project.

Benefits of a Feasibility Study

Feasibility studies present many benefits for business, including:

• Identify new opportunities early
• Identify potential problems and issues
• Support arguments and proposals or provide clear counter-arguments
• Provide ROI on big decisions
• Ties internal and external thinking to an agenda
• Prevents poor decision making
• Provides better predictions about what processes and resources are needed
• Helps introduce new discussions and ideas to explore