Building a Technology Roadmap

There are things and situations that call for winging it, and there are those that require a plan. When it comes to running a business, however, where you are fully responsible for the people you lead and must ensure the successful day-to-day operations of an enterprise, having a strategic plan is non-negotiable.

Any business owner worth their salt knows planning is essential to an organization's success. Ever heard of the saying, "The man who is prepared has his battle half fought?" Spoken by 16th-century Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, this quote has outlived its utterer and still rings true today, whether applied in the realm of business or life in general.

This is called road mapping, a process that helps organizations bring their visions to reality by laying out their goals and objectives and the necessary steps and innovations needed to reach these. When you create a roadmap, you are essentially plotting or "mapping" the direction or trajectory you want your organization to go and the milestones you want to achieve at a given period of time, as categorized per department or team, or project.

What is an IT Roadmap?

A technology roadmap also called an IT roadmap, visualizes your organization's technology strategy for the short or long-term. It examines your current IT infrastructure, which comprises the facilities, software, networks, systems, and hardware or all the technologies that ensure and sustain the smooth run of your business. From here, you will be able to determine your enterprise's ever-changing technology goals and identify the steps and solutions you must take and the resources you need to secure so you can move toward these objectives. By laying all these out, you are able to track and monitor your IT strategy and ensure accountability so you can take your current infrastructure to the heights you envision it to be in.

But more than just a document outlining your strategic technology plan, your IT roadmap must, just as importantly, be able to facilitate dialogue among your constituents. It must unify ideas and insights, as well as build consensus to ensure everyone within the organization is aligned with its goals for the next year, three years, or even five years.

How to Build a Technology Roadmap

Identify your Company's Goals

Specificity is key. To determine your technology goals, you must identify the objectives your organization plans to achieve in the future or near future. Start by asking questions. What do you want your organization to prioritize? And who will benefit from this? These can range from wanting to streamline internal processes and activities within the company to creating better experiences for your customers. Make sure your technology goals are aligned with the organization's objectives as a whole.

Recognize your Needs

Once you've identified your company's goals, consider what requires to be done. Is there a need to improve the company's cybersecurity systems? Save on costs by getting rid of unnecessary technologies? Implement a better Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system? You can do this by identifying the gaps that need to be filled and what works and doesn't on the technological side of things.

Calculate the Costs

Money doesn't grow on trees. Implementing new technologies requires capital. How much are you willing to invest in your company's digital technology? Do you have a budget? Make sure to do your research so you can get an estimate of the various costs and fees of the projects in your technology roadmap before moving forward.

Establish a Timeline

Be on track with your technology goals by creating a timeline for your roadmap according to your priorities. This will allow you to monitor your IT strategy and be able to measure if it’s actually feasible and flexible. Be realistic about the dates you set for your goals or projects and anticipate any constraints or challenges that may arise along the way.

Why your Organization needs a Technology Roadmap

A technology roadmap gives you a clear view of where your organization’s IT strategy was, is, and where you want it to be. Knowing your organization’s technological gaps and weaknesses is your first step towards the path of improving business operations, boosting productivity and efficiency, and delivering quality service. More importantly, it compels you to be accountable to those that matter most to your organization: your stakeholders.

Your IT roadmap is as ever-changing as your company’s goals, priorities, and budget. These will continue to transform throughout the years. And your roadmap, if done right, serves as your evolving guide that will accommodate these changes onwards.

Uniserve IT Solutions for your IT needs

Uniserve has been in the business of developing bespoke and innovative IT solutions for Hong Kong’s small and medium-sized enterprises for the past 14 years. Helping organizations achieve their IT needs and goals, as well as building long-term relationships have always been the core of our mission, from offering custom IT support and IT infrastructure to cloud services and IT management. Partner with Uniserve today for IT services you can trust.