Technology in Practice

What if the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology your organization invested thousands of dollars in to streamline operations and boost revenue is sitting unused by the very people it was designed to help?   Projects with strong change management and user adoption initiatives are seven times more likely to meet their organizational objectives, yet many organizations treat CRM implementation as a technical rather than organizational challenge. This gap between proven methodology and common practice represents one of the most costly oversights in modern business technology.  In this article you will learn:  Why leadership disengagement hinders CRM success across entire organizations  How AI-driven automation eliminates the administrative burden that drives user resistance  The two leadership strategies that consistently deliver high user adoption rates  How one implementation approach delivers 3x faster ROI than traditional automation-focused methods  The specific framework that transforms CRM from administrative burden to strategic asset  The Leadership Crisis: How Executive Disengagement Kills CRM Value  When executives fail to actively use CRM data for decision-making, they create a cultural message that reverberates throughout the organization: this tool is optional. As Bill Hoffman, CRM Practice Director at Net at Work, emphasizes, “If leaders don’t reference CRM in quarterly reviews, employees won’t prioritize it.”  This leadership gap has measurable consequences. Research demonstrates that projects with strong change management and user adoption initiatives are seven times more likely to meet their objectives. This statistic should concern any executive whose CRM investment isn’t delivering expected returns, as it suggests the problem lies not with the technology but with the implementation approach.  The solution requires two specific leadership interventions that consistently drive adoption. First, executives must lead by example, requiring themselves to use CRM for quarterly reviews and strategic planning rather than delegating this responsibility. This visible commitment signals organizational priority and sets expectations for all levels of the company.  Second, leaders must tie CRM usage to performance metrics. When managerial performance reviews and compensation include team adoption rates as a component, it transforms CRM from a compliance exercise into a competitive advantage. This approach creates accountability while demonstrating that CRM usage directly impacts business success.  The AI Revolution: Eliminating the Administrative Burden That Drives Resistance  The second critical breakthrough in CRM adoption comes from addressing a root cause of user resistance: administrative overload. Traditional CRM systems have long struggled because users perceive them as “just more work.” The most common complaint, as Hoffman describes, captures this perfectly:   “Imagine this: I’m a salesperson in the field. I go around, I talk to customers, I talk to prospects, and then what do I have to do? I have to go back to the hotel room and retype all of my notes into Salesforce.com. That is not a good employee experience.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help address this issue through automated data capture and entry. Modern AI-powered CRM systems can now process calls, meetings, or conversations and automatically transcribe, summarize, and log relevant information directly into the system. This technology shift addresses a fundamental user experience problem that has plagued CRM adoption for decades.  AI-driven transcription can go beyond automatically creating call summaries and follow-up tasks. It can also help generate contextual insights that prepare comprehensive meeting summaries by aggregating emails, past interactions, and purchase history, and automated task creation that generates next steps based on conversation content or customer status.  As Hoffman explains the transformative value:   “I can simply type into AI, ‘Please summarize a quarterly business review for account XYZ for my meeting on Thursday,’ and it spits something out… imagine having to do that from scratch in five different systems versus something getting me 85% of the way there, and then me just tweaking it. It just saved me three hours—three hours I can serve customers.”  This approach fundamentally changes the value proposition of CRM systems. Instead of adding administrative burden, AI-enhanced CRM systems reduce workload while improving data quality and completeness. The result is higher user satisfaction, better adoption rates, and more accurate business intelligence.  The Implementation Framework: Beyond Technology to Transformation  While leadership engagement and AI integration represent the most impactful strategies for CRM adoption, they’re part of a broader framework that addresses the human, process, and organizational factors that determine success. The complete approach recognizes that CRM adoption is fundamentally a change management challenge that requires systematic methodology.  Successful implementations focus on co-creating workflows with end-users rather than imposing top-down processes. This involves service teams in prioritizing quick-access ticket histories over sales-focused pipeline views, introduces recognition systems for achieving CRM milestones, and replaces traditional lengthy training sessions with embedded microlearning approaches.  