Back in 2003 Tom Peters wrote a book called Reimagine¹: a manifesto for radical reinvention in the face of relentless disruption. He argued then that incremental improvement is insufficient; organizations and individuals must pursue bold, design-led transformation. Core themes included:

• From efficiency to WOW: Compete on remarkable experiences, not cost.
• Design as strategy: Make aesthetics, usability, and emotion central to value creation.
• Brand You and PSFs: Treat careers and teams as Professional Service Firms focused on distinctive expertise and outcomes.
• Talent first: Leaders’ #1 job is attracting, growing, and unleashing diverse, passionate talent.
• Women as market-makers: Recognize and design for women as the dominant purchasing force in everything.
• Technology as an experience enabler: Use tech to personalize, speed up, and dramatize value—not as an end in itself.
• Enterprise as network: Build porous, partner-rich ecosystems, not monolithic hierarchies.
• Action bias: Experiment, prototype, iterate: 'Ready. Fire! Aim.'
• Leadership = passion + storytelling: Move people emotionally toward an audacious future.

In a world now dominated by AI-powered disruption, Reimagine remains a potent manifesto!

AI is a threat to the billable hours model. But it is an opportunity as much as a threat if you engage in a journey to Reimagine your know-how and turn your brainware into software. This becomes the time to move from a declining billable hours model to a scalable recurring revenues model from subscriptions to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps.

It's called Going Non-Linear.

Going Non-Linear.

As illustrated in the infographic above, the billable hours model is linear, costs simply grow linearly with sales. However, with SaaS, the model is very different: sales grow non-linearly with costs. In moving to SaaS you remove the geographic constraints of a people-centric services business and with the introduction of AI, converting brainware-to-software just got easier.

In Going Non-Linear I deliver SaaS apps on the Salesforce Lightning Platform⁴.

With an AI Agent, such as Abacus.ai DeepAgent^{5, 6}, I have an intelligent autonomous agent that helps me to accomplish complex tasks through AI-powered automation and integration with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Salesforce data.

Abacus.ai DeepAgent can rapidly generate a powerful scoping of a brainware-to-software plan.

As I covered in my Journal post Innovate, and as expended upon below, to Reimagine new SaaS apps is also to combine Design Thinking² with Value Engineering³.

Design Thinking maximises stakeholder engagement by fostering empathy and collaboration across the buying and selling cycle, whilst Value Engineering builds robust business cases using ROI models to defend value and quantify costs.

Design Thinking.

As the name implies: Design Thinking is thinking (and acting) like a designer. Being curious, restless and constantly challenging business-as-usual. It is all about solving problems in a human-oriented way. In order to generate receptivity and rapport, empathy is the key to success.

Inspired by the Stanford d.school our Design Thinking is delivered as six iterative stages: Empathize; Define; Ideate; Prototype; Test; and, Implement. This offers a structured yet flexible framework to better understand and challenge assumptions and redefine problems.

Design Thinking is strengthened by Value Engineering: mapping out a solid use case, financial justification and technology preferences for buying high-value products and services.

01. Empathize
The first and most important stage in Design Thinking is Empathize. This where you are creating receptivity and rapport among a broad set of decision-makers and influencers as stakeholders in innovation, leads to trust. In turn, this generates the truth required to move to the Define stage.

02. Define
Clearly articulating the problem to be solved. After gathering insights, define the core problem in a human-centered manner. This stage is about synthesising observations and articulating the problem in a way that guides the creation of a compelling argument for a solution.

03. Ideate
Generating a range of creative ideas to solve the defined problem. This phase involves brainstorming and exploring potential solutions, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. It's essential for innovation, as it embraces creativity in the discovery of effective outcomes.

04. Prototype
Turning ideas into tangible products. Prototyping means a hands-on approach to the rapid transformation of Current State, generating a simpler, more effective Future State with the right solution. Prototyping is crucial for visualising how the solution will work.

05. Test
Gathering feedback and refining the Prototype. Testing includes feedback collection on reactions to the solution offered. This helps in understanding the prospect's experience, identifying issues, and validating the effectiveness of what has been proposed.

06. Implement
Finalising the solution and closing the deal. The final stage involves finalising the solution design based on feedback, completing the development, and launching the product or service in question. This ensures that the solution is fully understood and ready for everyday use

Value Engineering.

Design Thinking is strengthened by Value Engineering: mapping out a solid use case, financial justification and technology preferees for high-value products and services.

Value Engineering was originally conceived by Lawrence D. Miles³, a General Electric engineer. Miles' techniques have saved design engineers, manufacturing engineers, purchasing agents and service providers millions of dollars.

