Technology Roadmap Consulting: What You Get and When Your Business Needs One

What technology roadmap consulting delivers: an audit of your systems, a prioritised and costed plan for the next 12–36 months, and when it is worth doing.

A technology roadmap is a prioritised, costed plan for the systems your business needs over the next 12 to 36 months. It answers three questions: what to build, what to buy and what to leave alone. Roadmap consulting is worth paying for when the cost of a wrong technology decision is higher than the cost of the advice.

Signs you need a roadmap

  • Several tools that don't talk to each other, with staff retyping data between them
  • A big software purchase or rebuild on the table and no clear way to compare options
  • Growth plans, such as new branches, new markets or more staff, that current systems can't support
  • Software projects that keep running over budget or never finish
  • One developer or vendor holding all the knowledge about your systems

If two or more of these sound familiar, see 5 signs your business has outgrown its current systems.

What a roadmap engagement delivers

  1. A systems audit. Every tool, spreadsheet and integration you use today, who uses it, and where it breaks.
  2. Goals in business terms. What the business needs to achieve, for example faster order processing, fewer manual reports or opening a new branch.
  3. Options with costs. For each need, the realistic choices (off-the-shelf, custom or a mix) with rough costs and trade-offs.
  4. A prioritised plan. What to do first, what can wait and what depends on what, in phases you can budget for.
  5. Architecture guidance. How the pieces should connect so you don't build new silos.

Build, buy or leave alone

A good roadmap often recommends less custom software, not more. Standard needs like accounting or email are usually best bought. Custom software makes sense where your process is what sets you apart, or where off-the-shelf tools force costly workarounds. We cover this trade-off in build vs buy.

What to expect from the process

Most roadmaps take a few weeks. You'll spend time in workshops with the people who use the systems every day, not only management. The result is a written plan that any competent team can deliver, whether or not that is the consultant.

How we help

Our technology strategy and roadmapping service produces exactly this plan. We also offer architecture reviews for existing systems. Read more about technology consulting, or book a short call to talk through where your systems are today.

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