The Business Acumen course is for anyone interested in the knowledge and skills required to develop business acumen, in particular Business Service Designers (including Business Designers and Service Designers); Business Analysts; Business and Enterprise Architects; Solution Architects and User Researchers. UX Designers, Product Owners and Managers will also find the course beneficial.

The Business Acumen course covers the knowledge, skills, understanding and perspective needed to develop good business acumen. Topics include leadership and decision making skills; an understanding of business models, a growth mindset; financial and data literacy and more.

There will be later this year. More information to be provided soon.

Delegates attending the Business Acumen course are provided with a clear and comprehensive manual that offers a step-by-step guide through the entire course content. Each delegate attending a virtual classroom course is sent a physical copy of the manual to their home address before the course start date. An electronic version of the manual is also provided to every delegate.

The Business Acumen course forms one part of AssistKD’s Service Design training programme which includes courses on CX Analysis, Business Service Design and Design Thinking. It is one of the elective modules for the new internationally recognised A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification.

Business Acumen (a three-day course)

Course Content

• The range of knowledge/skills required to possess business acumen
• Types of business model and the differences between them
• The concept of a values driven organisation
• The importance of a growth mindset for senior leadership teams
• Factors relevant to organisational decision-making
• Generic strategies for growth
• Competitive strategies
• How to evaluate product portfolio using the Growth Share Matrix
• Defining the term ‘profit’ across different types of organisation
• Understanding pricing and costing approaches
• How to evaluate financial reports
• How to analyse business proposals
• Using data to inform business decision-making