Episode 11 – Digital Roadmap

Hey everyone, we’re going to talk around the digital roadmap. So, the digital roadmap – it’s quite obvious what it is, I think. It’s very much the plan that you create in order to achieve the strategic goals of a business, and it’s all about making sure that the plan itself is completely in line with what the business strategy is.

It’s never separate. There’s never just a digital strategy or roadmap or a business strategy roadmap. They should be one, basically. Collectively a lot of people use different terms for this and a lot of management consultants like to use the term ‘digital maturity’, which I actually think is kind of a little bit misleading, if I’m honest, or could be somewhat patronising.

For example, if you are digitally mature, for example, you should be ready for “transformation”, “change”, like your business, your mindset, your people and everything around your technology is ready to change fast.

However, for me, the idea of maturity is a bit like saying to a teenager: “You can’t go to a party, because you’re not mature enough yet. You can go when you’re older.”  So I think it’s a little bit condescending that front, but – going back to the roadmap.

Yes, there are levels of preparation needed for this, or again “maturity”, and they range from one to five.

1. Number one being traditional and these are people that are, basically, the companies that are stuck in the old legacy, like systems – are always doing what has always been done and, basically, lack the use of technology or digital, or even not even embraced most of it yet. And to them, it’s a thing that scares them and, basically, that’s something they will need to adopt rapidly in order to keep surviving in the kind of ever-changing world.
2. And number two is an emerging organisation. These are the ones that have embraced digital slowly so they have it, they’re very cautious. They largely react to things that are coming, as a trend, but don’t take them on fully or quickly enough and have a high risk of disruption, but these companies always start with a lot of scepticism, still, like the traditional companies, you could say.
3. Number three are the engaged companies. So these ones are the ones that actually like to experiment, they’re a bit savvier, but they don’t fully have a huge roadmap in play yet, but they are trying things, they’re learning and they’re trying to figure out ways to adapt to digital change, etc., and make sure they’re kind of moving with the time, so to speak.
4. Number four is the competitive companies, and these are the ones that have a form of a roadmap, and they are starting to make strategic calls in line with digital innovation or they are looking at ways to change the process or the way of working or even using ways of tech to get around blockers that prevent them from launching new services or products.
5. And then you get to the almighty, top of the mountain, super-mature companies. And I use that word lightly because I think it’s a bit of a condescending word, but they’re the ones that have already prepared for this change. So they are the ones that have invested time, money, resources, you know, the senior team have been involved, they’ve made plans alongside the consultants building these maturity or roadmaps with them and they are accepting the fact that things won’t change immediately, but they’ve got a plan there which could span from six months to a year to two years, and they are very open to the fact that change can come and basically disrupt in a negative way the plan. And, yeah, they are the ones that are using digital technologies to run their business already and, you know, they are also companies that basically are continuously driving forward their roadmaps, and looking at ways to achieve the goals on that, adapt around the challenges in the world, and always finding ways to remove friction on that journey as well, and adapt to market trends, as it happens.

And again, it’s not about being – ‘Whose the most mature?’ I think using “mature” is an absolutely condescending word. I think “maturity” is a bit better. But the point is maturity is a way of stating a constantly changing business, roadmap, etc., because, you know, you never really stop changing and innovating in the business. So, for me, the digital roadmap, plan, strategy, whatever you want to call it, that should be completely lined with the business strategy and it should be forecasted out, it should be looked at, collectively between experienced people in the field, and with the owners of the business, and actually, having a digital roadmap in itself can bring great value, great alignment, great things to a company, because they’re already aware where they want to be, and they’re not, you know, rushing around, banging against the problems of the world.

So, for me, investing in digital roadmaps is absolutely fundamental and you should get one today.