The process optimization extends beyond basic automation to include role-based dashboards that provide relevant information for each function, integration with existing business workflows to eliminate duplicate data entry, and focus on essential features that deliver immediate value rather than comprehensive functionality that overwhelms users.  Advanced Strategies and Comprehensive Methodologies  Our white paper details additional critical components including specific change management techniques that address behavioral inertia, data quality improvement strategies that create trusted single sources of truth, cross-departmental collaboration approaches that break down organizational silos, and continuous improvement methodologies that ensure long-term success.  These complementary strategies work together to create sustainable adoption that evolves with business needs.   Moving Forward: From Resistance to Revenue  The transformation from CRM resistance to greater revenue generation requires specific leadership behaviors, thoughtful AI integration, and systematic change management that addresses human factors alongside technical considerations.  For organizations ready to move beyond failed implementations, this represents an opportunity to build a foundation for sustainable growth, higher user satisfaction, and measurable return on investment—but only when implementation follows proven methodologies rather than hoping technology alone will drive adoption.  Ready to implement the complete framework for CRM adoption success?   Download the full white paper, “Simplifying CRM Adoption: Strategies for Overcoming User Resistance and Enhancing ROI,” for detailed implementation roadmaps, specific measurement frameworks, change management templates, and step-by-step guides for transforming your CRM from administrative burden to strategic asset.  Key Takeaways for Business Leaders  Change management is the primary success factor: Projects with strong change management and user adoption initiatives are seven times more likely to meet their objectives, making systematic implementation methodology more important than technology selection.  AI transforms the adoption equation: Companies aligning AI with human workflows achieve three times faster ROI by eliminating administrative burden rather than simply automating existing processes.  Leadership engagement drives organizational adoption: Executive modeling of CRM usage and tying adoption to performance metrics creates cultural change that technology alone cannot achieve.  User experience determines long-term success: Addressing the fundamental complaint that CRM creates “more work” through AI automation and workflow optimization directly impacts adoption rates and user satisfaction.  Comprehensive strategies multiply effectiveness: While leadership and AI represent the highest-impact approaches, sustainable success requires the complete framework of behavioral, process, and organizational strategies detailed in our white paper. 

Creatio, global vendor of a leading sales, customer service and marketing CRM, recently announced the release of Creatio 8.2 Energy. Combining the capabilities of next-generation AI tools with a powerful no-code platform, Creatio stated in a recent event that this release can help organizations realize productivity savings of up to 80% for key knowledge worker roles. The primary capabilities of this release include: Copilot and AI: This tool is a comprehensive AI Command Center through which businesses can manage, modify and create AI scenarios. Copilot includes more than 20 new out-of-the-box AI use cases for CRM and assisted development. In keeping with the existing no-code platform, all teaching is done using natural language. CRM Excellence: Creatio 8.2 includes new features and updates for advanced order and proposal management, lead generation, and marketing campaign automation, along with marketplace extensions. No-code: Expanded Freedom UI capabilities, new drag-and-drop components, and simplified tools for designing no-code integrations. Howden’s, the premiere trade kitchen supplier in the United Kingdom, was an early adopter of Creatio 8.2 Energy. When the company needed to replace legacy CRM systems, they chose Creatio for its no-code platform as well as its emphasis on an efficient, speedy user experience. Since their implementation, Howden’s teams at multiple locations are seeing value in having one shared system, starting with improved communication through a shared dashboard used throughout the company. And now that employees can share data seamlessly, their strike rates (ratio of the number of prospects or inquiries to the number of sales) have improved due to better lead tracking. Howden’s can also keep a closer eye on contacts with their customer contacts, and they have been able to improve targeting of different audiences. All Creatio customers can begin using the AI Command Center today and begin applying AI capabilities to their own specific use cases while taking advantage of a wealth of enhanced features. Interested in learning more about how a next-generation CRM can help unleash the power of your organization? Contact us to learn more about how you can scale up your sales, customer experience, and marketing.

