What Is A Technology Roadmap?
Technology roadmapping is a planning process that can be used to help an organisation identify, select and develop technology alternatives in line with what is needed for its current and future product portfolio. The output is a technology roadmap.
Technology roadmapping is ideally integrated into the organisation’s strategy and planning process. The technology roadmap should support the organisation’s vision. Ultimately the technology roadmap should match business goals with specific technological solutions.
Usually, the technology roadmapping process is undertaken by a group of people from relevant departments in the organisation - research and development, engineering, marketing and others.
Why Undertake Technology Roadmapping?
Designing, developing and selling products profitably is increasingly challenging.
Competition is often global, product and technology lifecycles are shortening. Customers expect increasing levels of customisation. Many technological fields are becoming more complex and in many organisations there is intensifying pressure to ensure that maximum return is achieved on investment decisions.
Technology roadmaps are typically developed in response to a customer need. Such needs can be identified through customer research.
Research can also help identify which new products will appeal to customers and satisfy the need. Following on from this, the company can develop the technology roadmap to provide direction for what technologies will to need to be developed to underpin the product development process.
Specifically, technology roadmapping can help :-
- people in an organisation to reach consensus about what technologies are needed.
- organisations to forecast technology developments in the areas that are relevant to their product portfolios.
- by providing a framework that helps teams plan and co-ordinate technological developments.
In addition, if a company chooses to outsource the development of a technology or to work in collaboration with an external partner in an ‘open innovation’ approach, a technology roadmap can be a useful framework to ensure a shared understanding with the external partner.
Company Technology Roadmap Or Industry Technology Roadmap?
Technology roadmaps can be developed by a single company or at the industry level.
Technology roadmaps are more likely to be developed at the industry level when the required technologies are likely to be prohibitively expensive or to take too long for a single player to develop.
If these same technologies are developed at the industry level, there is the opportunity to make the whole industry more a competitive.
The process of developing the roadmap and the nature of the final output are very similar for both company and industry technology roadmaps.
Product Technology Roadmap or Emerging Technology Roadmap?
Technology roadmaps usually focus around known technologies, and they contain clear links between the products that the company is planning and the technologies that are needed for these products.
Often this type of technology roadmaps is called a Product Technology Roadmap.
By contrast, some companies develop Emerging Technology Roadmaps. These differ from product technology roadmaps in several ways.
- The focus is on the emerging technology, and it is not linked to any product.
- The emerging technology roadmap will typically focus on just one technology.
- The purpose of the emerging technology roadmap is to forecast the development and commercialisation of that technology.
- The emerging technology roadmap can also be used to inform company strategy and specifically identify the company’s competitive position with regard to the emerging technology and how this may change over time.
Why Choose Anatellô To Help You With Technology Roadmapping?
Developing a technology roadmap can be dividedinto three stages:-
- Scoping and design of the technology roadmap
- Development of the technology roadmap
- Implementation of the technology roadmap.
Anatellô can:-
- custom design a technology roadmapping process for your organisation which will enable you to undertake the roadmapping in a fast and efficient way.
- facilitate the process for you, which will ensure efficient use your teams’ time and enable effective cross-functional team working.
- help you with customer research and insights, that will ensure you gather the research and insight inputs that are vital to a good roadmap.
- Steer the group through the process of analysing requirements, identifying technologies and selecting between alternative technologies, so that you complete the roadmap on time and your organisation reaps the benefits.
The design of your technology roadmap will be tailored to your exact requirement.
Technology roadmaps generally cover a time frame of ten to fifteen years – although specific industries may be looking at shorter or indeed longer time frames.
The roadmap will generally include, customer insights, products, technology areas, technology drivers and targets, technology options, selected options and paths.
The roadmap will show how these aspects link together and also how they link to your company strategy.
