One of the fundamental planning items that would benefit many organizations is a Strategic Technology Roadmap. In today's fast changing world where technology is often the engine and the fuel driving, creating or supporting many organizational activities, it is important that there is alignment between an organization's goals and how technology will be leveraged to meet those goals.
A 2015 Healthcare CEO survey by PWC highlighted how important strategic planning and reviewing and adjusting those plans are, especially as it relates to technology. The survey and report highlighted that 60% of surveyed Healthcare CEO's worry about the speed of technology change and the impact of that speed. With one CEO reporting this is the fastest rate of change he has ever seen (1).
In order to develop a Strategic Technology Roadmap an organization must have clear goals and should have an overall Strategic Roadmap. Senior leadership must clearly articulate these goals. Then various high level plans in each organizational area like sales, marketing, human resources, supply chain management, administration, R&D, technology etc. should be created to illustrate the why, who, how and when needed to reach these goals. Often this stage involves collaboration and communication between organizational areas. These plans will make up the overall Strategic Roadmap.
What makes a Strategic Technology Roadmap unique is its focus on how technology will be aligned and leveraged to meet organizational objectives, needs and goals. A Strategic Technology Roadmap is often presented in timeline based format illustrating the most logical path with linked details, documents or narrative that can be drilled into for more detail. There are many different tools that can assist and guide the process.
A Strategic Technology Roadmap should address the following,
Organizational goals identified (tie into Organizational Roadmap and Plans)
For each goal link any technology needs
For each technology need the following attributes should be documented at a high level:
Description of technology
How technology helps meet the goal
Cost ($ and concise summary)
Estimated Resources required to implement, operate and maintain (Cost, People, Software, Hardware Etc.)
Implementation or technology risks
Timing (When and how long)
Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) to be used to monitor and report progress
Alternatives
Once created a Strategic Technology Roadmap should become a living document that should be leveraged as a planning tool and path to the future. Assumptions and plans should be revisited often or when there are material changes to any of the underlying assumptions or fundamentals that influence or drive the organization. This is especially true when plans include fast evolving or new technologies.
Having a Strategic Technology Roadmap can help an organization's staff and management set and reach goals, scale, measure performance, plan for expenditures and resource needs and remain accountable for their actions as they execute on clear organizational goals and objectives and meet milestone achievements.
References:
[1] PWC Publice Website, 18th Annual Global PWC CEO Survey, http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceosurvey/2015/industry/healthcare.html, 3/22/2016
*Article Updated in March 2016
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