Choose the right technology for your solution

Technology is the backbone of your solution. It provides the products and services that you need to fulfill your business strategy. Your processes tell you which technology to use and when. Some examples of technology that support your users are:

  • Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
  • Software as a service (SaaS)
  • Integration tools
  • Business intelligence tools
  • Azure Machine Learning
  • Data connectors
  • Customer portals
  • Mobility solutions

You select the technology and system during the sales process as part of the first high-level fit-gap assessment. To learn more, see Drive app value.

Balance your needs and options

You might think that technology can solve any business problem, but technology is just what powers your processes, people, and data. You need to involve all stakeholders in the design decisions, because processes don't always match the technology. We call that the gap in a requirement. It's where you might decide to buy an add-on solution or develop an extension to meet the process needs. Consider the different options to find the best balance for your solution, but challenge the business requirements before customizing the system. You might find out that what seemed like a must-have customization is more of a nice-to-have feature.

After you complete the fit-gap analysis, the gap solution design workshop helps you discuss and assess the possible solutions for the requirements. This workshop helps you analyze the gap solutions in terms of things like risk, ease of use, long-term support, and product alignment. The goal is to choose the solution that fits the process and requirements best.

To learn more, see Extend your solution.

To learn more about the Success by Design framework, see Success by Design overview.

Next steps