Developing a technology roadmap is one of the most prominent best practices for handling digital transformation effectively. With a roadmap showing each step you are taking, with a clear why and how. As a result, you can maximize the outcomes of your technology implementations.
A great technology roadmap should help you define priorities, responsibilities, costs, timeframes, resources, and everything related to a project or multiple ones ahead of implementation or development.
It also puts every one of your employees on the same page as you, making them more motivated and helpful when trying to make your new solutions work.
To ensure that you are developing a roadmap that works, here are the most important tips you should follow.
Define your strategic goals
At the start of developing a good technology roadmap, you should consider defining your strategic goals, to be able to align tasks and phases with them.
Your goals should relate to what you want to deliver to customers. What are your growth plans? What do you plan in terms of internal efficiency? And what milestones do you see in the future that you will consider business successes?
Each of the goals you define would be aligned with the system you are building or implementing, as each feature, device or any investment should mean something to your goals.
Put realistic costs and timelines
Being realistic with cost and timeframe estimation for each phase is a key element of developing a technology roadmap that works.
The costs should consider infrastructure and maintenance. Also, even unexpected challenges could face the project. In addition, the timeline should also be based on realistic timelines of previous similar projects that were successful.
Organize everything as priorities
As you list your needs, each helping to fulfill a goal, you need to organize them to be ordered by priority. The priorities will always help you when there is a bottleneck or an urgent need to reduce costs.
They will also help you make smaller implementations, and measure the return on investment. Also, scale your technology solutions as you guarantee the outcomes.
To ensure that you are successfully organizing priorities for your technology roadmap, you need to consider:
- Biggest business challenges
- Areas costing your business cash losses
- Things that are frustrating customers
- Gaps in the market and areas competitors aren’t yet considering
Plan for the long term
As you consider the technology projects in the near future into your consideration. You should also consider how you expect to scale in the future and grow your technology solutions.
You shouldn’t be considering every possible case. But at least have a vision of how existing solutions can scale. Also, what new technologies can be utilized?
This can help you determine the right solutions now. Then make room for upcoming projects that will scale existing technology infrastructure and solutions.
