Actual methodology planning of virtual business: practical aspects

The scientific and practical problem of developing a simple, convenient and adequate business planning methodology for virtual business was solved. It is shown that the existing scientific and methodological recommendations, computer tools and applications are well suited for organizational and financial planning of traditional business. And these recommendations do not fully meet the conditions for the development of virtual business. The lack of coordination of the main aspects of virtual (digital) business associated with complex mechanisms of digital transformation and commercialization is taken into account. To understand the specifics of planning in the field of virtual business, the authors went all the way of developing a business plan: from substantiating a business idea of an actual virtual business model to its practical implementation in the form of a website for generating logos (insignia, trademarks of goods and services) and a complete economic justification. Practical and methodological following to the traditional sections of the business plan made it possible to significantly simplify the general presentation and calculation of efficiency for a virtual project. A number of features in the business planning of a virtual business for the provision of computer services have been identified. To identify and describe products, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between a virtual product, as a tool or production resource, and a virtual product-service that can be replicated. There is an objective difficulty in determining the competitive advantages of a virtual product (service) in the context of all the main aspects of the functionality. It is shown that the assessment of a virtual product-software tool by the cost approach can also characterize the minimum market value of the virtual business itself. In assessing business risks, it is enough to take into account the most significant and fundamental ones: the risks of competitive pricing and sales volumes. A particularly important purpose of the financial plan is the calculation of the start-up capital and the profit forecast. Thus, the proposed methodology for developing a business plan and generalized practical recommendations will allow us to abstract from the insignificant and focus time and efforts on more important and fundamental issues of virtual business. These include familiarization with existing technologies for developing a virtual product and the possibilities of their integration.