Building strategic clarity with a Tech Radar

Brabant Water supplies drinking water to over 2.5 million people across the Noord-Brabant region. As a regional utility, the organisation is continuously engaged in innovation and supplier collaboration, yet it lacked a structured means to make those developments visible and shareable across the business.

Capturing technological developments is one thing. Presenting them in a way that is genuinely useful for internal teams and external stakeholders alike is quite another.

The challenge
Brabant Water needed a visual tool to map current technological developments and innovations, both within the organisation and across its supplier network. There was no shared framework to inform strategic conversations or streamline communication with relevant parties.

Blackbear's role
Sharpening the brief was just as important as executing it. Blackbear worked to translate an exploratory need into a well-defined assignment with clear milestones and a realistic fixed-price structure. A specialist was then selected with demonstrable experience in data visualisation and structuring complex information for varied audiences. Throughout the engagement, Blackbear ensured the end result remained aligned with what stakeholders actually needed.

Result
A fully functional Tech Radar was delivered: visually compelling, fit for both internal and external use, and integrated with existing tools. Following an iterative development process, including feedback rounds and a stakeholder presentation, the team was trained to work with the tool independently. Brabant Water now has a living resource that meaningfully supports informed, strategic decision-making.