Ten years ago, implementing a technology stack in your business was a more straightforward task, primarily because the problems themselves were more straightforward. In general, companies set an internally focused process improvement goal, with technology insertion viewed as a means to an end. Companies replaced manual processes with automated ones, installed a computer, implemented an upgrade, and things worked better than before.
Fast forward to today. Much, if not all, of the internal process improvement companies once sought has been done, and their goals have shifted to managing external relationships with customers. With this shift comes greater challenges to address. Add to that the nuances of cloud computing, mobile devices, the Internet of Things, and social media, and the methods and challenges for implementing an appropriate tech stack within your company have become substantially more complicated.
Some things haven't changed, however.
As has always been the case, implementing the right technology stack in your business is still a process, which, at its core, is a carefully orchestrated symphony among top company executives, those mid-level and upper-tier managers whose initiatives and voices your business relies on the most, and, finally, those subject matter experts who really know what it takes to "get it done."
Too often, I see technology stacks created in piecemeal by managers who don't have a clear picture of how all the operational cogs fit together in the company. At best, the result includes redundancies and misspent dollars. At worst, the systems decrease process productivity, and you may not even know it until it's too late.
Here are some of the methods we recommend to put all your operational heads together in designing your technology stack.
1.)Begin with a Measureable End In Mind, and Then Measure It
If you don't know where you are going, why, or how far you are along the way, how do you even begin to create a technology stack that works for your organization? In the business world, technology stacks serve one or two purposes, those being to support increasing either the top or bottom lines on a balance sheet ... ideally both. These are measureable quantities, so make sure you know and agree on how your technology stack affects them, how you measure these effects and when, and what you plan on doing (in terms of change) when you review these measurements.
2.)Meet Early, Meet Regularly, and Meet Face to Face
As I said in my first point, business goals are at the heart of your endeavor; people working with each other is what you seek to improve, so get your people working with each other. Think of building your technology stack as a team sport, with no spectators, and do keep score.
By using what I'll call a technology stack relevance score you can employ a measurement tool to track your business' progress toward your goals, just like you might use a measurement tool to track online metrics. But then you need to sit down with your team and actually discuss the implications of those analytics. Give every department a seat at the table. Hold yourself and everyone else accountable.
Say the product you sell is geared toward Millennials, but your analytics reveal that Baby Boomers are actually the ones discussing your product online. You'll want to gather members of your sales team, marketing and communications, managers, UX designers, product developers and technical team, and your company's brass around the table to take a hard look at the data to decide how you can continue piquing market interest in this unexpected customer persona.
3.) Let the Data Do the Talking, and Make Sure You can Speak Its Language
With so much data in today's business world, there really is no excuse to not hear what it has to say. But make sure you can understand it. Collaboratively working to an established and measurable plan is key to a successful tech stack implementation. Ideally, every time you sit down with the team implementing your stack, you should start the conversation with the data--how it has changed (or not) and why. Then you can focus on what to do about it.
This presumes, of course, you are a) capturing that data and b) can map it back into your plan. So make sure you have this capability on your team early on.
4.) Know What You Have, What You are Adding, and How and Why It Integrates Into Your Stack
When embarking on a technical stack installation or improvement project, a picture must accompany your plan. Why do you think technologists have white boards surrounding them? To ensure success, create a visual, interactive road map of both your current and planned technology stack, so everyone on the team has a systemic understanding of which technologies your company uses, why they're using them as well as what's changing and why.
Each decision you make about your technology stack will make a difference ... in your business now and down the road.
Maybe your company recently hired a new chief marketing officer who wants to use Pardot as part of the organization's email marketing campaign. But after a hallway conversation with the CIO, the CMO learns the company is already using MailChimp for that purpose. Which, if either, of these technologies integrates better with your current technology stack? Your next step is to go to the road map and see.
While we may not use paper maps these days, we still use navigational aids all the time.
Using data visualization, you can provide a better picture of what integrates where, what your front-end framework looks like, and how you can best scale your back-end automation needs.
By employing some of these techniques in your organization to aid your team in collaboration, you can work toward a more efficient and streamlined technology stack that can get you the most bang for your buck.