Multi-Level Business Modeling and Simulation

Abstract

Abstract:The rapid succession of technological advances leads to important convergences of applications, devices and networks. More and more firms, previously locked in a niche, are exposed to a more global market and interactions with other firms. Pushing a new offer on the market requires a thorough understanding of this altered market. In essence, pushing a new offer requires basic business modeling and simulation. Often, this is performed by making a "back of the envelope" calculation. This calculation quickly grows out of proportions if the novel business proposition requires interactions with many other parties (hardware, maintenance, cloud, etc.). In this paper, we present a scalable multi-level business modeling and quantification approach. It combines the intuitive structure and interactive discussions of a multi-user business modeling tool, while directly linking to a lower level for more technical modeling and simulation of costs and revenues. By combining these two levels of refinement, the business aspects are clearly separated from the calculation techniques, increasing ease and speed of modeling at the business side. Delegating the cost calculations to the more technical models allows for a truthful and reliable mimicking of the actual structure and costs. To achieve this, several detailed cost modeling languages are presented and linked to the higher level business modeling. Finally, this multi-level business modeling and simulation approach is applied to the case of an open access FTTH network deployment. The results clearly show the power of using such a multi-level business modeling and simulation approach.