Business Roadmap

What Is a Business Roadmap?

A business roadmap is much like a business plan. However, instead of providing lengthy information on your business goals, it specifies the long view of your organizations’ big picture. A business roadmap is a valuable business tool that communicates company goals and objectives, along with the milestones that need to be achieved. According to an article from Chron, companies need a business roadmap to create a chart of direction towards company growth and development. And roadmapping in business can be illustrated in various types, such as a startup roadmap, strategic roadmap, business product roadmap, sales and marketing plan roadmap, and HR roadmap.

business-roadmap-template

The Types of Business Roadmap

A business roadmap is an essential tool that can be used to visualize business growth. And, this excellent tool can represent the various areas in the business. To narrow it down, here are the types of business roadmaps that you can use in developing growth in your company.

Strategic Business Roadmap

The purpose of the strategic business roadmap is to present your company’s vision and provide the necessary steps to achieve the company mission. This type of business roadmap focuses on long-term company goals and objectives. The strategic business roadmap should be accessible by the rest of your company staff.

Change Business Roadmap

The business industry continues to develop, and so does your business. Hence, the necessary changes must be observed. The purpose of having a change business roadmap is to visualize and communicate plans and strategies for company development. This type of business roadmap is useful for managers in various departments that are tasked to implement change in company systems and operations. 

Capability Business Roadmap

The purpose of capability business roadmap is to help businesses outline their potential and possible project plans in the future. The capability business roadmap allows a company to plot their future project objectives and goals and the strategies to execute each project plan. This type of business roadmap can be used in plotting large-scale project plans with long timeframes.

Business Development Roadmap

A business development roadmap allows companies to present and highlight tasks that you need to achieve, which will then will contribute to revenue and market-share growth of the business. Usually, this type of business roadmap is commonly used in sales, marketing, and product development to outline how each area of the company will contribute to the development of the business.

Data Strategy Business Roadmap

The data strategy business roadmap is a type of business roadmap that allows businesses to improve business data collections and operations. A well-planned and well-stored company data helps your business in decision-making and leads to better company growth. Using this type of business roadmap, you will be able to answer pressing questions regarding how your company manages and handles essential business data.

Startup Roadmap

A startup business roadmap is a business document specifically for small businesses. The purpose of this business roadmap is to help smaller businesses plan their strategies to continue running and operating and achieve a larger size. This type of business roadmap allows startup businesses to determine their goals and objectives and map out processes to achieve said goals. 

Project Roadmap

A project roadmap is a business document that allows you to see a high-level overview of your business project and layout stages and milestones needed to complete your project. This type of business roadmap is created and presented by a project manager. It helps the team involved in the project to follow the same process and accomplish the task on time.

Technology Roadmap

Also known as the IT business roadmap, this type of roadmap outlines your current information technology infrastructure and the plans for upgrading it. This type of business roadmap allows you to layout new technologies that you wish to implement along with its specific upgrade schedules.

HR Business Roadmap

The role of the HR department in every business is essential. In that sense, they want to hire only the best talents. Hence, it is imperative to have effective strategies for recruiting professionals. The purpose of this business roadmap is to chart out the HR strategies for recruitment that you should align with your business’ overall goals and objectives.

Sales Business Roadmap

A sales business roadmap is an essential tool that aligns the business sales team to meet sales targets. A sales plan roadmap is created and presented by the sales manager to outline the sales plan and sales strategies for the month, quarter, and year.

Six Reasons to Make a Roadmap

A business roadmap has become an essential tool in outlining business strategies and mapping the business’s journey towards success. Utilizing a well-made and effective business roadmap comes with several advantages that your company will surely benefit from. Hence, the more reason why you should make one. Here are six reasons why you should have a business roadmap.

