Mastering the Art of Feedback Loops: Understanding the Dynamics of SaaS Business Growth
Systems thinking is an approach that views an organization as a complex system made up of interrelated parts, rather than as a collection of isolated components. Causal loop diagrams are a visual representation of this systems thinking approach, they depict the cause and effect relationships between different variables in a feedback loop. These models can help organisations identify the key drivers of their business, understand how different parts of the organisation are interconnected, and predict how changes in one area of the business will affect other areas. By using these tools, organisations can gain a holistic view of their business, identify key areas for improvement, and make better decisions that will drive long-term success.
The feedback loop in this example attempts to highlight the interactions between:
Sales & Marketing
Finance
Human Resources
Information Technology, and
Account Management
Running various simulations helps identify the key drivers of growth, unsurprisingly this model seems to respond best when either R&D is invested in, or Sales performance improves.
The product innovation loop is a feedback loop that demonstrates the correlation between different variables that impact the product development and innovation process in a SaaS business.
It starts with an increase in company profits, which leads to an increase in the Research and Development (R&D) budget. This increase in R&D budget leads to an increase in product innovation and competitiveness. This increase in product innovation and competitiveness leads to an increase in product-market fit. This then leads to an increase in product adoption.
Finally, increased product adoption leads to increased customer satisfaction, which leads to increased customer loyalty and repeat business, which then leads to increased revenue. Overall, it highlights how different variables within product development and innovation are interconnected and a change in one variable can have a ripple effect on the others.
I highly recommend trying to model any part of your business, I find it an exceptionally useful tool to fully appreciate the 'levers' within your business.