A practical guide to plan, implement, and evaluate your technology goals.
Technology is a key driver of innovation, productivity, and competitiveness in today's business world. However, technology also poses many challenges and risks, such as cybersecurity, obsolescence, disruption, and complexity. Therefore, every business needs to have a clear and coherent technology strategy that aligns with its vision, mission, and objectives to guide its actions for the next five years and beyond.
A technology strategy is a document that describes how a business will use technology to achieve its goals, and how it will manage the technology resources, processes, and capabilities that support its operations. A technology strategy should answer questions such as:
- What are the current and future technology needs and opportunities of the business?
- What are the technology trends and developments that affect the business environment and the industry?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the business, and how can they be leveraged or improved?
- What are the goals and objectives of the business, and how will they be measured and evaluated?
- What are the technology initiatives and projects that the business will undertake, and how will they be prioritized, resourced, and executed?
- What are the technology risks and challenges that the business will face, and how will they be mitigated and managed?
A technology strategy is not a static document that is written once and forgotten. It is a dynamic and evolving document that should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the changing needs and circumstances of the business, as well as feedback and results from technology initiatives and projects. A technology strategy should also be aligned and integrated with the overall business strategy and should be communicated and shared with all the relevant stakeholders, both internal and external.
In this article, we will provide a practical guide on how to create a five-year technology strategy for your business, based on a simple and effective framework that consists of four steps: assess, plan, implement, and evaluate.
01: Assess.
The first step in creating a technology strategy is to assess the current and future state of the technology environment of your business and identify the gaps and opportunities that exist. This step involves conducting a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the following aspects:
- Technology needs and opportunities: What are the current and future technology requirements and expectations of your customers, employees, partners, suppliers, regulators, and competitors? How can technology help you create value, solve problems, and improve performance for your stakeholders? What are the technology opportunities that can give you a competitive edge, or that can disrupt your industry or market?
- Technology trends and developments: What are the technology trends and developments that are shaping the business landscape and the industry? How are they affecting your business model, value proposition, products, services, processes, and capabilities? How can you leverage them to create new opportunities, or to mitigate potential threats?
- Technology strengths and weaknesses: What are the technology assets and resources that you have, such as hardware, software, data, networks, systems, platforms, applications, tools, and devices? How well are they performing, and how are they supporting your business operations and objectives? What are the technology capabilities and skills that you have, such as innovation, integration, automation, collaboration, security, and agility? How are they enabling you to deliver value, quality, and efficiency to your stakeholders? What are the technology gaps and weaknesses that you have, and how are they limiting or hindering your business performance and potential?
- Technology goals and objectives: What are the technology goals and objectives that you want to achieve in the next five years, and how do they align with your business vision, mission, and objectives? How will you measure and evaluate your technology performance and progress? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that you will use?
To conduct this assessment, you can use various methods and tools, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, workshops, benchmarking, SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, gap analysis, and maturity models. You can also consult various sources of information and data, such as market research, industry reports, customer feedback, employee feedback, partner feedback, supplier feedback, competitor analysis, and best practices. The output of this step should be a clear and comprehensive picture of your technology situation, and a list of the technology needs, opportunities, trends, developments, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and objectives that you have identified.
02: Plan.
The second step in creating a technology strategy is to plan how you will address the technology needs, opportunities, trends, developments, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and objectives that you have identified in the previous step. This step involves developing a detailed and realistic plan that outlines the following aspects:
- Technology vision and mission: What is the desired and ideal state of your technology environment in the next five years, and how does it support your business vision and mission? What is the purpose and role of technology in your business, and how does it create value and impact for your stakeholders?
- Technology initiatives and projects: What are the specific and concrete technology actions and activities that you will undertake to achieve your technology vision and mission, and to address your findings above? How will you prioritize, resource, and execute them? What are the expected outcomes and benefits of each initiative and project?
- Technology roadmap and timeline: What is the sequence and schedule of your technology initiatives and projects, and how do they align with your business roadmap and timeline? How will you manage the dependencies, interdependencies, and risks of your technology initiatives and projects? How will you ensure the alignment and integration of your technology initiatives and projects with your business initiatives and projects?
- Technology budget and resources: What are the financial and human resources that you will allocate and invest in your technology initiatives and projects, and how do they fit with your business budget and resources? How will you optimize the cost and value of your technology investments, and how will you measure and demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of your technology initiatives and projects?
