Building an integrated technology roadmap for your company can be difficult. Why, the velocity of change in technology is amazing. As a owner, how can you instrument the systems your rely on, but no longer scale with the business? Where can you get help? What are the “true north” principles to consider in an change in technology. There are a lot of successful, profitable companies that still do “things the old way.” Paper and pencil are kings. Change can be slow, but does not have to be. The benefits of incremental deployment of automation can create huge competitive advantages. (I am a big fan of automation, when it unlocks revenue generation). And if you are looking for growth capital, you will need to demonstrate a mastery of the systems that will facilitate that growth. Here are five principles to keep in mind when implementing your company technology roadmap:

1. Bias toward growth, if the tool does not support your expansion, don’t buy it. e.g. if it creates another “to-do” item @GregHead
2. Prioritize automating manual work with the biggest impact to your business. It may look like an elephant at first, start somewhere, review the results and commit to continuous improvement rather than huge leaps.
3. What is the industry focus? There are lots of tools and subscriptions models, look deeper at the company, are they “vertically focused” in your vertical?
4. Discrete, manual activities can be automated with one tool, centralization of that data may provide insights into better operations.
5. Lastly, but most importantly, Frequent, honest, inspection of the results. In the cold light of the morning, the numbers tell the story. Baseline, set goals, measure often, and don’t be shy about making changes.

For additional information or help in implementing technology to scale your business profitably, please contact me directly @ alb@criticalgoals.com