Brittany Hoversten

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Category: Strategic Communications

Executive communication, messaging, stakeholder strategy and telling the story behind the numbers.

  • How to Write a Five-Year Technology Plan That Finds Savings

    Most organizations don’t have a technology strategy. They have a stack of renewals. A software contract auto-renews in March, a laptop dies in June, someone signs up for a new tool with a credit card in September, and by December nobody can say what you’re paying for or why. A five-year technology plan is how you trade that pile of surprises for a set of decisions.

    At Tri-County Action Program, I served as Director of Communications, Technology and Data and built a five-year technology plan that identified $350K in savings. It also set up a move to outsourced IT. I’m a marketer by trade, which is exactly why I think marketers and communicators should be in the room for this work. A tech plan is a persuasion document as much as a technical one.

    Here’s how I’d approach it again.

    Why a five-year technology plan beats yearly budgeting

    Annual budgets ask, “What do we need to spend next year?” A five-year plan asks a better question: “What do we want to be true in five years, and what’s the cheapest responsible path there?”

    That shift matters because technology costs are lumpy. Hardware ages out in waves. Contracts lock you in for multiple years. A system migration costs more in year one and saves money in years two through five. If you only look one year ahead, every good long-term move looks expensive.

    A multi-year view also gives leaders something they rarely get from IT conversations: a story. Here’s where we are, here’s where we’re going, here’s what it costs, and here’s what it saves.

    Step 1: Inventory everything (yes, everything)

    You can’t find savings in spending you can’t see. Start with a full inventory, and expect it to take longer than you think.

    • Software and subscriptions. Every license, seat, plan and add-on. Check credit card statements and expense reports, not just the IT budget line.
    • Hardware. Laptops, desktops, phones, printers, network gear, with purchase dates.
    • Services and contracts. IT support, hosting, phone systems, copier leases, with renewal dates and cancellation terms.
    • Data systems. CRM, finance, HR, case management, email marketing. Note who owns each and how they connect, or don’t.
    • People time. Who spends hours each week keeping systems running or moving data by hand?

    That last category is the one most plans skip. Staff time spent re-entering data between systems is a real cost. It just doesn’t show up on an invoice.

    Ask the people who use the tools

    Spreadsheets tell you what you pay for. Conversations tell you what people actually use. A short staff survey plus a handful of interviews will surface the tool everyone works around, the shared password nobody should be sharing and the report that takes two days to build by hand. I’ve written about how to design a stakeholder survey that gets to decisions, and it applies here too.

    Step 2: Find where the money is hiding

    Once the inventory is done, patterns jump out. In most organizations, savings tend to come from a few familiar places:

    • Overlap. Three file-sharing tools, two project management platforms, a design tool bought by two different departments.
    • Unused seats. Licenses for former staff, or tiers that include features nobody touches.
    • Bad contract timing. Renewals that roll over automatically because no one had the date on a calendar.
    • Reactive hardware spending. Emergency replacements at full price instead of planned refresh cycles.
    • Support models that don’t fit. An in-house setup that’s stretched thin, or an outside arrangement that doesn’t match how you work.

    Savings aren’t always about cutting. Sometimes the right call is to spend more on one platform so you can retire three others. The plan should show the net effect over five years, not just the year-one bill.

    Look hard at your support model

    At Tri-CAP, the plan included moving to outsourced IT. That isn’t the right answer everywhere. But every organization should ask the question honestly: given our size, risk and needs, what support model gives us reliable coverage at a sustainable cost? Compare options on response times, security practices, coverage hours and total cost, not just the monthly fee.

    Step 3: Sequence the changes

    A five-year plan isn’t a list of everything you want. It’s an order of operations.

    1. Year 1: Stabilize. Fix security gaps, cancel obvious waste, get every renewal date on a shared calendar, and settle your support model.
    2. Year 2: Consolidate. Retire overlapping tools and move people onto the core platforms you’ve chosen.
    3. Year 3: Connect. Integrate systems so data flows between them, especially CRM, finance and communications.
    4. Year 4: Improve. Build better reporting, automate repetitive work and train staff more deeply.
    5. Year 5: Review and refresh. Reassess the whole stack and start the next plan.

    Sequencing matters because change fatigue is real. If you ask staff to learn four new systems in one year, they’ll learn none of them well. When I think about CRM rollouts, the same lesson holds. I cover it in more detail in CRM implementation best practices.

