In a society that is becoming increasingly dependent upon technology, it is imperative that companies are not only aware of how they can use tech to innovate and thrive, but also how tech fits into their future goals for the company. Creating a tech strategy which supports a company’s business objectives and is aligned to its overarching business strategy is crucial to the future success of any company.
Before a tech strategy can be developed, the company must have a vision for its growth and an overall strategy outlined for reaching that growth. Once the business has prioritized the steps it plans to take, it can begin to integrate a plan for the technology that will help it achieve this. This plan should include short-term goals for success that will help to achieve the more long-term goals.
Once you have identified your short and long-term goals, you must plan for not only how you are going to implement them, but how you are going to measure and keep track of this as you go. How will you quantify the impact of the tech you are using, and if changes need to be made, have you accounted for that in your spending budget? You should also keep in mind business and operational risks and the need for business resilience at each stage of the plan. You will need to ensure that you have a risk mitigation strategy and a way to identify issues before they become a problem and as ever, you will need to create contingency and continuity plans if any part of the plan causes business interruption.
In order for a tech strategy to be both effective and successfully executed, it must be developed by the appropriate team of people and this team should include individuals from across the business that understand their domain well. Within your own tech team there is hopefully a culture where individuals have a constant drive to educate themselves and as part of this you should plan for further education or training, ensuring that you have accounted for this, in terms of time and cost, and be realistic about how this may impact timelines and deadlines.
Watch the video below and understand more about building a tech strategy for your business.
Tech strategies cannot be fixed in concrete without regard to how the business evolves, you should be constantly checking that your short-term plans are on track and constantly taking this into account of your long-term strategy. Do not be afraid to involve clients and investors in conversations about introducing new technology changes. This not only helps to create the notion of transparency and trust, but also allows for more opinions and suggestions to improve upon and constructive criticism from a client’s perspective.
Try not to think of your tech strategy as something rigid and stationary that must be adhered to at all costs. Just as your business strategy is likely to change to suit new needs and goals, your tech strategy must also be flexible and change to compliment this.
If you’d like to learn more about Atom CTO and how to develop the right tech strategy for your business, then feel free to reach out to us.