IT roadmap – When strategy becomes practice

Companies have to establish a clear vision of the future if they want to know how to assure long-term success. With the help of an IT roadmap, business strategy, IT strategy and current IT trends are systematically put in relation to the IT services offered. Furthermore, very specific parameters such as hardware and software cycles, as well as pending expansions, are introduced to the IT roadmap.

In discussions with IT decision makers at the most diverse companies, we have encountered one and the same complexes of questions time and again:

• How can I make it clear to executive management that I have planned for the long term and that I have invested  the budgets meaningfully?
• How can I corroborate the need for additional funds?
• Am I going to be on the safe side if I continue to invest in the current system landscape?
• I have once again read in Computerwoche, the German edition of Computerworld, about the latest IT trends; which of them are relevant to me (and should be investigated further)?
• How can I sensibly prioritise my projects and what impact does this have on my budget and resource planning?
• How can I project my operational planning to a broader temporal horizon?

The IT roadmap

A roadmap is prepared for the strategic alignment of information technology in which the relevant topics are summarised. The roadmap serves as orientation for the next 3-5 years and helps in providing the right focus for future planning and to establish the right focal points.

Furthermore, it answers the question of how IT should position itself with respect to the products and technologies currently on the market and which of the currently developing IT trends are providing opportunities for your company and should therefore be included in the strategic planning.

Your benefit?

The most important goal when preparing an IT roadmap is to intensely study the future. Your company wants to be able to predict important developments in different areas early on to be able to react to them early on with appropriate measures or to proactively take Action.

• Dependencies between projects are identified and synergies can be utilised.
• Detailed review and assessment of the technical implementation.
• Assessment of the IT strategy and the overall IT architecture.
• Assuring economic feasibility.
• Ensuring the future usefulness of currently used products.
• Important developments are systematically monitored, analysed and translated into action plans.
• Planning activities are aligned with a joint goal.
• By focussing and through targeted control of activities, cost savings are achieved.
• Promotion of internal communication between specialist departments and IT.