Why is Building Business Requirements for a Replatform So Important?

Many people start on a replatform journey by creating from the same set of assumptions as they made during their last replatform.

"This is the way we've always done it. Our business is unique."

The vision needs to come from a strong Chief Digital Officer or a CEO engaged in the hard work of transformation / preparing for how the consumer will shop in the future, not reacting to how the consumer has shopped in the past.

Usually, one part of the business is unique, but 80% is not and can be served by off-the-shelf systems.

A few questions as business leaders if I were to think about a replatform or long-term technology evolution:

• Knowing what we know now, if we were to restart this business what changes would we make?

• Are there trends in the younger generation (millennials, GenZ, Alpha) that should shape our business processes, messaging, and offerings?

• What should we remove from our requirements that is no longer relevant? (No one ever asks what requirements they can remove from a website)

• Are there ways we do business now that limit us from choosing mainstream platforms that receive more frequent updates than our current platform?

• What percentage of our business does this custom part truly represent? Is it increasing or decreasing?

• Do I know state of the art in eCommerce, or am I just relying on what my technology team is comfortable maintaining today?

One thing for business leaders to keep in mind -- if you are waiting for your technology team to build you requirements, you are waiting too long. In the best organizations in the world, business leadership must set the tone and have technology meet the future needs of the business.

Of course that means you need to get involved, understand the implications of not having a vision, and put in the work!