No matter what products or services your organization provides—and no matter how large or small your market—your clients or customers are at the heart of your business. Choosing and implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) platform is one of the most important business decisions you’ll make to keep that heart healthy. Yet, even with the time, care, and money that many companies spend to pick the right CRM, SalesForce reports that between 30% and 70% of these implementations end in failure.  But your company can beat the odds by understanding the reasons for these failures, and then taking preventive steps starting from the beginning of your CRM selection process through the implementation and maintenance phases. Reason #1: Lack of User Adoption CRM users can decide not to adopt (or only halfheartedly adopt) a new platform due to a number of issues. These range from a lack of proper training, resistance to such a disruptive change, lack of perceived value, and the sheer complexity of a new system. One of the most important measures to prevent user adoption issues is to designate knowledgeable, committed project sponsors and champions. These sponsors can include corporate users from the beginning of the process, where they are likely to be able to point out problems such as poorly designed user interfaces. If your company has a CIO and/or a CTO, they can serve as experienced leads for the user adoption process all the way through to the maintenance phase. They can tout the value of the new implementation, including how it will benefit employees and customers alike in the long run. In the absence of a CIO or CTO, partnering with a technology advisor such as a fractional CIO will serve your company well in preventing a failed implementation due to user resistance. Reason #2: Inadequate Planning and Requirements Gathering New CRM implementations are sometimes undertaken due to urgent external events such as updated regulatory requirements or security breaches of an existing CRM. But when a new CRM is hastily chosen and installed in response to this level of stress, organizations often skimp on the detailed planning and requirements gathering that can help ensure a successful implementation.  Lack of planning and research can lead to issues that can derail the success of the new CRM, such as poor (or no) requirements analysis, inadequate risk management, and underestimating the complexity of the implementation. However, a strong project lead (ideally an experienced technology leader within the company) can spearhead the requirements gathering process so that the results can help guide the implementation. Reason #3: Poor Data Quality The effectiveness of your CRM depends highly on the quality of your data. And your data is an invaluable asset that needs to be scrupulously checked and pruned to help you meet your customers’ needs. But in many organizations, data is incomplete, duplicated and fragmented across the corporate technology stack. Even the best-designed technology cannot function well under these circumstances. Investing time and resources into cleaning and standardizing your data, as well as implementing strong data collection and maintenance processes, will save your company time and headaches in the future. To avoid re-creating old issues, this process should be factored into your implementation timeline and completed prior to migrating to a new CRM. Reason #4: Lack of Integration with Other Systems As emphasized in a recent Forbes article, “A CRM system reaches its full potential when it’s integrated with other applications and software.” Depending on the needs of your organization, the integration can mean linking your new CRM to one or two of your existing platforms, or it may require customized automations in order to seamlessly work with a complex set of software programs.  Without proper integration, your organization may suffer from data silos (when data cannot be shared or updated between systems), technical challenges, and lack of accurate, real-time data that helps your customer-facing employees and executives alike make the best decisions for your customers and company. When deciding which of the many modern CRMs will be best for your organization’s long-term needs, finding out about each CRMs integration capabilities will be a key factor in the successful use of the new platform in the long run. Your implementation team can create (or work with technology advisors who will build) a detailed testing plan to ensure that your new CRM can integrate with your e-commerce, marketing, customer service, and other platforms so that every department has access to the same data. Reason #5: Insufficient Training and Support After a new CRM implementation, frustrated employees often cite hurried and/or too few training sessions, inadequate training materials, little or no ongoing support, and other issues as reasons for not fully utilizing the new platform. This in turn can affect employee morale, productivity, and longevity. Your company’s CRM implementation team can prevent poor user training on the system by choosing a user-friendly system with input from across your organization, vetting the trainers and materials furnished by your new CRM provider, and providing continuous training for new and existing employees. The Foundation of a Successful CRM Implementation The most important factors of a successful CRM implementation can be built into the plan from the beginning of the project. These include communicating a strong executive vision of the implementation’s goals, soliciting employee buy-in (which includes listening to concerns and taking feedback into account during the selection and implementation processes), and carefully tracking the process all the way through to the maintenance phase. In future articles, we will be going into detail about the five reasons listed above for failed CRM implementations. This will help your company avoid these pitfalls and focus on the business goals you can achieve with the help of your digital transformation.