    Step 4: Write it for the board, then keep it alive

    This is where a communications background earns its keep. A technology plan has to be approved by people who don’t want to read about firewalls.

    Advising an executive team and a board taught me to structure the document around decisions and outcomes:

    • One-page summary. Current state, recommended direction, five-year cost, five-year savings and the top three risks of doing nothing.
    • The case for change. Plain language, real examples from staff, and what the mission gains.
    • The roadmap. One table by year: what changes, what it costs, what it saves.
    • Risks and mitigations. Security, staff capacity, vendor dependence.
    • Appendix. The full inventory and detailed numbers.

    Lead with the mission, support with the money. “This frees up staff hours for client work” lands differently than “This reduces administrative overhead,” even when they mean the same thing. If you want more on how boards read numbers, see my post on marketing metrics for a board of directors.

    Keep the plan alive after approval

    A plan that sits in a folder is just an expensive document. Build in a few habits:

    • Review progress quarterly with leadership, with a short update against the roadmap.
    • Keep the inventory current. Assign an owner, and update it whenever you add or cancel something.
    • Track savings as they happen, so you can show the board real results, not projections.
    • Revisit priorities every year. Five years is long enough for the tool market to change a lot.

    Key takeaways

    • A five-year technology plan turns surprise renewals into deliberate decisions.
    • A complete inventory, including staff time, is where savings start.
    • Look for overlap, unused seats, bad contract timing and reactive spending.
    • Sequence changes over years so staff can actually adopt them.
    • Write for the board: mission first, money close behind, details in the appendix.

    FAQ

    What should a five-year technology plan include?

    A five-year technology plan should include a full inventory of software, hardware, contracts and data systems, a clear picture of current costs, a year-by-year roadmap of changes, projected costs and savings, key risks and an owner for keeping the plan updated.

    Who should write an organization’s technology plan?

    Ideally a cross-functional leader who understands operations, budgets and communication, working with IT support and department heads. The plan needs technical accuracy, but it also has to persuade leadership and staff.

    How often should a technology plan be updated?

    Review progress quarterly and update the plan at least once a year. Keep the inventory current all the time, since every new tool or canceled contract changes the picture.

    If you’d like to see more of the strategy, technology and communications work behind this, browse my portfolio.

    / Work with Brittany

    Need a technology plan your board will actually read and approve?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • Strategic Communications vs. Marketing: Why Leaders Need Both

    Here’s a pattern I’ve seen in more than one organization. A crisis hits, or a big change is coming, and leadership turns to the marketing team and asks, “Can you put out a post?” The rest of the year, those same leaders treat marketing as the people who make flyers.

    That gap is the strategic communications vs. marketing question in a nutshell. Most organizations blur the two, then wonder why their messaging feels reactive and their campaigns feel disconnected from the mission. They’re related. They’re not the same. And leaders need both, on purpose.

    I’ve worn both hats, sometimes in the same week. Here’s how I separate them, and why the separation matters.

    Strategic communications vs. marketing: the short version

    Marketing is about driving action from a defined audience: buy, donate, register, enroll, volunteer or apply. It’s measured by response and conversion.

    Strategic communications is about building and protecting understanding, trust and reputation across all of an organization’s stakeholders: staff, board, funders, partners, media, regulators and the community. It’s measured by alignment, reputation and how well the organization holds up under pressure.

    A simple way to hold the difference:

    • Marketing asks: “How do we get this audience to take this action?”
    • Strategic communications asks: “What do all of our stakeholders need to understand and believe about us, and how do we keep that true over time?”

    Marketing sells the program. Strategic communications makes sure the organization behind it is credible enough to sell.

    Where they overlap (and where they collide)

    They share a lot of tools: writing, design, social media, video and the website. That’s why they get lumped together, and why the same person often produces both.

    The collisions happen when the goals compete. A few examples:

    • Marketing wants a bold, urgent campaign. Communications knows a sensitive partner conversation is underway and the wrong tone could cause damage.
    • Communications wants a careful, measured statement on a hard issue. Marketing knows the audience will scroll right past it.
    • Marketing wants to feature a client’s story to boost a fundraising push. Communications is weighing that person’s privacy and dignity.

    None of those are wrong instincts. They just need someone with the authority and context to weigh them. When nobody owns that call, the loudest deadline wins.

