What is a technical strategy & why is it important for your business?

In today's fast-paced and technology-driven world, businesses of all sizes and industries need to have a solid technical strategy in place to remain competitive and thrive. But what is a technical strategy and which benefits can it give your business?

Let's start by taking a look at a brief definition of what a technical strategy is to give you some more insight into what it contains and what its purpose is. 

A technical strategy is a plan that outlines how a company will use technology to achieve its business goals. It involves identifying the technology tools and resources needed to support the company's operations, as well as developing a plan for implementing and maintaining those tools over time.

The technical strategy also takes into account the company's current and future technology needs and is designed to help the company stay competitive and agile in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

The importance of a technical strategy

The technology we use is essential for any business that wants to be successful in today's technology-driven world. Technology has never evolved as quickly as it’s doing so now and businesses have to keep up with the fast pace to be able to stay ahead of the competition.

A well-planned and structured technical strategy is not only an advantage when it comes to competition, though. It can benefit your business in many ways. Here are five of the most important ones.

It aligns your business goals with your technical capabilities 

When you align your business goals with technical capabilities, it becomes easier for you to avoid investing in technologies that do not align with your long-term or short-term goals. Instead of choosing technology that’s simply trendy, a strategy ensures that you focus on the technical capabilities that support your business objectives.

It improves efficiency

I’ve never met a company that doesn’t want to be more efficient. But if you are one of these companies, congratulations! To the rest of you, let's have a closer look at how you can improve your efficiency by having a technical strategy in place. 

We could probably write at least a pair of blog posts about this topic alone but in this article we will settle for a brief summary of how a technical strategy can improve your business's efficiency.

Automation

By having a technical strategy in place it's easier for you to identify tasks that can be automated by using the right technology. Tasks such as data entry, report generation, tasks within customer support, marketing and sales and even within human resources.

It's not about taking people's jobs away, it's about doing things in a more efficient way so employees can save time and reduce the risk of error.

Streamlined processes

Streamlining processes is one of the key ways in which a technical strategy can improve your business's efficiency. To start with, the strategy can help you identify which processes aren’t working, and which ones are redundant, time-consuming or inefficient. 

A technical strategy can also help your business integrate different systems and tools to create a smoother workflow. For example, a business might integrate its customer relationship management (CRM) system with its marketing automation platform to improve lead generation and management.

Your technical strategy should contain the framework for why and how to do this and which technology should be involved.

The right tools in the right place

Enabling remote work

By knowing which technology infrastructure is needed to enable remote work, employees can improve their productivity when they get the tools they need to work remotely. This could be tools like cloud storage solutions, virtual private networks etc.

By adding this to your technical strategy, you ensure that employees get what they need to work as productively as possible, whether they work from home, from abroad or from the office.

It encourages innovation and facilitates competitiveness

Investing in the latest technologies and platforms can give your business the edge over the competition and help you take advantage of emerging opportunities. A well-thought-out technical strategy can help you enhance your products and services and make you stand out from the crowd.

You don't have to jump on every new trend that comes out, but having an approach to experimenting and testing can let you explore new technologies without putting your whole operation at risk.

It enhances customer experience and satisfaction 

Customer experience is now more important than ever, and companies need to take a closer look at what they are offering in this regard. Technologies such as collecting and analysing customer data can help provide more personalised experiences. This leads to more satisfied customers and more loyalty. 

Using the right technology can also enable multi-channel support, allowing customers to interact with your business through channels such as email, phone, chat, or social media. This increases accessibility and convenience, ultimately improving their overall experience.

Cost savings and better financial management

Last but far from least, a technical strategy can help your business make more informed decisions about technology investments, which can lead to cost savings and better financial management. 

By having a clear plan and framework for technology investments, your business can avoid unnecessary spending on technology that does not align with your goals or needs. With a more efficient and cost-effective technology infrastructure, your business can free up resources to invest in other areas of growth and development.

So what's the conclusion?

To sum it up, having a well-defined technical strategy is essential to the success of any business in today's digital age.

It enables operational efficiency, improves customer experience, encourages innovation, and helps in better financial management. However, developing and implementing a technical strategy requires collaboration across various teams and stakeholders.

If you need help getting started, our experts are here to help. They work daily with migrations, and integrations and help businesses structure their technical infrastructure to grow their business. Reach out and one of our experts will be in touch soon!