Distributors are facing a growing number of labor challenges, including worker shortages, difficulty recruiting high-quality candidates, retention of current employees, and others. In a 2022 Baird-MDM survey, 26% of respondents stated that labor and productivity issues were the biggest risk for their business—almost as big of a concern as competition in their markets. Consequently, many distributors are assessing every corner of their business to find ways to be more effective, and some realize that a modern ERP can help them thrive even in an era of rapid change. “An investment in business process automation is one of the fastest ways to improve efficiency and productivity across every department. Automation reduces the repetitive and monotonous tasks human have to do by relegating those tasks to software, which usually means a better experience for customers, reduced error rates, improved compliance, and lower stress for teams.” Juan Perez, EVP and CIO of Salesforce “How Automation Drives Business Growth and Efficiency”  Our recent webinar, “Thriving in Change: How to Navigate Labor Challenges with Digital Solutions,” produced in partnership with Modern Distribution Management (MDM), sheds light on how today’s distributors can best utilize a modern ERP to streamline processes, enhance productivity, and create a culture of digital innovation to attract higher-quality job candidates.  “Streamlining processes is about making your business more efficient and effective,” says Chris Cleary, Acumatica Practice Director with Net at Work. “A recent Net at Work customer realized a 25% increase in efficiency across all departments after their Acumatica implementation. Subsequently, the customer added three new locations and went through three acquisitions with the addition of only two finance team members, thus increasing their profits through efficiency gains.” Through this webinar, distributors can learn about:  The recommended types of modern digital tools for impactful streamlining of processes How to measure the impact of employee engagement and retention efforts How to create strong implementation and maintenance plans that will continue to enhance productivity How AI can complement the work of your staff, speed up processes, and give employees more time to work on fulfilling tasks that lead to better engagement Watch and listen to “Thriving in Change: How to Navigate Labor Challenges with Digital Solutions” or contact us to discuss your organization’s specific needs.

Intelligent pricing is a data-driven approach used by many of today’s small-to-mid-sized distributors that provides optimal pricing based on historical buying behavior, real-time demand, location, and other factors. As more distributors seek better ways to maximize profitability, strategic pricing has come to the forefront as an agile way to reduce revenue leakage and protect margins. To explore this approach further, Industrial Distribution Editor David Mantey hosted technology experts from Net at Work for a discussion of the science and strategy behind intelligent pricing, and the impact distributors can expect from instituting such a distribution pricing strategy through their digital operations platform (DOP) From a patchwork of processes to next-generation enterprise resource planning Executives and employees in the modern distributor may wear multiple hats, so the process of researching, implementing, and optimizing new enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can be left on the back burner indefinitely. Therefore, pricing may involve trying to match information between invoices and customer feedback, guesswork, and working with disparate data from spreadsheets and various software programs. But this approach can become problematic, especially in the complex, volatile environments faced by many distributors. And if a company experiences costly errors or avoidable financial impacts because of this patchwork, they may quickly become reactive instead of proactively addressing the root cause through next-generation ERP and CRM connected via DOP. Defining DOP DOP is the successor to previous generations of accounting and business management software. This platform extends ERP functionality to include business intelligence and analytics, eCommerce, Warehouse Management System (WMS) and more. Intelligent pricing is enabled by DOP through its innate data sharing and analysis capabilities. Net at Work Consulting Manager Jennifer Ma cited intelligent pricing examples within NetSuite. “Distributors can establish customer-specific and currency-specific pricing to keep pricing consistent across all channels. For rebates and trade promotions, you can target specific customer accounts through logic, for instance, to move stock or expand sales. By having pricing management within a centralized solution, distributors can automate the entire process – from pricing creation, execution, accrual and reconciliation of vendor and customer rebate programs.” The video podcast covers these types of examples as well as a number of other points around intelligent pricing, including: Strategies for using intelligent pricing to instill a sense of confidence and responsibility in your teams The benefits of working with a technology advisor to create a specialized digital portal, even with complex products and pricing, thus cutting down on the management needed with a large or complicated catalog. “Our consultants have experienced many of the problems our customers face, so we’re well-equipped to come up with creative solutions to help you,” says Ma. The possibilities unlocked through using a DOP to deepen reporting and customer intelligence. This can include gleaning data that may not appear in ERP, such as information about potential lost sales. How to vet your company’s existing technology to see how it’s currently advancing your goals and objectives, and who should be involved in this process to make sure that you have a clear picture of how it’s currently functioning Practice Director Chris Cleary relays his experience with intelligent pricing: “We’re able to see that clients utilizing our eCommerce solutions [tied with Acumatica] are able to cut down on the complexity of managing complicated inventory environments, including SKUs and other attributes.” Check out the full video podcast recording, “Executing Intelligent Pricing for An Agile Approach to Profitability,” to learn more about how your company can build a DOP that enables you to set the right pricing at the right time to the right customer through the right channel.

