Importance of Technology Planning

Companies across diverse industries use varying technologies for their daily operations. While the benefits of technology for almost any business is pretty much limitless, deciding how to effectively use it across an entire organization involves proper planning. Earlier, Anand Jayapalan had mentioned that technology planning is a crucial aspect of the overall business plan of an enterprise. Technology plans must be discussed, budgeted for, analysed and implemented in a meticulous manner, much like a marketing plan or a staffing plan. 

Technology planning involves much more than simply getting the hands on the latest software and gadgets. Rather, it is a strategic roadmap that is specifically tailored to a company. It aligns the technological investments of the business organization with its goals, resources, and growth trajectory. It involves a comprehensive evaluation of the current tech infrastructure of a company and forecasting its future needs for the purpose of devising a clear strategy to leverage technology to make a business more profitable. In the absence of a technology plan, a business may have to navigate the market with blind spots, and subsequently miss out on opportunities or encountering avoidable setbacks.

Here are a few reasons that make technology planning important:

• Alignment between technology and business objectives: This involves making sure that the technology one is investing in serves the bigger picture of the business goals. It helps in identifying and acquiring the appropriate software, tools, skills and infrastructure necessity for a business to survive and thrive.  Alignment between technology and business objectives provides assurance of efficiency and coherence between what a company aims at achieving, as well as the means they have at their disposal to get there.

• Competitiveness in a digital landscape: For modern businesses, just keeping up with the latest trends and technologies is not enough. In order to excel, companies have to be at the forefront. It involves identifying trends in a proactive manner, adopting innovative technologies, as well as leveraging them to gain a competitive edge.  Strategic use of technologies enables companies to stay relevant and position themselves as an industry leader. Doing so may involve embracing automation, implementing new software and leveraging data analytics to make informed decisions faster than the key competitors.

• Risk mitigation through strategic planning: In today’s market, trying to stay in business without technology planning would be much like driving through a snowstorm without headlights. Technology planning is necessary for identifying potential business hurdles and concerns like market changes, system failures and cybersecurity threats. Technology planning would enable the company leadership to foresee these risks, and implement measures to address them proactively before these issues can escalate. This helps ensure business continuity and stability.

Earlier, Anand Jayapalan had spoken about how internal teams and stakeholders of a company often revisit technology plans to review and adjust them as per evolving business needs and market trends. These plans typically outline what is being done, how is it done, and how teams are held accountable. Technology planning goes a long way in enabling companies to see which technologies are working for them and which are not.