Whether you’re a learning leader, IT strategist, or HR partner, having a clear plan for how your organization’s learning technology will evolve over time is crucial to driving innovation, engagement, and ultimately delivery of your business objectives.
In this video, Will discusses the importance of planning for the future by building a learning technology roadmap to help guide your business.
Video Transcript
Hi! I’m Will McElrath, an Associate here at Educe. Today we’re talking about something that’s absolutely essential for future-proofing your organization: building a learning technology roadmap.
Whether you’re a learning leader, IT strategist, or HR partner, having a clear plan for how your organization’s learning technology will evolve over time is crucial to driving innovation, engagement, and ultimately delivery of your business objectives. To build a technology roadmap, start by aligning to strategy, consider opportunities for integration and consolidation, and prepare for the changes ahead.
Strategic Alignment
First off, let’s talk about the importance of strategic alignment. Your roadmap should be closely tied to your organization’s strategic objectives. Is the business scaling globally? Leveraging AI? Moving towards skills-based talent management? Your learning technology should support those goals not just today, but over the next 3 to 5 years.
One of the best things you can do to ensure strategic alignment for your roadmap is to partner early with stakeholders across the organization. Understand their priorities and pain points now and what their goals are for the future. This will make your roadmap not just technically sound, but also business-relevant.
Integration and Consolidation
Next, consider integration and consolidation. Many organizations have a patchwork of different systems that support their learning operations including LMSs, content libraries, coaching platforms, analytics dashboards. Creating a roadmap is your chance to strategically consider each of these tools, how they are used today, and what capabilities could be applicable to your business in the future. It’s also an opportunity to justify each tool, look for opportunities to integrate, reduce redundancy, and improve the overall learner experience.
Bottom line: Business and technology evolve fast, and so should your plan. Make sure that you keep your roadmap flexible and remember, integration and consolidation isn’t just an IT concern, it’s a strategic enabler.
Change Readiness & Resourcing
Lastly, let’s talk about change. The reality is, every organization has a different appetite for it. In planning out your learning technology roadmap, be realistic about how quickly your teams can adopt new features or processes. Consider resourcing. A roadmap is only feasible if you have the people, budget, and time to execute it. Plan for training and support for your end users. Leave room for people to take in the change you’ve just introduced, even as you look towards the next one. Communicate often and build trust through transparency with your stakeholders to keep the momentum going.
One of the smartest change management strategies? Pilot before you scale. Test new features and capabilities with a single department or region first. Gather feedback, measure impact, and refine your approach before putting it out there for the world to see. You’ll reduce risk and create internal champions who can advocate for broader adoption.
Summary
Building a learning technology roadmap isn’t just about tools. As we’ve discussed, it’s about strategy, people, and impact. With thoughtful planning and collaboration, you can create a future-ready learning ecosystem that truly empowers your organization in the long-run.
Thanks for listening!
