Whether you “hate” change or not, it can be difficult. The speed of change for current technologies makes purchase decisions complex and often frustrating. It’s important to research costly digital investments for your enterprise because they must make sense for the long term. You don’t want to spend a lot on mobility solutions that will be obsolete or not align with your business plans or goals.
An enterprise mobile strategy cannot rely on legacy infrastructure if your company wants to keep pace with wireless innovations. The best strategy for keeping up with improvements is to develop a technology roadmap.
You can decide the time period your roadmap will cover, but it’s usually the average course of four or five years. Technology roadmaps can vary depending on your industry, your goals, and more, but here are some steps you can follow. These can be customized for what will work best for your company.
Identify your company’s needs as a team
Let business leaders, department managers, and IT managers all weigh in on their day-to-day technology needs and challenges.
State your company’s technology goals
Decide how technology improvements will align with the overall goals of your enterprise and include them in your map so you can see how each leg corresponds.
Study leaders in your industry
Research what leading companies are doing to gain insight on how your compares and to see specific examples of mobile solutions in action.
Identify key technologies
Decide which technologies are most important to the way you do business so that you can effectively prioritize improvements and upgrades.
Estimate costs
Determine what your wish list will cost so you can determine budget requests and timelines.
Anticipate potential roadblocks
Try to predict challenges you may encounter, such as budgetary shortages or changes such as company expansion.
Develop a timeline
Since a roadmap generally covers four or five years, you will pinpoint which milestones you would like to achieve along the way. Decide on quarterly objectives that are useful and achievable. In this step, you will want to consider projected needs, budgets, and company events.
Chart your roadmap
Create a blueprint of your plan that also shows the timeline, as it helps to see your plans in a visual representation. Send it stakeholders for internal review and feedback.
Implement the plan
Follow the roadmap and conduct periodic reviews and updates as necessary.