Today, only 25% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) use a customer relationship management (CRM) solution, and just another 10% report that they plan to implement a CRM system this year.1 This finding is understandable for a few reasons. First, many SMBs start off with relatively simple methods of tracking key information, such as Excel spreadsheets, note cards and manual reports. These organizations may not think they can justify a CRM investment, especially if their current approach seems to get the job done. Additionally, many SMB leaders may not have extensive experience with technology in general and CRM software in particular. These leaders may have other priorities and may need more convincing that CRM solutions can significantly improve status quo processes. “By understanding customers’ preferences and histories, SMBs can tailor their offerings to their needs, building long-term relationships and increasing the chances of repeat business.” Finally, many SMBs may think they have a CRM in place, since they may use one or two third-party systems, such as a customer contact database or a specialized shipping application. Yet systems like this may contribute to internal headaches: wasted time, inefficient processes, and a lack of meaningful, real-time information. As SMBs experience new levels of success – exceeding growth targets, landing new customers, launching a new product line, or other milestone achievements – they can greatly benefit from the efficiencies a next-generation CRM solution brings. A next-generation CRM, while not formally defined, is often characterized as a cloud-native solution that incorporates many of the hallmarks of next-generation ERP: it has robust dashboards and reporting to support data-powered sales and marketing operations; it offers automated workflows; and a platform ecosystem with globalization, including multi-language and  multi-currency support. As more SMBs evaluate if a CRM solution is worthwhile, they are likely to find that a cloud CRM is indeed a positive ROI generator, and a CRM implementation becomes a component of their technology roadmap Consider these impressive benefits realized by BSN Sports, the biggest online distributor of sports equipment and team uniforms in the United States, after they implemented the next-generation CRM, Creatio: Increased their sales by 10% Decreased case processing time by 45% Achieved a 99% usage rate among the company’s 10 internal teams who use the system daily A fast-growing electrical contractor, Sprig Electric, is also benefiting from its cloud CRM deployment: Increased lead volume by 120% Closed sales deal twice as fast Boosted operational performance by 70% Note that the next-generation CRM is the tool; without a strategy and defined processes in place, such results would not be achievable. To learn more about technology roadmaps and how your organization can benefit from them, download our white paper, “A Comprehensive Technology Roadmap Can Deliver a New Competitive Advantage for Today’s SMBs.” Six Ways Next-Generation CRM Helps SMBs While there are many advantages to next-generation CRM, here are six of the most important ways these solutions can help SMBs overcome internal challenges and support their most important goals: Centralized customer data: A cloud CRM system allows SMBs to gather, store, and manage customer-related information, all in one place. This helps SMBs gain a comprehensive, real-time view of each customer’s interactions, purchase history, and preferences. Fast, easy access to this data promotes better customer service and highly-targeted marketing efforts. Better sales and lead management processes: A next-generation CRM solution helps streamline the sales process by tracking leads, opportunities, and deals. It helps sales teams prioritize leads, follow up at the right time, and close deals more effectively, which leads to increased sales efficiency and faster revenue growth.  Data-driven insights: Cloud-native CRM systems provide analytics tools that enable SMBs to track and analyze customer behavior, sales trends, marketing campaign effectiveness, and many other metrics. This data-driven approach helps in making informed business decisions and refining strategies in response to changing customer demands or market conditions. Task and workflow automation: Next-generation CRM solutions offer automation features that help optimize repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails, scheduling appointments, and assigning tasks to team members. This saves time, increases overall productivity, and reduces the chance of human errors. Meaningful collaboration and communication: Cloud CRM solutions include features that facilitate internal collaboration and communication. Team members can easily share customer information, notes, and files, leading to better coordination and a unified approach towards customer interactions and problem solving. Increased customer retention and loyalty: By understanding customers’ preferences and histories, SMBs can personalize and tailor their offerings to their needs, building long-term relationships and increasing the chances of repeat business. For those SMBs who have yet to implement a CRM solution, their rationale is understandable. Yet by adding next-generation CRM to a comprehensive technology roadmap, it could lead to significant benefits in the future.   Next Steps   To learn more about technology roadmaps and why a next-generation CRM solution should on yours, download our complete white paper, “A Comprehensive Technology Roadmap Can Deliver a New Competitive Advantage for Today’s SMBs.”   1 Business.com, “CRM Adoption, Market Size, and Usage in 2023,” July 31, 2023.

