Best practices when using Roadmaps

When you have the right information, clients can be upgraded when necessary.

In order to ensure business uptime, you can provide clients with roadmaps for 1 to 5 years that outline timelines, budgeting, and priorities.

Where does the Roadmap fit in the workflow?

For each client that you want to focus on, Lifecycle Manager has a unique workflow that sees all of the features work progressively to offer a better IT experience.

  1. Identify problems or issues

    1. Check their DMI score for a quick glance into the trends of the client environment

    2. Use Insights to identify critical issues

  2. Surface problems to clients

    1. Use reports to identify hardware assets that are covered under warranty, due soon, or are in need of renewal

    2. Use the Scorecard to provide an assessment of the client's IT environment

  3. Educate clients on possible outcomes

    1. Use the Scorecard to share a visualized executive summary

  4. Propose solutions to clients

    1. Use scorecards as a foundation to provide solutions to the risks they face

    2. Take existing infrastructure challenges and easily convert them into client-ready recommendations

  5. Decide timeline

    1. Use Roadmaps to plan out previously discussed Scorecard items to provide a schedule of what is to be actioned

  6. Get client acceptance

    1. Finalize the timeline and budget

    2. Finalize Initiatives to take action against critical asset performance issues & risks

In order to develop an effective Roadmap, it is essential to understand how your services will impact the client, along with the milestones needed to get there. It serves a necessary role in clients' IT strategy as it allows for more precise estimates on when you’ll achieve certain objectives.

Roadmaps allow you to collaborate with your clients to deliver what they need on time, on budget, and most importantly, to improve their experience with IT as a whole.

Scheduled Initiatives on Roadmaps can be classified as:

  • WIP - Work in progress. An early draft or framework of an initiative that still needs to be completed.

  • In Review - Initiatives in an assessment process, potentially resulting in change

  • Actioned-Initiatives approved by clients for implementation

Building a roadmap is key to planning future initiatives regarding technical infrastructure. A well-built roadmap helps your team stay focused and could even include no-cost Initiatives that are narrower in scope, like when software updates need to be rolled out.

When developing Roadmaps, consider using these best practices.

  1. Understand the “why”

    1. Articulating your IT strategy and the impact on the client – with facts and figures to support them – can help clients see why your solutions are a worthwhile investment.

  2. Make sure your roadmap is tailored to your client's needs

    1. For best results, create a roadmap that focuses on how to ensure client goals and standards are being met and how your team’s day-to-day responsibilities are affected.

  3. Setting priorities

    1. Building a roadmap that includes everything can lead to a cluttered roadmap that does more harm than good. Use priorities to organize information within your roadmap and improve decision-making during the creation process.

  4. Stay flexible

    1. It is important to leave room for unexpected changes when creating a roadmap. Either adjusting assets/or tasks by quarter or even switching out individual assets between quarters is easily accomplished in the Roadmap. Depending on the feedback you receive from your clients, you can continue to evolve your services.

  5. Plan a clear roadmap

    1. Providing information on the client's IT strategy and the steps needed to stay on track is the main objective of a roadmap.

  6. The Roadmap should be backed up by evidence

    1. Having objectives and the reasoning behind them needs support – with facts and figures- – for your conclusion. Creating a roadmap is primarily aimed at addressing previously discussed issues and providing trust in your strategy.

When you create a roadmap that meets the needs of your client, you are able to provide seamless service. The quality of the service you provide always improves when stakeholders support your efforts and your team has clear guidance.

Additional articles to read