Developing a Technology Roadmap

In an age where the business world is continually evolving, developing a technology roadmap can help you stay ahead of the competition. That is why businesses that have leveraged the use of technology are leading their industries. Take a look at companies like Uber and Airbnb, which do not own cars or hotels but run the largest taxi and hotel services worldwide, just because they tapped into the power of technology. Your business can also do the same and reach new heights with the strategic use of technology.

However, to effectively use technology to give your business that extra advantage, you must first have a strategic plan that guides the use of new technology to meet your business's specific needs. To do that, you would need a Technology roadmap. Technology roadmap refers to a high-level visual summary that lays out a company's vision or plans of matching its tech solutions with short-term and long-term goals.

What is Technology Roadmap and Why do I need to develop one?

Once a company has finished developing a technology roadmap, they can use it to review their Internal IT, DevOps, Infrastructure, Architecture, Software, Internal System, and Hardware Procurement for innovative and efficient businesses. It helps define how a new IT tool, process, or new technology, aligns with your business strategy and growth. For instance, a company that intends to target a global customer base would need to build a robust Customer Relationship Management platform, be it software or app. Having a roadmap creates a clear picture guiding the strategic direction of this app or software development. In this case, they can avoid duplication of resources, minimize the number of unused licenses, set priorities straight, and mapping out what to upgrade if they already have a platform.

What is a road map Used for?

Are you a start-up or small business that wants to scale-up or maximize your investments' profitability? Well, having a technology roadmap is an excellent way of guaranteeing that your efforts and investments align with your long-term goals.

But before you can build your technology roadmap, you would need to choose the right technology stack that aligns with your strategic business goals. Unfortunately, some businesses do not have the bandwidth to do that in-house, with the right partners you can also outsource to help move forward.

Options in Technology Stacks

A technology stack is also known as a solution stack, technology infrastructure, or data ecosystem. It refers to all the different technologies used to build and run a single technological application. Tech stacks are divided into two; the client-side (frontend) and server-side (backend). Backend technologies include programming languages, frameworks, servers, and operating systems. Developers use Databases (MongoDB and MySQL), Server providers (Apache, Nginx, etc.), Programming languages (Python, PHP, JavaScript), and Frameworks (Ruby on Rails, Flask, Django, Swift, or Objective-C) as tools for the backend. In contrast, frontend technologies include using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and UI frameworks to create a graphical interface that users can view and interact with data.

Why choose a software stack to develop your application?

In developing new technologies, it is essential to choose the ideal tech stack and tools. Applications used simultaneously by too many users may require high-read operations, while applications that would crawl the web for information would require high-write languages. The gist here is that while the different coding languages have diverse performance attributes and limitations, tech stack hints at an application's overall strength. These technologies have differences in performance, and developers using them must become familiar with or be ready to familiarize themselves, to produce outstanding products.

Which tech stack a business must use in developing their application?

The answer is that it depends. This choice is best arrived at by collective team decisions. Usually, inputs are sought from all departments to ensure the new technology meets their specific needs. If the technology is meant for customers' use, it would be best to start prototyping it from the front end/client-side and then decide the tools needed to support it before considering the back end/server-side. In such a scenario, experienced software developers like Zibtek can help you consider the pros and cons in arriving at the best decisions to make your business stand out. Zibtek is an on-demand software development company that can systematically build the best technology stack, prudently considering your company's budget and your business's projected future growth.

Developing a Technology Roadmap: Open-source Software

Open-source software is software in which the source code is available to users online, and you can download it from the internet without paying license fees to install and use it. Users may have programmers modify or rewrite parts of the code for specific needs, but this is sometimes challenging. Users are obliged to follow the license requirements, which sometimes requires changes made to the source code to be contributed back and shared with anyone who subsequently wants to download it. In developing your tech stack, you have the option to make your work easier by relying to some extent on open-source software.

Advantages of Open Source Software

You can stand to benefit from a pool of billions of hours of work from experts in every tech domain if you happen to find one that works well for you. Managed open-source leader, Tidelift, reported in a recent survey that 92% of developers surveyed said their applications contain open-source components. However, it would be best if you answered several questions before jumping into an open-source tool. You should question its quality, performance, ability to meet your scale of work, maintenance, reusability, whether there is the need to make changes to it before use, and how easy it is to make changes. Experienced on-demand software developers like Zibtek can help you decide on the right thing to do considering your unique situation.

How far can you take my out-of-box tool?

Before you engage a developer to help build a brand new technology from scratch, you can also plan around your available tools—to see how it’s known and unknown features can be used in future technologies to ensure the optimum benefit is derived. This way, your technology road map becomes more cost-effective and saves time as well.

Is there a hybrid approach?

In some instances, you can combine your current tool with custom software in developing your technology roadmap. This hybrid approach should be easy to accomplish if you work with experienced software technology team with the proper planning.

Conclusion

A technology roadmap helps businesses like yours manage innovation more efficiently. While the ideas for this innovation come from you as a business owner, you need to carefully choose a software development company that will use the right technologies and tools to translate your ideas and needs into new technology for your utmost satisfaction, at a minimized cost. Zibtek is a custom software developing company with on-demand industry veteran who can help your business scale-up with the correct plan in place. We're highly experienced in equipping businesses with the right tools and have some of the best tech specialists you can find worldwide. Want to boost your business with personalized software solutions? Get in touch with us today!