A one-page technology plan for the year ahead

Most technology decisions in a small business get made in the moment. A laptop fails, a supplier announces a price rise, someone asks whether you should be doing more with AI, and a decision gets made because it has to. Each one is reasonable on its own. Over a few years, though, they add up to a set of systems nobody quite chose.

If that sounds familiar, you're in good company. It's how technology grows in most well-run businesses, because the owner's attention is rightly on customers, people and cash.

A short plan changes how those moments feel. You don't need a thick strategy document, just one page that says where you are, what matters this year and who is looking after it. This article shows how to write one in an afternoon, with a template you can copy.

Why one page is enough

For a business of five to a hundred people, a long strategy tends to end up in a drawer. A single page gets read, discussed and revisited. It also forces some healthy choices: if only a handful of priorities fit, you have to decide which ones matter most.

You won't predict everything, and you don't need to. The plan gives you a reference point. When a supplier calls with a new offer, or a problem suddenly appears, you can ask a simple question: does this fit what we've already agreed matters this year?

Start from the business, not the technology

Begin with two or three goals for the business over the next twelve months. Write them in ordinary language. For example:

Take on more work without adding to the office team
Open a second site, or support more people working from home
Win contracts that ask for evidence of good security
Prepare for the next generation to take on more of the running of the business

That last one comes up often in family-owned businesses, which we've worked with for many years. Continuity matters to them, and a clear picture of the systems and who looks after them is a real help when responsibilities change hands.

For each goal, ask what technology needs to do to support it. Sometimes the answer is "very little", which is useful to know too.

Take a quick inventory

Next, write down what you use today. Keep it brief. A simple table is plenty:

System	What it's for	Who looks after it	How people feel about it
Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace	Email, files, calendars	Office manager, with our IT support company	Fine, but shared files are hard to find
Accounting software	Invoicing and accounts	Finance lead	Works well
Job scheduling spreadsheet	Planning the week's work	One person, who built it	Relied on, slightly fragile

Include the spreadsheets that quietly run important processes, the backups, and the devices people use every day. Note when key contracts and subscriptions renew, because those dates are natural decision points.

It's also worth noting anything that's ageing. Vendors publish when their products stop receiving updates; Microsoft, for example, lists support dates on its product lifecycle search. Knowing a date a year in advance turns a rushed replacement into a planned one.

Finally, ask two or three colleagues one question: "What's the most frustrating thing about our systems?" Their answers are often the most valuable part of the whole exercise.

Choose three to five priorities

Now look at your goals and your inventory side by side, and pick a small number of things to do this year. A good priority usually does at least one of these:

Supports one of the business goals
Removes a frustration that costs people time every week
Reduces a risk you'd rather not carry

Mix larger and smaller pieces of work. Some typical examples:

Tidy up shared files and who can access them, which also makes AI tools more useful later
Bring security basics up to a recognised standard. The NCSC's free small organisations guide to cyber security is a sensible reference
Move the scheduling spreadsheet onto something more dependable, with more than one person who understands it
Try an AI assistant with a small group on a few everyday tasks, as described in our article on where to start with AI
Review licences and subscriptions, and stop paying for what isn't used

It also helps to write a short "not this year" list. Deciding what you're deliberately leaving alone is as useful as deciding what to do, and it saves the same conversations coming up every few months.

Put rough numbers and names against it

For each priority, add three things.

A rough budget. A range is fine. Include ongoing costs such as subscriptions and support, not just the one-off cost of setting something up.

A rough time. Which quarter it starts, and roughly when you'd like it finished. Spreading the work across the year keeps it manageable alongside the day job.

An owner. One named person for each priority, and one person who keeps an eye on the plan as a whole. Owners don't need to be technical. Their job is to make sure the work moves, and to raise a hand when it doesn't. If nobody has the time or experience for a particular item, that's a good place to consider outside help.

A template you can copy

Here's the outline we suggest. It fits comfortably on one side of A4.

Where we are. Two or three sentences on how technology is serving the business today, what works well and what doesn't.
What matters this year. The two or three business goals, in plain language.
Priorities. Three to five items. For each: what it is, why it matters, rough budget, timing and owner.
Not this year. Things we've considered and chosen to leave for now.
Key dates. Contract renewals, end of support dates and anything else with a deadline.
Overall owner and review dates. Who looks after the plan, and the four dates in the diary when you'll review it.

Keep it alive with a quarterly check

A plan only helps if it's looked at. Put a short meeting in the diary once a quarter, around 45 minutes, with the owners in the room. Go through each priority: what's done, what's stuck, and whether anything has changed in the business that should change the plan.

Update the page as you go. Adding or dropping a priority mid-year is perfectly normal, and a sign the plan is being used. Once a year, start a fresh page, carrying forward whatever still matters.

A sensible first step

This week, block out an hour and do two things. Write down the two or three goals the business has for the next twelve months, and list the systems you rely on, on a single sheet of paper. Then ask two colleagues for their biggest technology frustration.

That gives you most of the raw material for the plan. The priorities tend to become clear once it's all in one place.

If you'd like an independent view to build your plan on, a Technology Review ends with this kind of prioritised roadmap, and our Technology Partner service can help keep it moving through the year.