- Technology governance and management: What are the roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders involved in your technology initiatives and projects, and how will you ensure their accountability, collaboration, and communication? What are the policies, standards, guidelines, and procedures that you will follow and enforce to ensure the quality, security, compliance, and sustainability of your technology environment? What are the tools and methods that you will use to monitor, control, and report on your technology performance and progress?
To develop this plan, you can use various methods and tools, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, scenario planning, project management, risk management, budgeting, and forecasting. You can also consult various sources of information and data, such as best practices, case studies, expert opinions, and lessons learned. The output of this step should be a clear and comprehensive plan that describes how you will achieve your technology vision and mission, and how you will manage your technology environment.
03: Implement.
The third step in creating a technology strategy is to implement the plan that you have developed in the previous step and to execute the technology initiatives and projects that you have outlined. This step involves carrying out the following activities:
- Technology delivery and deployment: How will you deliver and deploy the technology solutions and services that you have planned, and how will you ensure their quality, security, compliance, and usability? How will you test, validate, and verify the functionality, performance, and reliability of your technology solutions and services? How will you train, educate, and support your users and stakeholders on how to use and benefit from your technology solutions and services?
- Technology adoption and change management: How will you facilitate and encourage the adoption and use of your technology solutions and services by your users and stakeholders, and how will you manage the resistance and challenges that may arise? How will you communicate and promote the value and impact of your technology solutions and services, and how will you solicit and incorporate the feedback and suggestions of your users and stakeholders? How will you manage the change and transformation that your technology solutions and services may bring to your business culture, processes, and capabilities?
- Technology evaluation and improvement: How will you evaluate and measure the outcomes and benefits of your technology solutions and services, and how will you compare them with your technology goals and objectives? How will you identify and analyze the gaps and issues that may exist in your technology environment, and how will you resolve and improve them? How will you learn and improve from your technology experiences and results, and how will you incorporate the lessons learned into your technology strategy?
To implement this step, you can use various methods and tools, such as agile, scrum, waterfall, DevOps, ITIL, COBIT, lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement. You can also consult various sources of information and data, such as user feedback, stakeholder feedback, performance data, quality data, security data, compliance data, and improvement data. The output of this step should be the successful and effective delivery, deployment, adoption, and evaluation of your technology solutions and services.
04: Evaluate.
The fourth and final step in creating a technology strategy is to evaluate the overall performance and progress of your technology environment and to review and update your technology strategy accordingly. This step involves conducting the following activities:
- Technology performance and progress review: How well are you achieving your technology vision and mission, and how well are you addressing your technology needs, opportunities, trends, developments, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and objectives? How well are you managing your technology resources, processes, and capabilities, and how well are they supporting your business operations and objectives? How well are you delivering value, quality, and efficiency to your stakeholders, and how well are you creating impact and competitive advantage for your business?
- Technology strategy review and update: What are the changes and developments that have occurred in your technology environment, and how do they affect your technology strategy? What are the new technology needs and opportunities that have emerged, and how will you address them? What are the new technology trends and developments that have arisen, and how will you leverage them? What are the new technology strengths and weaknesses that have been revealed, and how will you improve them? What are the new technology goals and objectives that you want to pursue, and how will you measure and evaluate them? How will you revise and refine your technology strategy to reflect the current and future state of your technology environment?
To conduct this evaluation, you can use similar methods and tools as the steps above, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, workshops, benchmarking, SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, gap analysis, and maturity models. You can also consult various sources of information and data, such as market research, industry reports, customer feedback, employee feedback, partner feedback, supplier feedback, competitor analysis, and best practices. The output of this step should be a clear and comprehensive evaluation of your technology performance and progress, and a revised and updated technology strategy that reflects the changing needs and circumstances of your business.
Getting Started.
Creating a five-year technology strategy for your business is a challenging but rewarding task that can help you achieve your business goals and objectives, and create value and impact for your stakeholders. By following the four steps of assess, plan, implement, and evaluate, you can develop a clear and coherent technology strategy that aligns with your business vision and mission, guiding your technology decisions and actions for the next five years and beyond.
A technology strategy is not a one-time exercise, but a continuous and iterative process that requires regular review and updates based on the feedback and results of your technology initiatives and projects. By creating and maintaining a technology strategy, you can ensure that your business stays ahead of the curve and that you leverage technology as a key driver of innovation, productivity, and competitiveness in today's business world.
Our team is experienced in guiding organizations through creating and crafting these plans. If you’re interested in understanding our process, contact us at contact@sitetechnology.com. We’d love to help guide your next steps with technology adoption.