Identifying Technology Life-Cycle Changes

Technologies proceed through discrete life cycles, from introduction, through core business support, and on to a reduced, supporting role. Understanding these various life-cycle changes allows an organization to stay in front of shifting business needs, provide the most appropriate service levels, and maintain a positive return on investment throughout the entire life cycle. Using the Forrester Technology Investment Matrix as an evaluation framework, an organization can adopt a process by which it can identify these life-cycle changes, allowing communications, metrics, and investment strategies to change along with the technology's role. In addition to identifying current requirements, the process will also predict the future (one to two years) requirements for that technology within an organization's environment.