As the virtual CIO for many business clients, I will be sharing the benefits of having a digital roadmap. Spoiler alert: It will make your business more competitive!
I have found that many companies do not have an IT plan which is baffling to me since all other departments have their plans. The finance department has budgets, the marketing department has leads benchmarks, but why doesn’t the IT department have a clear roadmap? Throwing money into software and hardware, just makes companies part of the alarming statistic that 70% of digital projects fail. Seventy percent! That means our two most important resources wasted: time and money.
So, before making investments in IT tools, make a plan to avoid wasting these precious resources. Think, would you build a house without a blueprint? Of course not. Or even more on the nose, would you leave on a long road trip without first consulting your GPS? Likewise, a digital roadmap will clarify your strategies in order to meet your objectives.
Practically speaking, what does a roadmap look like? It should be a visual representation of two aspects. First, the ecosystem of how the various software programs work together and includes when employees must intervene in the processes. Second, a timeline showing when technological solutions will be implemented and in what order.
Beyond avoiding wasting time and money, there are other benefits to creating a digital roadmap.
- Success Rate: Getting an outside view of your company’s processes allows you to identify inefficiencies and find alternatives that will increase productivity. With a roadmap the IT solutions are much more likely to succeed in propelling your business to the next level.
- Better Communication: Team members will have the vocabulary necessary to communicate needs and opportunities. They will benefit from a visual representation of the new and existing tools, how they will interact and when they will be introduced or retired.
- Higher Adoption: Involving the team in the process of choosing IT solutions makes them much more likely to adopt the new technology, while also increasing your leadership capital. And by reducing employees’ stress over changes makes them more likely to stay in their positions.
- Improved Employee Experience (EX): Even if there are issues in the configuration or training stages, employees will be much more likely to be patient and resilient when they have a clear roadmap and feel involved in its development.
So, what will happen if you incorporate solutions on-demand, willy-nilly, without a roadmap? One, you will not benefit from a phased approach in which the team implants, learns, reassesses and repeats. Two, you will probably face resistance to the adoption of the new technology as the team does not recognize its benefits. And third, and perhaps most importantly, you will lose your competitive edge as your competitors successfully implement time-saving and money-saving technologies.
Whether you create your IT digital roadmap in-house or if you hire an outside consultant to help you, I hope you have recognized the benefits of having a plan before integrating technology. Because I am sure you want to avoid becoming a statistic! 😊