    Who should make the call

    In most organizations, the tie-breaker should be whoever is accountable for reputation, usually the communications lead working directly with the executive director or CEO. That doesn’t mean communications always wins. It means the person deciding can see the whole picture, not just this week’s campaign.

    A quick gut check I use before anything sensitive goes out:

    • Would we be comfortable if a funder, a client and a reporter all saw this on the same day?
    • Does it match what we’ve already told staff and the board?
    • If it’s misread, do we have a plan for the follow-up?
    • Is the person or community being featured better off, or just more visible?

    If any answer feels shaky, slow down. A campaign can usually wait a day. Trust takes much longer to rebuild.

    Why leaders need both

    Marketing without strategic communications

    You get activity without alignment. Campaigns perform, but the story drifts. Staff hear about new initiatives on social media first. A press inquiry lands and nobody knows who answers it. The brand looks polished on the outside and feels confusing on the inside.

    Strategic communications without marketing

    You get alignment without growth. Everyone understands the mission, the board is well informed and the statements are careful. But nobody new hears about you. Enrollment, donations or sales stay flat because nobody is asking audiences to act.

    Both, working together

    You get a clear story that holds up under pressure, and campaigns that move people because they’re built on that story. That’s the goal.

    When I was Director of Communications, Technology and Data at Tri-County Action Program, a big part of the job was advising the executive team and the Board. That’s strategic communications: deciding what stakeholders needed to understand, in what order and from whom. I finished a rebrand already underway there, and the social, newsletter and website work I led grew engagement across every channel. That was the marketing side doing its job on top of a clearer story.

    Today, as Marketing Specialist at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud, I spend real time on work that never shows up in a campaign report: stakeholder surveys, CRM planning, how client stories are told and how internal teams talk about the work. Those choices shape what the marketing can credibly say.

    How to set up both on a small team

    You don’t need two departments. You need two clear jobs, even if one person holds both. Here’s how I’d set it up:

    1. Write down the core narrative. Three to five sentences on who you are, why you matter and what’s changing. Both disciplines draw from it. If you’ve never pressure-tested yours, a one-week brand audit is a good place to start.
    2. Map stakeholders, not just audiences. Customers and donors are audiences. Staff, board, funders, partners and the community are stakeholders. List what each group needs to know and who tells them.
    3. Give communications a seat with leadership. The person responsible for reputation needs to hear about decisions before they’re announced, not after.
    4. Set a simple escalation rule. Decide in advance which topics get communications review before anything goes out. Safety, finances, legal matters, partnerships and clients’ personal stories are a good starting list.
    5. Measure each one honestly. Track conversions and reach for marketing. Track internal understanding, stakeholder feedback, media tone and issue response time for communications.
    6. Plan on one calendar. Campaign launches and major announcements should live in the same place, so neither side surprises the other.

    How to tell which one you need right now

    If you’re a leader deciding where to invest next, ask yourself:

    • Are our campaigns performing, but our staff and board are confused? Invest in strategic communications.
    • Is our story clear, but our growth is flat? Invest in marketing.
    • Are we weak at both? Start with communications. A clear story makes every marketing dollar work harder.

    Then look for someone who can do both and knows the difference. That person is rarer than they should be. You can read more about my background in strategic communications and marketing on the About page.

    Key takeaways

    • Marketing drives action from defined audiences. Strategic communications builds understanding and trust across all stakeholders.
    • They share tools but have different goals, and those goals sometimes collide.
    • Someone with authority and context needs to own the tradeoffs.
    • Small teams can run both with a core narrative, a stakeholder map, an escalation rule and a shared calendar.
    • If you’re weak at both, start with communications.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is the difference between strategic communications and marketing?

    Marketing focuses on persuading specific audiences to take an action, such as buying, donating or enrolling. Strategic communications focuses on building understanding, trust and reputation with all stakeholders, including staff, board, partners, media and the community.

    Can one person handle strategic communications and marketing?

    Yes. On many small teams, one person does both. It works best when that person has access to leadership decisions, a written core narrative and clear rules about which topics need extra review before anything goes public.

    Which should an organization invest in first?

    If the organization’s story is unclear or inconsistent, invest in strategic communications first. A clear, credible narrative makes marketing campaigns more effective and less risky.

    / Work with Brittany

    Need someone who can protect your reputation and still grow your audience?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.