A Roadmap is a Good Plan. Making a roadmap for your business is like having a good plan for business growth and development. It allows you to present your goals and the strategies to be performed clearly. Hence, it will be accessible and understandable by your company staff.A the roadmap is Your Teams Guide. Roadmapping is not only the tool to communicate goals and strategies but also a concrete guide to your team about what to do. A business roadmap allows your staff to determine the events that will improve the direction and growth of your company, and to act accordingly.A Roadmap Communicates Plans. ThoroughlyUtilizing a roadmap in your business allows you to present and communicate your strategic plans in different areas of your business, be it in marketing, accounting, business technologies, etc. With a business roadmap, you will be able to share your business ideas with your team and management effectively and efficiently.A roadmap is Useful in Business Deals. Let’s say you are meeting a group of investors, and your goal is to make them invest in your company. Using a business roadmap enables you to showcase your ideas and concepts as to where the business is going in the coming years. A business roadmap is a framework for partnerships.A Roadmap Helps Detect Gaps. The roadmap presents effective business strategies to achieve goals. It is a tool that allows you to keep track of your business’ journey towards growth and success. Hence, it is also easy to detect gaps or objectives that are not achieved and then be attended to avoid significant problems.A Roadmap Builds a Development Team. The roadmapping process establishes a common understanding of the team and the management. It entails sharing and incorporating ideas and insights from each member in various business areas. And, it represents functions that are required in a successful development process.

How to Make a Business Roadmap

There is a huge possibility that your startup business will fail. But, you can prevent this by making sure that everything is right from the beginning. That is why it is imperative to have an excellent tool where you can craft a clear direction and strategies to achieve both short-term and long-term business goals and objectives. Without leaving you hanging, we have provided you some tips on how to make an impressive and effective business roadmap. Here’s how.

1. Identify Your Mission and Vision

Start the process of making an excellent business roadmap for your company by identifying its mission and vision. The purpose of having a company mission and vision is to communicate your company’s core values to your market audience. The mission and vision statements are also the basis for building strategic plans and marketing strategies. These statements are usually simple and brief yet informative.

2. Perform the SWOT Analysis

Aside from identifying your company’s mission and vision statements, you should also need to distinguish your business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Hence, performing a SWOT analysis is necessary. By doing this, you will be able to determine the things that are working well and which does not. You may create a shortlist of information from your analysis.

3. Determine Goals and Objectives

Once you have already defined your business’ vision and mission and the essential things to be improved, it is now time to set your goals and objectives. Your goals and objectives may depend on what you want for your business to achieve. Or it can be apparent to your business’ strengths and weaknesses that need to be attended to. Whatever that is, make sure that your goals and objectives are definite and feasible. And, you should also specify the date and period of each goal and purpose to be finished.

4. Establish Concrete Strategic Plan

Now that you have determined your business’ goals and objectives, it is time to come up with concrete and effective strategies. These strategies or milestones are useful in achieving your goals. Having a strategic plan outlines the activities or tasks that need to be done to accomplish specific company goals. So, in setting strategies, make sure that it is well-explained, useful, and informative to be effective.

5. Create a Roadmap Structure

If you already have the information needed for your business roadmap, the next thing you need to do is to create the structure of your roadmap. In doing so, you may use any roadmap symbol or design that you want, as long as it can present the information that you will fill in your business roadmap accurately. It would also make your business roadmap presentable if you use appropriate colors. However, if you want easy access and efficient processes, you may use pre-made and customizable Business Roadmap Templates.

FAQs

What should a business roadmap include?

A strategic business roadmap includes several key points, such as business vision and mission, company goals and objectives, date and time schedule, and strategies. These are important components that will make your business roadmap effective and useful.

What is the difference between a strategy and a roadmap?

The difference between a strategy and a roadmap is that a strategy highlights the direction that you will take to achieve your company vision. It aligns your business goals and the key initiatives for your company to be successful. On the other hand, a roadmap is the visual representation of your business’s strategic plan. It lays out tasks that need to be completed with its corresponding schedule.

In an economy where a business needs to compete with other developing businesses to stay in business, setting active goals, and generating concrete and effective strategies are important. These are some of the many components that will make a business successful. And these objectives and strategic action plans should be presented well to the whole team using a communication tool, like a business roadmap.