1 
 
Designing an ICT tooling platform to 
support the needs of SMEs in business 
model innovation 
 
 
 Mark de Reuver1, Astrid Tarkus2, Timber Haaker3, Gert Breitfuss2 4, 
Melissa Roelfsema3, Ruud Kosman3, Marikka Heikkilä5  
1 Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands 
g.a.dereuver@tudelft.nl 
2 Evolaris, Austria 
3 Innovalor BV, The Netherlands 
4 Know-Center, Austria 
5 University of Turku, Finland  
 
Keywords (up to 5) 
Business model innovation, business models, digital platform, business model 
tooling, SME 
1. Introduction and purpose  
The relevance of Business model innovation (BMI) to survival and 
competitiveness of companies is largely acknowledged by academia and 
industry. Still, a recent study by Bouwman et al (2016) showed that 37% of 
Europe’s small and medium sized companies (SMEs) are engaged in BM 
Innovation. This means that almost two thirds of the SMEs do not change their 
business logic, thus staying within their familiar comfort zone. This can be fine 
for some, but many more SMEs will need to adjust and innovate their business 
model as the world changes around them especially due to digitalisation. 
Moreover, very few SMEs use formal methods to improve their BM - of those 
SMEs that do BM Innovation, only 19% make use of formal methods (Bouwman 
et al., 2016). This raises a question whether it is possible to support the BM 
innovation of SMEs by providing them tools that fit their strategic aims and 
practical BMI needs.  
In this paper, we present two design cycles for an online platform with ICT-
enabled tooling that supports business model innovation by SMEs. The platform 
connects the needs of the SMEs regarding BMI with tools that can help to solve 
those needs and questions. The needs are derived from our earlier case study 
work (Heikkilä et al. 2016), showing typical BMI patterns of the SMEs needs - 
labelled as ‘I want to’s - about what an entrepreneur wants to achieve with 
business model innovation. The platform provides sets of integrated tools that 
can answer the typical ‘I want to’ questions that SMEs have with innovating their 
business models. 
2. Method 
We follow the approach described by Verschuren and Hartog (2005) for design-
oriented research. We derived requirements from interviews with SMEs and SME 
helpers, brainstorm sessions, literature on existing tooling, the partners’ 
experience with tooling in practice and earlier research results and intermediate 
evaluation (De Reuver at al., 2016; Heikkilä et al., 2016). 
3. Results 
The platform is a first that provides BMI tooling specifically for SMEs. We adapt 
29 BMI tools for the specific needs of SMEs, including `paths’ that integrate 
multiple tools for reaching a particular `I want to’ goal  (Table 1). The platform 
has been implemented through a prototype, see Figure 1 for the homepage and 
Figure 2 for the business model innovation paths. Evaluation is ongoing using log 
data from the platform and action research case studies in which the tools and 
platform will be applied by actual SMEs in real-life innovation projects. In May 
2017, we have about 2,000 sessions by almost 1,000 users, with an average 
number of 6.4 page views.  
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Table 1: I-want-to’s and business model tooling in the platform  
I want to… Start 
a 
new 
busi-
ness 
Test 
my 
busi-
ness 
Grow 
my 
busi-
ness 
Make 
my 
busi-
ness 
profi-
table 
Tools in the platform to support the 
I-want-to 
... know my 
customers 
x     x Target 
group 
selection 
Focus 
group 
Persona 
... reach my 
customers 
    x   Persona Marketin
g cards 
Marketing 
mix 
... test the 
attractiveness 
of my product 
x x     Thinking 
hats 
Focus 
group 
  
... test if my 
business is 
financially 
sound 
  x     BMC Profit 
calculator 
  
... test if my 
business is 
futureproof 
  x     BMC PESTLE BM stress 
test 
... better 
discuss my 
business 
  x x   SWOT BMC BM 
patterns 
... develop a 
(viable) 
business model 
x   x   VPC BMC ROI 
calculator 
... improve   x   x Process Deadly 
wastes 
  
efficiency journey canvas 
...  improve my 
offering 
      x Persona Competit
or 
analysis 
VPC 
... explore new 
ways of making 
money 
    x x BMC BM 
patterns 
(red 
cards) 
(BMC) 
... explore 
(new) markets 
x   x   PESTLE Five 
Forces 
SWOT 
...  implement 
my new 
business 
x       BMC BMC BM 
roadmap 
... convince 
partners 
      x Partner 
analysis 
Partner 
value 
matrix 
  
*) Sometimes it may be useful to add an explanatory footnote to a table 
element 
 
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Figure 1: Homepage of the platform www.businessmakeover.eu  
 Figure 2: I-want-to paths implementation on the platform 
4. Acknowledgements 
We acknowledge the generous support of European Commission. This project 
has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and 
innovation program under grant agreement no. 645791. 
5. References 
Bouwman, H., Molina-Castillo, F., DeReuver, M. (2016). Business Model 
Innovation in European SMEs: some preliminary findings. Bled 2016 
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De Reuver, M. & Athanasopoulou, A., Haaker, T., Roelfsema, M., Riedl, A. & 
Breitfuss, G. (2016). Designing an ICT Tooling Platform to support SME 
Business Model Innovation: Results of a First Design Cycle, Bled 2016 
Heikkilä, M. Bouwman, H., Heikkilä, J., Haaker, T., Lopez-Nicolas, C., Riedl, A. 
(2016).  Business Model Innovation paths and tools. Bled 2016. 
Verschuren, P., & Hartog, R. (2005). Evaluation in design-oriented research. 
Quality and Quantity, 39(6), 733-762