When it comes to small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) deciding what technology could have the most impact on their business, it’s the replacement of their legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that winds up topping the list of priorities today. Why do fractional Chief Information Officers (CIOs) advise SMBs to prioritize the evaluation and selection of modern ERP when contemplating changes to their company’s technology, particularly in support of strategic goals? As SMBs scale and take on complexity, they begin to understand that their current technology and overall approach may not be well-suited to support their next steps and strategic vision. In recent research, SMBs admitted to crucial shortcomings in their legacy systems: 49% reported that their legacy business systems can’t track business processes. 47% said that their business systems can’t interact with each other.  40% believed that legacy systems lack important collaboration features. The reliance on outdated, legacy ERP systems often has a number of inherent limitations, such as manual data entry and manipulation, burdensome and costly patches and upgrades and the perpetuation of siloed data, that simply can’t support growth strategies and vision for the future. As a result, legacy technology can lead to wasted time, excessive manual steps and/or workarounds, employee and customer frustrations, inaccuracies and profit loss. When assessing their line of business applications in place today, SMBs working with their fractional CIO should have legacy ERP be among the first – if not the first – solution to be replaced in order to achieve success.  “When SMBs are assessing their line of business applications in place today, legacy ERP should be among the first – if not the first – solution to be replaced in order to achieve success.” Three Ways SMBs Can Benefit from Legacy ERP Migration to Modern ERP Modern ERP solutions, like Sage Intacct, Acumatica, NetSuite and Sage X3, are designed to centralize, streamline and facilitate the improvement of business processes within a company. As the common database and overall platform to connect virtually every department in the organization, these cloud ERP systems support critical functions, such as inventory and purchasing, accounting, sales, and many industry-specific areas of focus, ultimately fulfilling a successful digital platform that companies like Power Curbers have adopted.  All of this enables modern ERP solutions to deliver a wide range of impressive benefits for SMBs: The power of automation: One of the first, and most impactful, benefits can come from automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Before implementing a next-generation ERP system, SMBs may over-rely on manual processes related to siloed systems and outdated legacy technology. These inefficient processes can waste valuable time, lead to costly errors, and hinder employee productivity. Modern ERP can successfully automate many of these once-manual tasks, such as through GL Outlier Detection that flags irregular transactions based on historical patterns, leading to new efficiencies and enhanced productivity. Modern ERP, as a core component of any digital platform, facilitates comprehensive data visibility across the entire organization. By integrating with other next-generation applications like Human Capital Management (HCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), this access to real-time data allows SMBs to make data-driven decisions and gain valuable new insights into the performance of the business. As a result, leadership can make faster, more-informed decisions to quickly respond to market changes and opportunities.  Cost savings: Beyond automation and the ability to streamline business processes, modern ERP can enable more efficient procurement, facilitate better resource allocation, better financial management and more. Also, since these systems are deployed in the cloud, they reduce the need for IT resources to execute data redundancy, data replication and disaster recovery procedures for additional cost savings.  By delivering these benefits, modern ERP systems can help SMBs better position themselves for newfound success. With the right ERP solution, SMBs can efficiently manage resources, quickly respond to market changes and new opportunities, and achieve their growth targets, all for a new – and sustainable – competitive advantage. Next Steps To learn more about the purpose of modern ERP in technology roadmaps, download the complete white paper, “A Comprehensive Technology Roadmap Can Deliver a New Competitive Advantage for Today’s SMBs.”  .billboard-blog { background-position-y: bottom !important; }

While leadership within many small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) today demonstrate extensive business experience, they can lack the IT experience needed to align technology decisions with business strategies and goals.  Such a scenario is understandable. These smaller companies may have started without any IT employees – especially if the business isn’t focused on technology – and may have only added technical headcount as the company began to grow. It’s also extremely common: Today, 43% of SMBs don’t have one full-time IT employee or equivalent in-house.1  Yet those SMBs that do have a chief information officer (CIO) or another senior IT leader, can benefit from a close collaboration with these types of IT executives to develop an effective technology roadmap. Such a close working relationship helps SMBs create a plan that is realistic, focused on the right objectives, and aligned with top business priorities.  