Innovation infatuation. It’s a real thing. Technology is changing faster than ever
before, and keeping up with what’s new is like drinking from a firehose.
Everyone claims the promise of their solution being “transformative,” “game-changing,” and “revolutionary.”
In filtering the endless information and opinions bouncing through the technosphere, it’s essential to differentiate between two types of innovation infatuation: technophiles vs. magpies:
Technophiles: People with a strong affinity for technology, especially new or cutting-edge technology—those who genuinely love and enthusiastically embrace technological innovations.
Magpies: Like the birds that are attracted to shiny objects, a technology magpie is drawn to the superficial allure of new gadgets and tech rather than their underlying value.
While both enjoy technology, the technophiles tend to focus on the underlying and lasting value of new technologies through substantial engagement rather than “collecting” the newest tools and gadgets that end up being recalled as a flash in the pan.
Meet Martin, the COO of a fictitious mid-size software company. Martin struggled with innovation infatuation, spending hours each day researching and sampling each flashy new tool or platform that promised to be THE solution to his company’s challenges. But his obsession was getting in the way of progress.
Analysis paralysis set in, making it tough to decipher which technologies would
be truly valuable for the business.
If Martin’s predicament sounds familiar, you’re not alone. It’s hard to choose between so many options and truly know what will be best for your unique company.
Many business leaders are in search of the big red “Easy” button, but when it comes to technology, it doesn’t exist.
The good news is that a technology roadmap is the next best thing.
In this blog, we’ll demystify technology roadmaps and demonstrate their value and the best course for creating and implementing them.
Technology Roadmaps - The Road to a New Reality
Depending on their specific purpose, technology roadmaps can be called several different names, including IT roadmap, strategic technology plan, innovation roadmap, and others. But whatever you call it, the overall purpose is essentially the same:
A strategic planning tool for businesses to optimize existing resources first, to understand what’s truly needed for the future.
Without a roadmap, it’s easy to fall into the trap of impulsive technology adoption (yes, we’re referring to you, Martin). Such impulsivity can lead to wasted resources, security risks, a lack of strategic direction, and a whole lot of frustration.
As a business owner, you want to invest in technology for all the right reasons. But spending large sums of money only to have the promised results elude you is exasperating and disheartening.
The Value of a Technology Roadmap - Plan Today, Build Tomorrow, THEN Optimize
Planning first avoids rework and unnecessary expenses, improves efficiency, and maximizes value before investing in new solutions.
Read that again - it’s a critical element of a successful plan. Yes, optimization is essential, but prioritizing it ahead of planning leads to unnecessary pitfalls and detours into rabbit holes. Stay clear of the rabbit holes!
Planning must involve evaluating current technologies to identify and prioritize areas for enhancement and budget optimization. This sets you up for increased efficiency and flexibility, allowing you to remain relevant while planning future initiatives, and in turn, enabling effective scaling.
A good recipe to follow might look something like this:
Analysis and planning, including current technology evaluation
Make initial optimizations based on the plan, leveraging low-hanging fruit for quick value (which also builds momentum for the next steps)
Review the plan for updates and modifications
Methodically move forward, building some of the new initiatives
Optimize some more
Rinse and repeat Step 5
Bear in mind that to be successful, your unique roadmap must encourage defining milestones and tracking progress for alignment with overall business goals.
AI - The New Non-Negotiable in Any Technology Roadmap
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the new kid on the block. It has made its way into businesses at nearly every level, and it’s not going away.
Although still evolving, AI is changing the trajectory of businesses in nearly every industry—streamlining processes, transforming customer experiences, informing research, and so much more. Ignoring AI in your company’s planning sets you up to fall behind your competition.
Your technology roadmap must include a lane for AI.
Building Your AI-Inclusive Technology Roadmap
Adopting AI within a company is challenging—both technically and culturally.
But rising to the challenge may be the most important thing you can do to succeed. Let’s examine some critical steps for creating a technology roadmap incorporating AI.
Gaining Leadership Buy-in
The initial step in planning your technology roadmap must be getting company leaders to understand the immense value of AI for your business and the implications of non-adoption. Without the support of key stakeholders, your efforts to invest in, adopt, and educate your workforce on the value and use of AI will be met with friction and inconsistent adoption. Without full support, the problems encountered could compromise the benefits.
If you can educate leadership on AI’s specific value for your company, they will then convey the message to employees that the value of embracing and learning the new tools and processes will benefit everyone.
The AI Planning Blueprint for a Technology Roadmap
Just as a blueprint is essential before beginning construction on a house, AI integration requires a precisely planned approach.
Data quality—the foundation. Similar to the need for a solid base to support a stable structure, clean, quality data serves as the foundation of your AI planning. Skipping this first critical step could undermine your plan further down the road, but it is pivotal for success with AI.
Information flow and integration. This is the equivalent of plumbing and electrical in a construction blueprint. You must ensure that your AI tools and systems allow for seamless information flow and smooth integration and functionality.
System integration and reworking. As the actual construction of a house begins and the physical structure comes together, tweaks and modifications will always be necessary. It’s the same when integrating AI into your company systems and processes—refining and reworking will be necessary to ensure everything fits together and flows properly.
Blueprint to Reality - The completed technology roadmap. Just as a completed house is the realization of its initial blueprint, the technology roadmap represents the culmination of the previous steps, outlining the path from idea to implementation.
Final Steps for Success
You have your AI-inclusive technology roadmap in place–congratulations! But you’re not done. You still need to manage the integration and adoption process and assess the ROI from your efforts.
Ensuring Smooth Integration and Adoption
You already achieved leadership buy-in early on, but it’s also critical to ensure employees company-wide understand what changes are being implemented and communicate their value.
Gradual implementation supports incremental technology adoption and effective risk management, allowing employees to come along for the ride.
Small changes over time are easier to digest than large ones and provide the time they need to learn at a reasonable pace and retain what they’re learning.
Make it clear that they’re not being replaced by technology–rather, it will help them to be more productive and do their jobs better. They need to understand that although the changes and new processes may initially seem disruptive and challenging, it won’t always feel that way.
Assess Your ROI
Finally, don’t forget to assess the return on investment for any new technology implementations, especially AI projects. This is one area where your time and effort ensuring clean, quality data pays off. Clean data has been shown to increase efficiency, improve accuracy in decision-making, enhance customer experience and cost savings, and improve compliance and risk mitigation.
Assessing ROI encourages continuous improvement, supports accountability, and creates a more resilient and adaptive organization.
Partnering for a Successful Technology Roadmap
With an AI-inclusive technology roadmap in place, your organization can compete at a high level with competitors through increased productivity, risk mitigation, cost savings, and alignment with your specific, strategic goals.
When you’re ready to create your company’s technology roadmap, Optrua can help!
We analyze your needs, optimize your existing tools, and then develop a technology roadmap complete with timelines. We firmly stand by the value of a technology roadmap and have included it as a premium benefit to our Optrua Care Plan clients.
Let's talk about how you can leverage AI and CRM technologies to start your journey toward sustainable growth and improved outcomes.
About the Author
Optrua specializes in Dynamics 365 CRM and Microsoft Power Apps to enhance customer experience and employee engagement. With agile methods and continuous improvement, we're your partner in thriving amidst change. From CRM to analytics, we offer tailored solutions for staying ahead.
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