What is Tech Strategy?

We started this journey with the first two issues exploring the “why” behind an idea.

That idea is rooted in the fact that–simply put–there are a lot of digital solutions out there and companies spend a lot of money on those solutions, to the point where it doesn’t really make sense anymore to just pick the “cheapest” or “best” option.

Instead, I believe there is a better way.

Today, we’re exploring the “what”.

Today, it’s simply about understanding the term “tech strategy” and where it fits.

(Next week, on the other hand, we’ll dig more into strategy by itself as a concept, just to simply help round out our understanding. In fact, it’s not too far off to say that tech strategy is really just applying strategy to digital tech, just more acutely.)

Instead of my usual flow-of-consciousness, I will attempt to actually bring some order to this piece, so I want to start with viewing the concept as a framework, its relationship to business strategy, then exploring how it should be used, and finally what it is not.

As a Framework

In my opinion, the easiest way to understand tech strategy without defining it by itself is to think of it as a framework.

Specifically, it’s a framework for making decisions about what is included in your digital tech stack.

Anything that doesn’t fit in that framework should not be adopted or implemented. Anything that does should at least be considered. This is where trade-offs come into play, something we’ll explore even more next week.

For example, a common strategy that many people take–though perhaps subconsciously–is simply looking for the most cost effective solution. (One of these days, we’ll explore why that’s very rarely an “effective” approach.) Anything that is considered expensive while also not delivering much value for the use case is discarded from consideration. Options whose value match or exceed the price point stay in the running, and the one that delivers the most bang for the buck is the winner.

Where It Touches Business Strategy

Again, straight strategy as thought through, created, and utilized by business leaders will be discussed in Issue 4, but it’s important to note that there are two sides of tech strategy, practically speaking.

The first is the one we’ve been discussing: a framework for making decisions.

The other is this:

Tech strategy should really be determined in light of business strategy.

When a business leader–tech or not–begins thinking through what their tech stack should do, they should start by looking at what the business is trying to do.

The business has goals, objectives, philosophies of work, and a vision for a future state. Ideally, the top-line leaders will already have generated a strategy for how to get there, so as long as that is in place, the tech strategy should be formed to either mirror or enable that business strategy.

Usage

The thing is…tech strategy is something that is almost not as much used as it is predetermined.

Theoretically, if the business goals and strategy are already in place, determining a tech strategy should be relatively easy (a very dangerous word in the digital development world). You know what the business is trying to do, so you can develop your framework based on that.

You make your choices and you stick with it.

When you come up against the next problem that needs a solution or function that needs a tool, you already have your parameters.

So, say you have a lean company (i.e. minimal headcount) that aims to produce a lot of revenue. You’ll want your tech to do a lot of the work, but also be able to maintain, monitor, and manage that tech with ease, relatively speaking.

A viable strategy would be to operate off of as few platforms as possible. (Maybe one for the front office, one for the back, and a few more for everything else.) While this may keep you from taking advantage of the best solutions, you gain efficiencies in time and possibly money in the long run. It means fewer pieces of tech to track, fewer relationships to manage, and fewer skills to learn.

But…is it really that easy?

Of course it isn’t! We’re talking about theory, aren’t we? There are plenty of practical difficulties with tech strategy, but that topic is worthy of an entirely separate issue.

What It is Not

Tech strategy is not a plan for your tech.

That is all on this topic for now. (Insert cheeky grin here.)

There is so much more that could be discussed on this subject, and the hope is we will unravel this even more with further issues and begin delivering value through practical application and case studies, but for the sake of brevity, I will have to leave this where it is.

That being said, I would love to receive your feedback on the subject so far. Do you have questions or comments? Am I completely off my rocker? I’d love to hear from you, either way.

Feel free to reply to this email or post on our LinkedIn page.

-Jordan