Additionally, the resulting plan may help the company use technology to achieve results in terms of productivity, scalability, and profitability, while avoiding surprising costs and other potential obstacles down the road.  IT Architecture Maps vs Technology Roadmaps While we introduced the concept of technology roadmaps in our first article in this series, it may be worth a quick reminder that a technology roadmap is not the same thing as an IT architecture map. While they sound similar, they are two different things and serve two different purposes.  “A close working relationship with a Fractional CIO or IT expert helps SMBs create a plan that is realistic, focused on the right objectives, and aligned with top business priorities.” An IT architecture map depicts a company’s IT assets and infrastructure, including systems, applications, networks, databases, hardware devices, and more. In this way, an architecture map is similar to a blueprint for a house that shows room dimensions, foundation details, elevations, framing specifications, and other details.   A technology roadmap is more like a homeowner’s ongoing plan for improving the house over time. Instead of home construction projects like replacing a leaky roof or updating an outdated kitchen, a technology roadmap may focus on implementing a next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM) solution, as examples of how technology can support the business.   Like homeowners, few SMBs have the luxury of tackling all of these projects at once. This means that the technology roadmap should break projects into realistic timeframes that reflect the company’s priorities, goals, budget, and other considerations.   This is why it’s so important to work with Fractional CIOs, in-house CIOs or experienced IT staff to develop the best technology roadmap possible.  To learn more about technology roadmaps and how your organization can benefit from them, download our white paper, “A Comprehensive Technology Roadmap Can Deliver a New Competitive Advantage for Today’s SMBs.” The CIO: Your Technology Roadmap Guide When engaging with a CIO or similar role, there are best practices to maximize your relationship to ensure your technology roadmap makes an impact on the organization. Here are five best practices:  Develop a baseline understanding of current infrastructure: Any good roadmap includes a starting point. The same is true for a technology roadmap, especially if it’s the first time the company has developed one. In working with IT, a company’s leadership can assess the current infrastructure and begin to think about what’s working well, what’s not, and where there may be new opportunities for different technology investments.  Include the CIO in business strategy planning: For many SMBs, IT resources play a supporting role, such as making sure applications are up and running, responding to employee questions, or provisioning new hires. While this is an important and valuable role, it is not a strategic role and doesn’t allow IT to have a seat at the table.  Instead, SMBs should elevate the role and involve the CIO or senior IT staff as part of the strategic planning process. When they understand the overall business goals and strategies, they can offer advice on how technology can create operational efficiency and drive business growth. They can also offer insights into new technology trends that may further influence future decisions.  Build a foundational approach: CIOs will be able to offer a look at how technology may affect the entire business and should look to develop a technology roadmap that starts with the right foundation and then build from there.  For example, we recommend that any SMB start with cybersecurity and make sure improving defenses and minimizing risk is a top priority for any technology. From there, SMBs can build out their plan to include productivity tools, core business applications, department-specific applications, and supporting infrastructure. Final elements can include brand experience, automation, and business insights and analytics.   Establish regular communications and check-ins: A technology roadmap is never finished. Instead, it should be reviewed regularly, such as monthly check-ins or quarterly business reviews. Committing to these milestone events and consistently staying in touch sends the message that the roadmap is a strategic business tool that everyone needs to embrace for business success.  Foster a culture of learning and innovation: While it’s true that many SMBs are slow to adopt new technologies, they should encourage experimentation and the use of new or emerging technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA). CIOs can play an important role in identifying appropriate technologies, evaluating their impact on the business, and using the roadmap to guide the organization in implementing more innovative solutions.  For some SMBs, “innovation” may mean adding a new communications system or employee productivity platform to improve employees’ daily work. For others, it may look to doing more with machine learning or AI for more advanced data analytics and insights. No matter where they stand now, the key is to continue to use modern technology in a way to support business goals.  Collaboration Pays Dividends In the past, many SMBs may have delayed technology investments or made reactive decisions that may not have been the perfect fit for their long-term objectives. Yet through close collaboration with the CIO or IT leader, these organizations can develop much more effective technology roadmaps that are better aligned with business objectives for a significant strategic impact.    Next Steps   To learn more, download our complete white paper, “A Comprehensive Technology Roadmap Can Deliver a New Competitive Advantage for Today’s SMBs.”

