If you're in business today, no doubt you utilize technology in some fashion to conduct your business.  Maybe you buy a computer here or there, or buy a new server when your old one is about to explode.  But do you have a plan for replacing your equipment?  A plan that shows a budget for all of your IT expenditures?  You probably don't, but you should.

In my observation, the core problem with businesses taking on Technology Planning is that it is seen as a "want" for the company instead of a "need."  (Perhaps not even a "want," but maybe just a "gee, that would be nice if we had the time and the money.")

I know you're asking yourself now, "That's all well and good, but why is Technology Planning so important and what will it do for my business?"  Let me illustrate my point with a story.

This story is about a manufacturing company.  You might even know them, but we'll just call them Metal Stuff, Inc.   Metal Stuff needed computers to function and make money.  They relied on their engineers to create the plans for the Stuff they produced.  The network needed to be functional to share the files and support printing.  Sometimes they needed to have remote access to their information.

If everything worked correctly with the technology, they'd make lots of money and make all of their deadlines.   But everything wasn't right.

Many of the engineers' computers were outdated.  This slowed production, sometimes even stopped it cold.  They had a copier and several printers: some were connected to the network, some were not.

Every once in a while, something would break and everyone would go nuts with anxiety. "How are we going to get our designs out to the production workers?  Are we going to be able to deliver our Stuff to our customers on time?  This $#!@$ technology!" And then they'd call in their outside IT guys and get slapped with a $5000 bill to buy and install new equipment, which effectively put a band aid on the old problem.

Fortunately for this company, its Operations Manager was a great number cruncher.  He determined that for every hour that the company's computers or network was down, the company lost $8,000 in productivity and $600 in wages they had to pay people who were not able to do their jobs.

He decided they needed a plan.  Good man.

The Operations Manager knew that this was not a core competency of his, so he called in an IT Consultancy that did Technology Planning.

That IT Consultancy learned what the company's vision was and how technology made the company money.  They created a comprehensive plan over the lifecycle of the company's technology equipment which included: hardware, software, installation/configuration costs, peripherals, maintenance costs, web presence, email, phone systems, land lines, mobile lines, staff training and emergency expenditures.

End result?  Now Metal Stuff, Inc. not only knows what their yearly expenditures will be for all their technology needs for the next 4 years, but they will also be ahead of their technology instead of chasing it.  They are making it work for them instead of being slaves to it.

After they optimized their systems to conform to their plan, work flow became more seamless.  Last time I talked to them, they projected a savings of over $20,000 over the next three months just because they had a plan.

How much will it save you in hard and soft costs if you have a plan?  Try crunching the numbers.  It may surprise you.