Everyone knows how busy the last month and the first month of every year can be. But the bottom line is that your 2026 business goals require decisions now. Sure, you might have already decided to add a new office this year, expand your team by 10 people, or even target a new market with a cool product line. But have you plotted out the technology modernization strategy needed to achieve those goals?
Technology should help to drive your small to mid-sized business growth goals, not react to them – or even derail them. That's why you should make an annual commitment to review and update your business technology strategy every January (if not before!) An IT roadmap ensures clarity, prioritization, and confidence in future investments—and missing this critical step in the annual overall business planning process can grind an organization's success to a halt.
As we kick off another year, businesses of all sizes are faced with similar challenges: Rapid tech changes (AI, anyone?), tougher security demands, and a tough talent market. While larger organizations may have the financial buffer in place to navigate unexpected technology investments, unplanned disruptions or outages, and even cyber attacks, most businesses don't have that luxury. In fact, a study of 1,000 small to midsized businesses found they lose an average of 98 hours per year—about 12 working days—because of slow, unreliable, or outdated technology that leads to missed meetings and deadlines and lost opportunities. We can all agree that most SMBs do not have time for that sort of disruption.
Smaller businesses depend on predictable spending forecasts and the time to manage through unexpected, emergency spending.
By crafting an IT roadmap for your SMB that addresses both short-term needs, such as a legacy server or laptops for new hires, alongside long-term, more proactive spending needs, your business technology needs become more stable, more thoughtful, and more easily managed. It also makes the IT investments that come with growth—equipment for a new office or a modern ERP system—less of a surprise.
With the right combination of current and future technology needs mapped out, leadership can guide your organization through modernization that keeps you competitive without budget worries.
Working with your trusted managed IT services provider is the best way to align your IT roadmap with strategic organizational goals. Without that alignment, your investment may be wasted money. A 2024 Gartner survey of more than 3,100 CIOs and technology leaders found that only 48% of digital initiatives meet or exceed their business outcome targets. If barely half of digital initiatives deliver, you cannot afford to wing it—you need a roadmap that's tied directly to business goals.
Your MSP can bring a unique viewpoint as a fellow small business, augmented by technical knowledge and a deep set of roadmap planning best practices. As you work through strategic IT planning with your MSP, you will likely tackle several common IT topics:
At Exigent, we follow a guided process to review and fully discuss each of these areas, plus more. A strategic technology planning session should be tailored to your organization's size, type, industry, growth goals, maturity, and more. Remember, your IT roadmap strategy work doesn't happen in one meeting; rather, it is typically discussed routinely in periodic business reviews where your MSP and your team evaluate what is working, what needs improvement, and adjust that business technology blueprint to account for shifts in goals and priorities. Your IT roadmap is a living document—that's why it is so important to review and adjust regularly.
Learn more about how your MSP should support IT planning.
In fact, failing to do that is one of the most common mistakes that businesses make with their IT planning. The biggest tip for an effective business technology plan is remembering that, as your business needs and goals shift (and they will!), your IT roadmap will need to be updated with priorities adjusted to meet the new reality. To ensure regular review happens, coordinate with your MSP and remember that a person must be accountable for the IT roadmap, not just "IT."
The second biggest mistake made with technology strategy happens when an organization (or a leader) is distracted by shiny IT tools and solutions that are on fire, but not needed or even useful in their particular business. Those distractions can create frustration when other critical IT investments are overlooked and even derail projects and business goals when the required technology tools are displaced or deprioritized.
That mistake connects with the third common issue faced during the IT roadmap process: Focusing on tactical instead of strategic investments. What's the difference? Tactical IT planning focuses on keeping things running today. Strategic IT planning focuses on where the business is going tomorrow—and how technology supports that growth. Ideally, your roadmap, with guidance from your MSP, should address both needs, and your priorities and investments should be balanced between the two, depending on your maturity level, past investments, growth arc, and more.
At Exigent, we bake tactical and strategic planning into our Assurance Managed Services, guided by our strategic account management team. Those dedicated technical advisors build close partnerships with clients, meeting regularly to build, review, and update tailored IT roadmaps. Using those, IT decisions are made using prioritization based on business outcomes and budget. That's right, you don't need to tackle the question of what's most important alone; your MSP should be aligned with your goals to the point they can sit at the planning table and help guide those decisions.
Set the foundation for a stronger, more strategic 2026. Let's build a technology roadmap that moves your business forward.