Strategic Technology Planning for the Creative

Your technology dollar will only stretch so far. Making the right choices and investing wisely are some of the most important decisions you will make for your business. Here is a simple methodology for strategic planning.

I thought I’d kick off with an article about technology planning. First, I thought I’d address the creative/marketing side of the divide and then tackle production next month.

The goal of technology planning should be to further the business plan and not technology for technology’s sake. While there are certain market forces at work in this industry segment (Apple moving to Intel, as an example) that you have no control over, as the beginning of the workflow you have more freedom to dictate standards then your production brethren. The production brethren cater to you. For example, you have the freedom to choose your applications but you must make sure that your partners are conversant and there is parity with software versions and platforms.

So, technology planning should evolve out of the business plans’ goals or initiatives for growth. That may involve increased headcount, a new service line, requirements your customers may have of you, out of control assets, or cost control measures. So as a budgeting event, I recommend looking at no more than a 2 to 3 year timeframe.

Why? Most accountants will use this measure for capital depreciation. Meaning – most equipment has zero book value at the end of the 3rd year. Check with your accountant to see what depreciation schedule he/she is using for your business. Major software vendors release updates or upgrades every 18 to 24 months, slightly longer, 24 to 36 months for hardware. Certainly your business will adjust in this time frame as well. Hence, the logic behind the planning timeline.

Once you narrow your focus to this timeframe, you need to decide what business initiative will impact your current technology infrastructure. And, by the way, if this is a first-time exercise for you – inventory your technology assets. You have to know where you are starting from in order to create a map to where you are going. The map in this analogy being your technology goals. So your business plan will create technology requirements.

At this point we’re talking big picture. Say for instance your growth plans include adding a new service line, such as variable data marketing. You might be a marketing/communications department within a larger company or a creative/marketing firm with many clients. None-the-less you are going to marry content with data. You have the skill set (or will acquire it) — now how about the infrastructure. Do you have an adequate number of systems? Are they adequately specified? What about software for these systems?

Or perhaps you are a creative firm and your assets are spread far and wide and are not well organized. Someone has recognized, as a cost control measure, that the amount of time it is taking to source these assets is costing the company money. Additionally, someone has pointed out that a managed system might offer your clients an additional value-added service, or a fee for service. You may not even be able to participate in an RFQ without such a service in place. Therefore, you’ve identified the need for some type of asset management system. It will surely require some type of repository, some type of application to run it, and access to the system will have to be considered as well.

In either of these cases, you might be compelled to attach rough numbers to them, but the purpose of the technology plan is not to outline specific solutions. Solution selection is a project unto itself and not an exercise of internet surfing to see what looks good. The technology plan is strategic in nature, not tactical.

I’ve just identified two specific initiatives, but there’s also the on-going issue of investment in existing desktop infrastructure, server infrastructure and network infrastructure which all need to be maintained/upgraded over time.

For desktop strategy you can ascribe to a refresh/trickle down approach, which is to say, take the number of desktops, divide by 3 (as in years of depreciation) and you will refresh this number of systems each year. You will then take the systems they replace and trickle them down to other users thereby constantly refreshing one third of the desktops yearly. This minimizes the impact of a complete or wholesale exchange of systems, which might be a difficult (read expensive) purchase.

On the other hand, if leasing is an option and you can stick to a 3 year finance plan, a monthly payment may make a total refresh all at once a possibility and spread the cost evenly over three years. Keeping everyone on the same hardware technology would also have technical support benefits as well, as all desktops would be maintained in much the same way.

Servers and their backup strategies need to be maintained and upgraded, not just for functionality but also for security. One can’t turn around but to encounter a security breach or worm penetrating its way through your technology defenses. Servers, by the way, service you. The services they perform may include filing, communications, job management and tracking, accounting, or librarian functions. You may need to increase the probability of uptime by moving to a RAID strategy. You may have to guarantee a prospective client that you have off-site security for your backups.

Finally, network infrastructure: as I mention in my book (shameless plug for InDesign@Work) what good is it to drive a Ferrari on a dirt road? Don’t invest in cutting edge technology at the desktop or with your servers only to ignore your wiring, switches, and connections to the outside world. Perhaps you want your workforce to be mobile and spend more time at client sites? Again, looking in the crystal ball and thinking over the next 3 years what will your network look like in 2008?

Generally, when working with our clients we’ll gather all the technology possibilities together with key investors and/or decision-makers. Initially, we’re brainstorming the best way to serve the business plan. No-holds bar, no limits on suggestions. From that first list, we get serious about the likelihood or probability of each item. We shorten the list. Then you’ll attach rough numbers. Then we rank them in order of importance (because what things cost can greatly influence how important something is.) Another cut. Finally, prioritization of the technology goals – a combination of importance and items that are dependent on technical sequence – for instance, you may not be able to add those new servers or update your wiring without first upgrading your switch with more ports and a managed interface.

Now you have your technology plan. It will be revisited annually and modified as the business plan or circumstances calls for it. But it is the map by which you budget your technology spending.

When it’s time to execute project #1, then you are ready to draft a requirements analysis to find your solution. A requirements analysis is simple, really. What do you need this technology solution to do for you?

For example: you’ve decided you need some type of asset management system to gain control over your files. Your initial requirements might look like this:

• Server based
• Cross platform
• Accommodates all of the file formats we typically use
• Can be customized to add our own metadata
• Can be accessed both internally and remotely

Do you get the idea? Then you will look at the products on the market and map them against your requirements – you can score them actually, for “fit.” Highest scorers (say 3) are the ones you will demo to the decision-makers and quote.

Somewhere along the way you may be asked to cost justify the project. Prove that the project will either make money or save money for the company. Some will refer to this formally, as a return on investment study. Believe me, these are difficult to accomplish if you don’t track your costs currently. If you do then you will take the investment dollars for the new technology and compare it to the money saved or earned with the new technology and hopefully realize a short return on investment.

You can apply this planning no matter your size. Whether you’re a shop of “1” or an agency or a marketing/communications department within a large corporation, the methodology is the same. It could be argued that planning is even more important when you are a small entity perhaps with limited resources because every dollar has to count.

Throughout my tenure here at Designorati, I will bang the drum for planning, for anticipation, for keeping up with developments in the market place, so that you can make better decisions spending your technology dollars.