Technology planning implies to the process of outlining the technical evolution of a business or processes to achieve important tech goals. Earlier, Anand Jayapalan had spoken about how program directors and management teams of a company must orderly decide which digital tools are best suited to a business. For example, they can explore solutions that can improve customer service, boost productivity or employee morale. Typically, technology planning also encompasses scheduling projections, technology forecasting, as well as creating a technology roadmap.
Important steps of creating a technology plan include:
- Develop a technology planning team: A technology plan must have ideas that reflect the company as a whole. Hence, a planning team must be chosen, which includes employees from varied departments. A typical technology planning team would include an executive director, project manager, administrative assistant, accountant, and system administrator. When starting the planning process, leaders must orderly assign responsibilities and goals for each and every member. The team should also have a regular meeting schedule that allows them to discuss and review the technology plan.
- Examine existing technology: Once a planning team has been established, its members must take inventory of the hardware and software currently used by the company. This shall help the team to ensure that they are orderly examining all of the technologies used in the organization. Seeking the assistant of a tech consultant at this stage would be a good idea.
- Outline priorities of the technology plan: The core priorities or goals of the technology plan should be identified. Typically, companies would prioritize their strategy in order to solve a problem, like replacing an obsolete legacy system. At times, a brand may focus on its plan to leverage brand new opportunities. Businesses can ideally determine what their priorities are by effectively using their assessment from the previous step. This audit will help teams to gain much needed insight into issues in their existing tech infrastructure.
- Identify tech solutions: After the tech planning team has a good idea of their goals, they must get started with exploring various solutions. This step involves extensive research into distinctive hardware, software, and other digital tools.
- Create a budget for the plan: To protect the bottom line of the business, a budget has to be created for the new technologies and tools needed. It would be prudent for the team members to break down the various costs of a system to accurately plan a budget. They must also consider the different long-term and short-term expenses. For instance, the majority of systems are likely to have expenses related to IT labor, network, and data storage. The budget must have capital reserved for such expenses.
Earlier, Anand Jayapalan had spoken about how the technology planning team should look for a vendor or tech tool that aligns with their needs and budget after following the steps discussed above. Many software providers offer scalable packages, allowing companies to purchase specific features that will help them achieve their objectives. Comparing multiple vendors is important to find the right solutions, without exceeding the budget.
