Prioritizing Technology Initiatives and Investments

This moment of breakneck change is pushing organizations to rethink their tech stacks and tech investments. Properly working tech stacks are like dominos; they need to be properly organized to fall in order and to the right place. Any gap in the domino chain can prevent the whole set up from working together or working at all.

Some organizations have formal tech review and investment processes. For others, tech review is an ad hoc part of their business, that rises out of necessity when a challenge forces review of their current ecosystem. Regardless of the current internal process, it’s crucial for businesses to leverage their tech stack and their tech tools to the best of their ability to achieve their visions and aspirations.

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What is a tech stack review?

Simply put, a tech stack review is the cataloguing of each and every piece of technology that is utilized within an organization. This may include technology that manages customers, clients, or other key stakeholders, such as a CRM or MMP, the organization’s website and email marketing system, and any other technology platforms utilized for business. The tech stack review not only catalogues each piece of technology, but it would also evaluate each piece of technology against the organization’s long-term goals and strategy.

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Why do a tech stack review

Tech stack reviews are a way to look at your current state across the entire organization: what tools are being utilized, by whom, when and for what purpose. Tech stack reviews can be used to determine if the current stack is serving the business and its key stakeholders to the best of its ability, or if there are gaps in the tech needs of the organization that are not being addressed.

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What are the benefits of a tech stack review?

Undergoing a tech stack review provides a clear-eyed look at every technology utilized within the organization. This opens the door for a deeper look at each one of the tools. It enables executives to understand what may be under-utilized, or potentially not used at all. It allows a business to make sound future investments based on the findings.

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What will I learn from doing a tech stack review?

Ideally, a tech stack review will allow an organization to learn where its tech is falling short and where its tech is excelling. It can open the door for an analysis of each one of the tools and understanding where the future investment is best spent.

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What happens after a tech stack review?

Each organization is different in their approach, but for many what follows the tech stack review is a time for reporting and planning. In some cases, if a tech stack is working well, only minor changes will be implemented. In other cases, a tech stack will need significant re-working, and a project may be struck to begin moving the needle. Our recommendation: after the tech stack review, it is the perfect time to review the current tech road map, or if you don’t have one, create a new one.

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What is a Technology Roadmap?

A technology roadmap is a strategic document that defines an agreed upon path for adopting, implementing and utilizing technology as part of an organization’s overall goals. It is anchored in the overall business strategy and reflects the timelines, priorities, and resources required to achieve technology goals that support that strategy.

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How do I choose someone to help with a tech stack review?

Differly offers a tech stack review as part of our technology assessment. This can lead to further development of an IT strategy and the development of a technology road map. Some organizations may have the ability to conduct a tech stack review with the internal staff, depending on the core competencies of the employees or contractors involved.

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How do I prioritize modernizations to our tech stack?

Prioritizing modernizations to an organization's tech stack begins with identifying business needs and prioritizing those needs based on the impact to the organization’s ability to execute on its strategy and the feasibility of implementing an appropriate solution. Once it is clear which business needs are a priority, mapping out the gaps in current technology ecosystem and designing a new solution architecture that optimally supports the strategy is the next step. This is part of what happens during technology road map development. Previously, we wrote extensively about road mapping and organizational growth. The four steps identified in that article are applicable when moving ahead with broad technology modernizations.

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Finally, why should I start prioritizing technology investments today?

With AI quickly advancing in usefulness and applicability, every leader has a choice to make between giving their people abilities that would have been viewed as magical only five years ago or strapping them into the lead boots of outdated technology. While most technology investments made today still will not be based on AI, it is critical to have a strong foundation of modern technology and data to begin layering in AI where it makes sense for your business.