Strategic Roadmapping examples in ACTION
The strategic roadmap is one of THE best tools for strategic planning.
It’s fast, flexible and agile to many needs. This article outlines ten Use Cases and their success factors. If you are a business leader who wants to create options of map uncertainty; it works. If you are a technologist and want to get more from your R&D or facilities; it does that. If you are in a non-technology role, it will help you tell your investment story.
In the last few years, I’ve seen more Plans that assert themselves to be a Roadmap than I can keep count of.
It could be from a sector body purporting to launch their roadmap for Hydrogen, or a government agency publishing their national technology roadmap.
A Roadmap is a visualisation of strategic intent, mapped over time.
Anything else is not a roadmap.
Other examples of non-roadmap “roadmaps” are,
- A Feature List is not a Roadmap. It lacks the temporal dimension and strategic intent that ties each feature to broader goals or market trends over time.
- A project Plan is not a Roadmap. While it shows timing, it is purely execution-focused and lacks strategic alignment with long-term business or market changes.
- A Vision Statement is not a Roadmap. Because it does not map out the steps or timeline needed to achieve the vision, leaving a gap between intent and action.
- A Marketing Plan is not a Roadmap. Focusing on near-term execution without mapping long-term strategic goals or adapting to evolving market conditions.
I think false-flag roadmaps matter.
Here’s why.
Sometimes it’s less important what the roadmap looks like.
It’s about the process of making the roadmap, or lack thereof.
It’s HOW you build the Roadmap that provides the rigour, the engagement of your people and the priorities you choose.
Are you interested in 10 use cases that can end up as a Roadmap?
Here we go!
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Technology Development Roadmapping
- Use Case: A company developing cutting-edge technology, like a next-gen communication system, employs a technology roadmap to align R&D priorities with long-term business objectives.
- Success Factor: By identifying technology trends, the roadmap helped bridge gaps between R&D and market opportunities, ensuring resources were allocated effectively, which resulted in faster time-to-market.
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Product Planning Roadmapping
- Use Case: A multinational electronics firm used product roadmapping to manage multiple generations of consumer devices (e.g., smartphones).
- Success Factor: The roadmap linked customer needs with technological advancements, giving clear direction to product features across time. It facilitated cross-functional coordination between marketing, engineering, and operations teams, ensuring all functions worked towards the same product goals.
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Strategic Business Roadmapping
- Use Case: A global car manufacturer used strategic roadmaps to align long-term business goals with external market trends, such as the shift towards electric vehicles.
- Success Factor: By breaking down high-level goals into actionable steps, the roadmap enabled the company to make timely decisions about investments in electric vehicle technology and infrastructure, improving their market competitiveness.
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Supply Chain Roadmapping
- Use Case: A pharmaceutical company utilized roadmapping to improve its supply chain capabilities by forecasting future needs and aligning supplier development with product launch timelines.
- Success Factor: The strategic roadmap helped the company manage supplier relationships and anticipate supply bottlenecks. This led to increased resilience in the supply chain and ensured uninterrupted product delivery.
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R&D Roadmapping
- Use Case: A high-tech firm applied an R&D roadmap to structure research priorities around breakthrough innovations in materials science. This can be done at the company level AND the sector level; think UK semiconductor strategy.
- Success Factor: The roadmap enabled clear communication between scientists, management, and external stakeholders about research timelines and commercial applications, fostering collaboration and reducing R&D cycle times.
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Market Strategy Roadmapping
- Use Case: A healthcare company used a market strategy roadmap to align its entry into a new geographical market with local regulatory, competitive, and customer dynamics.
- Success Factor: The roadmap provided a phased market entry strategy, helping the company mitigate risks and allocate resources effectively, resulting in successful market penetration and adoption.
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Innovation Roadmapping
- Use Case: A consumer goods company developed an innovation roadmap to explore long-term consumer trends and technology developments related to sustainability.
- Success Factor: By aligning sustainability goals with product innovation efforts, the roadmap allowed the company to identify gaps in current capabilities and foster partnerships for co-innovation, leading to the launch of eco-friendly product lines.
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Capability Development Roadmapping
- Use Case: A global consultancy firm applied a capability roadmap to systematically develop internal capabilities needed for digital transformation.
- Success Factor: The roadmap enabled the firm to align training, hiring, and technology investments with its future service portfolio, allowing for a smooth and scalable transition to offering digital services to clients.
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Industry Foresight Roadmapping
- Use Case: A government agency utilized a roadmap to forecast technological changes and anticipate future skills gaps in sectors like manufacturing.
- Success Factor: The use of scenario planning within the roadmap allowed stakeholders to engage in long-term thinking, positioning the agency to implement proactive policies that ensured workforce readiness for future industry needs.
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Sustainability Roadmapping
- Use Case: An energy company developed a sustainability roadmap to outline its transition towards renewable energy and carbon neutrality.
- Success Factor: By integrating both short- and long-term goals around regulatory changes, stakeholder expectations, and technological shifts, the roadmap helped the company phase out fossil fuels in favour of cleaner alternatives, strengthening its market position in an evolving energy landscape.
The takeaway is the incredible flexibility of roadmapping and its rigour to get well-founded answers.
A not to miss the critical elements of a strategic roadmap: a clear link between long-term strategy and short-term actions, a temporal dimension, and adaptability to external and internal changes.
Are you feeling ‘stuck’ with creating a clear and robust innovation roadmap? My Breakthrough Innovator’s Power Hour will help give you a clearer direction for your innovation plan and process.
Photo by Startaê Team on Unsplash