As we discussed in a previous article, a formal technology roadmap is often lacking among small-to-medium-sized (SMBs) organizations, leading to a reliance on manual, paper-based processes, legacy technology, spreadsheets, or other homegrown systems that dilute the business’s ability to compete effectively in today’s digital economy. On the other hand, some SMBs may believe that they have a solid technology roadmap in place, only to find that their roadmap is not as complete as they might have thought. In turn, not properly building and using a roadmap can increase the risk of a failed digital transformation. In fact, bad planning itself can often lead to failure. According to a recent CIO article, “8 Reasons Why Digital Transformations Fail,” when there is a lack of effective, consistent communication, digital transformation efforts often fail or don’t garner the full adoption the business hoped for. The first warning signs will be felt by the business itself. For example, if businesses use KPIs and metrics to track costs, growth, productivity, speed, and overall efficiency, those indicators may confirm that the business is missing real opportunities to improve existing processes to better support its most important goals. “Technology can give businesses a major competitive advantage, especially when it comes to automation, more efficient operations, reducing costs, and delivering important business insights.” Technology can give businesses a major competitive advantage, especially when it comes to automation, more efficient operations, reducing costs, and delivering important business insights. By properly using a technology roadmap as a planning tool, SMBs will increase their rate of success with the roadmap initiatives. The Warning Signs If your company is experiencing any of the challenges described above – or looking to capitalize on new opportunities – here are five warning signs that your technology roadmap may be incomplete: No collaboration or feedback: It’s important to remember that a technology roadmap is an evolving tool to facilitate decision making and planning. If your plan doesn’t have an obvious way to incorporate feedback from key stakeholders and improve over time based on this collaboration, chances are good it’s not complete and there is no formal change management program. Lack of engagement from executives: Similarly, your technology roadmap should include input from key stakeholders, including owners, executives, technical staff, managers, and end users. If your existing roadmap doesn’t reflect their insights, perspectives, and requirements, it’s probably not aligned with everyone’s expectations. This will be reflected in a lack of buy-in from stakeholders. Missing risk calculations and budget considerations: Let’s face it: every technological initiative comes with real – and often significant – risks and potential challenges. Many businesses fail to attach budget numbers to each technology imitative, and once businesses embark on their transformation, they may realize that they vastly underestimated the investment and resources needed to deliver the roadmap. If your technology roadmap doesn’t factor these variables in and thoroughly assess how the organization can address them, these initiatives may face more obstacles than you originally thought – and may even be doomed right from the start. No timelines or scope: Every technology roadmap should include a realistic timeframe and scope of work that carefully aligns with the company’s capabilities, resources, and overall goals. Companies need to find the balance between product rollouts and deployments that are too aggressive while not waiting too long to capitalize on the right technology. All of this needs to be carefully considered and included as part of your technology roadmap.  It’s a fair point that many SMBs may lack the senior IT staff to help drive technology decisions, yet they still can’t ignore market trends or technologies that can clearly improve their business. This doesn’t need to be as futuristic as artificial intelligence; many SMBs can benefit from basic automation tools, CRM and ERP solutions, or specialized technology such as AP automation systems The best way to overcome these challenges is to review and update your technology roadmap on a regular, ongoing basis. It will also help to bring an objective view to these reviews to best answer the following questions:   Is our roadmap as complete as it could be?   How can we make this roadmap better?   Who else could help us improve our technology planning?   Would an external third party’s view and expertise be valuable in providing us with independent feedback on our strategy and technology roadmap execution? Such a mindset and a commitment to improving will help make your technology roadmap even better, and in doing so, better position your company for greater success.