To quote Miles, it was necessary to show "why so much unnecessary costs exist in everything we do and how to identify, clarify, and separate costs which bear no relationship to customers' needs or desires."

Value Engineering eliminates waste and determines value over price. This is calculating the cost of purchasing (or crucially, not purchasing) any high-value product or service in a timely manner. It is quantifying time-based value versus the cost of delay or doing nothing.

By applying Value Engineering, you can map your Ideal Customer Profile needs with your offering. This is where Design Thinking enables you to build receptivity, rapport, trust and truth with buyers - early and often.

From a financial perspective, let's start with a simple question for the buyer:

What is the cost of NOT buying the product or service?

Firstly, let's look at the Return On Investment (ROI) Model - a general formula:

ROI = (Cost of Investment / Net Profit​)×100%

To adapt this formula for an As-Is vs. To-Be comparison, consider:

Net Profit: This will be the difference in profits between the Future State (To-Be) and the Current State (As-Is).

Cost of Investment: This is the cost incurred to move from the Current State (As-Is) to the Future State (To-Be).

Given the above considerations, the formula becomes:

ROI = (ProfitTo−Be​ − ProfitAs−Is​​ / Cost of Transition) × 100%

Where:

Profit To-Be = Profit or (benefit) in Future StateProfit As-Is = Profit (or benefit) in Current StateCost of Transition = Cost to move from As-Is to To-Be

Note: If you're measuring benefits other than strict monetary profits, such as time saved or other intangible benefits, ensure you can convert these benefits into a monetary value for this to be valid.

To calculate the Return On Investment (ROI) with the specified inputs, we can formulate several equations. Let's define the variables first:

BVAs-Is = Current State (As-Is) Business Value generated per annum without Solution.BVTo-Be = Future State (To-Be) Business Value generated per annum after investing in Solution.

COS = Cost of Solution.ROI = Return on Investment as a ratio relative to the Cost of Solution.

CoD = Cost of Delay per day when not investing in Solution.CoDN = Cost of Doing Nothing per day when not investing in Solution.

CoDday = Cost of Delay per day when not investing in Solution.

CoDNday = Cost of Doing Nothing per day when not investing in Solution.

Calculating ROI from Solution: Net_Gain - BVTo-Be - BVAs-Is

Calculating ROI: ROI - Net_Gain - CDI / CDIThe ROI is expressed as a ratio. Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.

Cost of Delay (CoD): This represents the loss per day by delaying the Solution purchase. Assume the delay starts from the beginning of the year and goes on for d days:CoD = BVTo-Be - BV As-Is (d x CoDday) - CDI / CDI

Cost of Doing Nothing (CoDN): This is the loss per day for not implementing the Solution. Similarly, for d days:CoDN = BVAs-Is - (d x CoDNday) - CDI / CDI

Demand Creation Selling.

Demand Creation Selling is the opposite of Demand Fulfilment Selling: proactive, not reactive; and, ideal for innovators, where buyers cannot know all and specify requirements in an arm's length Request For Proposal (RFP). This approach is all about Mutual Value Discovery.

Mutual Value Discovery sessions to determine the cost of buying (versus NOT buying) your Value Proposition. This includes generating a ROI Model from Value Engineering that determines the time-based win-win value you create. Underpinning the Value Engineering is Design Thinking, which helps you to maximise receptivity, rapport, trust and truth among the broadest scope of stakeholders on both the buyside and the sellside.

References

1. Peters, T. (2003). Re-imagine!: Business excellence in a disruptive age. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley
   https://tompeters.com/writing/books/
2. The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. (2004) Stanford d.school. https://dschool.stanford.edu/about
3. Miles, L.D. (1947). The Lawrence D. Miles Value Engineering Reference Center Collection.
   https://minds.wiscon.edu/handle/1793/301
4. Stutz, A., & Kolb, R. (2021). *Salesforce Lightning Platform Enterprise Architecture* (3rd ed.). Packt Publishing.
   [https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Salesforce-Lightning-Platform-Enterprise-Architecture-Third-Edition](https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Salesforce-Lightning-Platform-Enterprise-Architecture-Third-Edition)
5. AI Latest Update. (2025, April 20). DeepAgent Abacus: The complete 2025 guide to features, benefits & real-world use cases. AI Latest Update.
   https://ailatestupdate.com/deepagent-abacus-guide-2025/
6. Abacus.AI. (2025). DeepAgent how-to: Your guide to unlocking the full power of the first god-tier, all-in-one AI agent. Retrieved September 19, 2025​.​https://abacus.ai/help/howTo/chatllm/deepagent_how_to