Types of Technology Roadmaps + IT Roadmap Templates to Guide Your Tech Strategy

This article is a summary of different types of technology roadmaps and provides samples of ready-made technology templates to help you execute your IT strategy.

A Technology Roadmap is a strategic plan of technological requirements and upgrades needed to achieve the product vision.

A technological roadmap template helps the product and IT manager plan in advance technological solutions they would need in place for meeting their goals. Also known as IT Roadmap, it helps the management make sound decisions about technical investments.

It also helps the leadership communicate to the internal team their technology strategy and bring everyone on the same page. It is very useful for vendors or any other third party associated with your business to plan their purchases and upgrade their technical skills in advance.

Download this Technology Roadmap PPT Template

Types of Technology Roadmaps:

Internal IT Systems Roadmap
Enterprise Architecture Roadmap
DevOps Roadmap
Infrastructure Roadmap

#1- Internal IT Systems Roadmap

There is a plethora of technologies, apps and tools that your business is using to run its day-to-day operations. Getting a hang of it alone is mind blowing. But the IT manager needs to know the IT infrastructure of his organization at the minutest level so he or she can plan upgrades to any technology or overhaul a complete system with a new one.

An IT Systems Roadmap helps the manager visually document the systems in place currently such as marketing automation, content management systems (CMS), customer relationship management (CRM), data analytics platform and so on. It also helps the manager to prioritize upgrades depending on their needs and business’ short-term or long-term goals and set time frames for their release. This roadmap is presented to the internal teams like the IT team and operations team.

#2- Enterprise Architecture Roadmap

An Enterprise Architecture Roadmap is a strategic plan of achieving business transformation. An enterprise architect uses his vision and capabilities to chart out how the business infrastructure will evolve over the long run to meet future needs.

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is a standard for developing architecture roadmaps. It defines it as:

“The Architecture Roadmap lists individual work packages that will realize the Target Architecture and lays them out on a timeline to show progression from the Baseline Architecture to the Target Architecture.

Each work package identifies a logical group of changes necessary to realize the Target Architecture.”

An enterprise architect develops this roadmap to communicate to CIOs and other executives the company’s current infrastructure and how it will evolve over the coming quarters and years.

#3- DevOps Roadmap

Every business wants to perform better in the market. They want quicker releases, shorter lead times, improved customer experience and so on. Software delivery is the heart of the modern business. A business has to quickly innovate but traditional methods and technologies let that from happening. This is where DevOps come into picture.

There needs to be better communication between the software development team and IT operations to break the silos mentality. DevOps Roadmaps lists out automation tools that will help automate business processes. Besides describing the latest tools and applications for faster software development, it also focuses on continuous testing to ensure superior software quality.

Download Scrum Roadmap Technology Slide

#4- Infrastructure Roadmap

A company’s IT infrastructure is the foundation upon which all the business services are run. But this foundation cannot remain permanently fixed with brick and mortar. The constant digital transformations and onslaught of new technologies requires that this infrastructure be upgraded at all times. This cannot be done at the last moment when the business realizes they do not have the infrastructure - be it storage or security - to implement the new applications.

An IT Infrastructure roadmap is the safeguard to infrastructural failures and thus the failure to offer a service. It helps the CIOs and senior IT leaders to plan in advance the investments they would require for upgrading the IT infrastructure in the next 1-5 years. The IT team would also remain updated about when big changes are coming, when contracts have to be renewed and software or hardware changes need to be made.