What is a Business Map? & 8 Benefits of Company Mapping

Justin Irvine October 26, 2022 | 6 min read

Even when all the necessary elements are in place, steering a business from its inception to sustainable growth is a challenge. The best prepared business leader can still lose sight of what’s happening with their business and when that happens, it’s possible for short-term and long-term goals to get derailed.

Select Funding provides affordable business financing to small businesses in an array of industries. One of the topics that we’ve been hearing about from our business clients is business and company mapping. Here’s what you need to know about creating a business map, including eight benefits of company mapping.

What is a Business Map?

A business map is an overview of your business or some specific part of it, such as a department or a process. Business maps are not a replacement for business plans. What they are is a more accessible, more concise way for you to present the key facts about your business without asking someone to read dozens (or hundreds) of pages that go into granular detail.

Another way to look at it is that a business map provides a bird’s eye view of your company, hitting key points and giving anybody who reviews it a high-level overview to help them understand your business and what you hope to do with it.

A business map may sometimes be referred to as a roadmap and we like that term because it illustrates something that we think is important. Ultimately, your business map should be flexible. Just as you might need to take a detour on a road trip if road conditions are less than ideal, you may need to take a step back and revisit your business map if circumstances change.

What Are the Key Elements of a Business Map?

There are six key elements that should be included when you create a business map for your company. Each element provides necessary information and perspective to help you and anyone else viewing the map understand your business and where it’s headed.

Unique Value Proposition. What is it that makes your company special and unique, setting you apart from your competitors in the market? The answer could be that you have created new technology, offer services that go above and beyond what your competitors offer, or you’re offering either a product or service at a price point that’s lower than your competitors’ prices.
Key Activities. What are your company goals and what do you need to do to achieve them? Your key activities should spell out what you hope to accomplish and what you must do to accomplish it. Activities may include research, testing, marketing, and other tasks.
Key Players. Which partners and/or employees do you need to complete your key activities and achieve your goals? Your list may include business partners, investors, suppliers, and vendors, as well as financiers.
Target Market. Who is in the market for your product, or said another way, whose problem are you solving with your product or service? You should know who these people are, what they want, and how you intend to connect with them and entice them to buy what you’re selling.
Resources. Which resources do you need to begin your pursuit of the goals you’ve identified? These resources might include money, raw materials, employees, partners, and equipment.
Distribution. How will you get your products to your target audience once they’re ready to sell? Issues to be covered in your map may include storage, distribution, and logistics.

There are several ways to organize your business map, but any version should include these six elements.

Benefits of Company Mapping

Mapping your company can help you in a variety of ways, each of which plays a role in your ability to achieve your goals. Here are eight benefits of company mapping.

#1: Keep Focus on the Big Picture

When you’re running a business, it can be all too easy to get bogged down in granular details and, in doing so, to lose sight of the big picture. Creating a business map can help you maintain oversight at a high level, providing insight while making it simple to keep track of your major goals and what’s needed to achieve them.

#2: Manage Risks

There are always risks involved when starting a business or pursuing growth goals. You might not succeed. Creating a company map is useful because it can help you keep an eye on risks and pivot if necessary to mitigate them.

#3: Align Internal Processes

Another benefit of the bird’s eye view provided by a company map is that it can simplify the alignment of internal processes to ensure that all departments and employees are working efficiently in pursuit of the same goals.

#4: Solve Problems Effectively

No matter how careful you are in planning your company’s growth, problems will arise that you’ll need to address as quickly as possible. Having a company map can give you the perspective you need to see how any problem that arises will impact your goals and adjust your strategies as needed.

#5: Motivate Your Team

A company map may also serve as a visual representation of your company’s mission. Since having a motivated team is essential for growth and success, it stands to reason that keeping your mission front and center will motivate your employees and incentivize them to do their best work.

#6: Encourage Innovation

Innovation is necessary when it comes to problem solving and flexibility. Your company map offers a high-level view without too many specifics, leaving you and your team free to innovate strategies and tactics to pursue your goals and mission.

#7: Improve Flexibility

We mentioned earlier that flexibility is a must in every business. A company map offers perspective and makes it easy to see how changing your strategies will impact your business and its goals.

#8: Clarify Financing Needs

Finally, creating a business map can help you review your available financial and human resources and decide when (and why) you need additional financing. For example, you might need to hire more employees or ramp up your purchasing power to roll out a new product.

How to Make a Business Map

Creating a business map for your company requires some consideration of which format will work best to help you pursue your goals, so let’s start there.

How Should You Organize Your Business Map?

Your business map can serve as an overview of your entire business and its strategies, but you may also want to create maps on a department or project basis.

The two main options for organizing a business map are as follows.

Grid. Using this format, you can give each department its own row or column and assign goals accordingly. This format is useful if you want to assign a deadline to each individual goal that appears on your map.
Swimlane. The swimlane option allows you to map each person’s or department’s activities in the long term. The term ‘swimlane’ is appropriate because each department or person must stay in their assigned lane while still having the freedom to pursue goals in whatever way they choose.

If you choose to map out a specific goal or process, you can use either format as you see fit. For example, you might choose to organize a project based on what steps are already in progress or use business mapping to plan how to reach a specific goal.

Steps to Create a Business Map

Here are the steps to follow to help you create a business map to use as you pursue your business goals.

Set an objective. Because a company map should provide a high-level view, you should set an overall objective that you can break down into smaller goals.
Outline the steps to achieve your objective. At this point, don’t worry about who will do what, just think about what needs to happen to reach your goal. For example, if you want a 20% increase in sales you might need to attract a new type of customer or increase your rate of manufacturing to meet demand.
Select a format for your map. The format you choose will dictate how you break down the steps you’ve identified.
Assign steps to people or departments. The next step is to decide who will be responsible for which steps. You may choose to assign by department if you’ll be mapping on a department level, or on an individual level if you want to include key employees on your map.
Put steps into your map. The final step is to add people, departments, steps, and due dates to your map, making it as clear as possible.

Ideally, your map should be simple enough that somebody with no knowledge of your business can look at it and understand what it is you’re trying to do – and how you intend to do it. Clarity is key, so keep it simple.

Business Mapping Can Lead Your Company to Success

Creating a business map is useful if you want a high-level overview of your company’s mission and primary goals. You can use it to track your progress while still having the flexibility to change your strategies should the need arise.

Do you need small business financing to achieve your strategic growth goals? Select Funding is here to help! Click here to learn about our financing and start the application process today.