A technology plan your board can approve.
What will change over the next one to three years, in what order, at what cost, and how you’ll know it’s working. Each system gets a decision: keep, fix, buy, build or retire. The first 90 days are planned in detail, and the rest is indicative.
A large company, simplified Example
Strategy view
Customers
- MarketingKeep
- SalesFix
- ServiceBuild
- Online channelsBuild
Operations
- PlanningFix
- Supply chainKeep
- FulfilmentBuy
- ProcurementKeep
Corporate
- FinanceKeep
- PeopleKeep
- Legal and riskKeep
- ReportingFix
Foundations
- DataFix
- IntegrationBuild
- InfrastructureKeep
- SecurityFix
- You get
- A target picture, a decision register, a roadmap with budget ranges, and a board summary.
- Typical length
- 4 to 8 weeks
- Priced as
- A fixed fee
When you need it
- The board wants a technology plan with costs attached.
- Requests outnumber the budget, and every priority is argued case by case.
- Our last technology plan was a list of projects.
- We’re buying a company, and its systems have to fit with ours.
- An integrator has proposed a large programme, and we want a second opinion before we commit.
What you get
- Target picture
- One page of systems, responsibilities and connections, with the reasoning behind it.
- Decision register
- Each system or initiative with its decision, the options considered and the reason.
- Roadmap
- Initiatives over 12 to 36 months with their dependencies, and the first 90 days in detail.
- Budget ranges
- One-off and running costs for each initiative, with the assumptions stated and benefits in two columns: cash and capacity.
- Board summary
- The plan on a few pages, in business terms.
Decision registerIllustrative
| System | Decision | Reason | Work starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order intake | Fix | Orders are typed in twice. One entry point into the ERP, and an AI pilot on reading order emails. | Q1 |
| Warehouse system | Buy | Out of vendor support, with no security updates. The new product is chosen through a selection. | Q1 |
| Second CRM | Retire | Its records move into the main CRM, which ends the re-keying. | Q2 |
| Field service scheduling | Build | The market check found no product that handles multi-day jobs with parts reserved in the warehouse. | Q3 |
| ERP | Keep | Fits the main processes, and vendor support runs beyond the plan. | – |
- Quarters count from the start of the plan. The full register also records the options considered for each system.
What we do
- Agree the goals
- Turn business goals into what technology has to make possible, and how you’ll know it has.
- Decide system by system
- Keep, fix, buy, build or retire, with the trade-offs written down.
- Shape the target picture
- Which systems do what, how they connect, and where each kind of data lives.
- Decide where AI fits
- Which uses to pilot now, which wait for data or a process change, and which aren’t worth it.
- Sequence the work
- What comes first, what depends on what, and what can run in parallel.
- Put numbers on it
- One-off and running costs, effort and the main risks for each initiative, with benefits split into cash and capacity.
- Set up the decisions
- Who decides what, how progress is tracked, and when the plan is reviewed.
How it runs
A typical six-week strategy:
- Week 1
Goals and constraints
Workshops with leadership on goals, constraints and appetite for change.
- Weeks 2–3
Options
Options for each major need, tested with the people who will live with them.
- Decision point
Options chosen
Leadership chooses among the options before the plan is costed.
- Weeks 4–5
Roadmap and numbers
Sequence, budget ranges and risks.
- Week 6
Agreement
Review with leadership, adjustments and the final plan.
- Decision point
The plan
You approve it, change it, or stop. The first initiatives can start the following quarter.
What you provide
- Two or three workshops with the leadership team.
- An assessment, ours or someone else’s, or time to run a short one first.
- Budget figures and constraints, even rough ones.
- One person on your side who owns the plan.
Length and pricing
- Typical length: 4 to 8 weeks.
- Priced as: a fixed fee. If no recent assessment exists, a short one runs first; both can go into one proposal, each with its own fee and a decision point between them.
Questions
Does your strategy name specific products?
No. The strategy decides what you need and whether to keep, fix, buy, build or retire each system. Choosing a specific product is the selection stage, with its own evidence: scripted demonstrations, reference calls and a five-year cost comparison.
How detailed is the roadmap?
The roadmap is detailed for the first 90 days and indicative after that. A plan that claims to know month 18 in detail is usually wrong by month six, so the roadmap has review dates built in.
Can you review a plan or proposal someone else wrote?
Yes. We can test an existing plan, an investment case or an integrator’s proposal before it goes to the board: the assumptions, the estimates, the dependencies and the benefits. The review has a fixed scope and fee.
How do you count benefits in a business case?
In two columns. Cash benefits are spending that actually stops, such as licences ended or agency costs reduced. Capacity benefits are hours freed for other work. Hours become cash only when spending falls, so the plan keeps them apart.
Do we need an assessment before a strategy?
Only if there isn’t a recent one: a strategy needs a factual picture of today. If none exists, a short assessment runs first, with its own fee and a decision point before the strategy starts.
What if the board wants a different order?
Then the plan changes, and we show the knock-on effects of each change, so the trade-off is visible when the decision is made.
Tell us what you’re trying to decide or fix.
A line or two is enough. We read every enquiry ourselves and reply within two working days.
What happens next
- We reply to arrange a call. If we’re not the right fit, we say so.
- A first call of 30 to 45 minutes with the person who would lead the work.
- A written proposal for the first stage: scope, deliverables, length and fee.
We can sign a non-disclosure agreement, yours or ours, before you share anything sensitive.