An IT Roadmap Can Help Your Business Get Where It’s Going

April 25, 2024

A Technology Plan Is Informed by Business Goals and Objectives

Key Takeaways:

The process starts with a discussion about how the company operates on a day-to-day basis, which technologies work well and which technologies are a hinderance.
The roadmap is a living document that is regularly updated and used as a backbone for monitoring and quarterly meetings between the external IT provider and internal management.
In the digital age, failure to invest in your company’s technology is failure to invest in its future.

A company with a focused business plan and aggressive growth goals must have several factors in place to reach its objectives – ready financing, the right team, operational capabilities and an effective marketing plan.

But without the right technology suite, the company will likely not meet its goals. It’s time to create an information technology roadmap.

A comprehensive IT roadmap dovetails with the company’s business objectives. It’s not a “help desk” plan that addresses what happens when a computer breaks. It is a plan that puts in place a suite of technology tools that will help the company reach its goals.

Creating an IT roadmap involves a company’s entire senior management team, with input from the CEO, CFO, COO and internal IT managers, among others. The process starts with a discussion about how the company operates on a day-to-day basis, which technologies work well and which technologies are a hinderance.

The discussion ranges more broadly to the company’s goals. If the company is looking to grow by 20% over the next five years, how will that happen? Will new product lines be added? Will new customer groups be sought? Will geographic territories be added, necessitating new facilities?

The answers to these questions provide the objectives around which the IT roadmap is built.

What’s in the IT Roadmap?

An IT roadmap is multifaceted and includes, among other things:

A detailed outline of the technology systems needed for all facets of the business, including operations and production, finance and accounting, human resources and marketing.
A policies section containing the company’s various policies governing technology use.
Documents describing how the company will ensure technology compliance with such industry-specific protocols as HIPAA in the healthcare environment or ITAR in the defense industry.
Operational efficiency documents outlining core software programs and platforms necessary for the company’s production and operations.
Integration outlines that explain how various programs and platforms work together.
Hardware replacement schedules.
A timeline.

The roadmap is a living document that is regularly updated and used as a backbone for monitoring and quarterly meetings between the external IT provider and internal management. As the company’s business objectives change, the roadmap is re-evaluated to determine where technology changes should be made to help achieve the new goals.

Is Your Company Ready?

For most people, technology means the day-to-day end user experience, the computer sitting on the desk and the software used for everyday functions. But there is little in the way of strategy.

A company’s level of technology operational maturity can help determine where it is on the technology path and when it may be ready to develop an IT roadmap:

A company at the first level of operational maturity may have outdated technology and security gaps in the network, no documentation, no password policies and no policies around who has access to the server.
At the second level of operational maturity, a company may have newer hardware that is replaced on a broad schedule, as well as a basic set of security tools on all computers. There may be some basic policies in place to govern security, compliance and password policies. This company is on the road to being ready for an IT roadmap.
A company at the third level of operational maturity has a roadmap in place, best-in-class security, a hardware replacement schedule and is compliant with its industry standards. The company is also meeting regularly with its outsourced IT team.