Digital transformation is happening at every company in the world, and if it’s not, it should be. If you’re looking for a way to improve your business model digitally, these tips will help you! We will discuss 6 tips to help you create an effective digital roadmap to pursue the digital transformation of your company.

But first, what is a digital roadmap and what does it consist of? A digital roadmap is a visualization and planning tool that will help a company transform digitally. It consists of the end goals and several in-between steps of how to get there. The main advantage of making such a roadmap is to make sure that all stakeholders and other people involved share the same overview and therefore are on the same page.

But how to ensure such a document doesn’t end up in a drawer somewhere never to be looked at again? By keeping it up-to-date and available to everyone in a digital way. In addition, we collected these six tips to help you make your digital roadmap effective and useful.

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Tip 1: Understand the current context of your company

Before making the digital roadmap it is important to understand the company and its context very well. Check that only relevant topics are included on your roadmap and consider for example performing a SWOT analysis, by identifying the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will help you to determine specific activities that you want to include on your digital roadmap. Don’t forget to actively involve the right people in starting up the process to create a digital roadmap.

Tip 2: Determine OKRs to help you fill your digital roadmap

A roadmap consists of an end goal and several in-between goals of how to get to the desired situation. The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) method is a great way to help you formulate these goals. Objectives are meaningful, concrete, action-oriented, and inspiring. Key Results are the result points that you need to achieve your objectives, and therefore these are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic, measurable and verifiable (SMART).

Tip 3: Create a vision board

A vision board is a document or visualization that includes information about the direction a company wants to go in, like a vision statement, mission statement, and so on. For this document to be effective and useful, employees and stakeholders must agree and execute the content of it.

Tip 4: Assign a responsible team

For the execution of the roadmap, a dedicated team should be appointed that will take responsibility. The individuals in this team should have the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out the organization’s goals. Aside from their digital form, these roadmaps usually also exist in a physical form, in obeya’s or on planning walls.

Tip 5: Alignment and collaboration among teams

In many companies digital transformation either fails or succeeds based on the level of alignment and collaboration between different teams, most notably between teams focused solely on business or IT. To facilitate this a clear process should be set up for all teams to follow when starting new projects or initiatives, and hybrid teams should be established. This way all noses will remain pointing towards the same end goal.

Tip 6: Commitment to the roadmap

Transformation takes time, effort, and resources. Make sure you are committed to a full change across all aspects of your business before moving forward, this will ensure more successful outcomes in the future. You get commitment by asking for it and by using the digital roadmap regularly in your strategic planning process.

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Concluding, creating an efficient and adaptable digital roadmap will enable your company to successfully transform into a strong digital player, staying ahead of the competition.

Do you think your company would benefit from a digital roadmap, but do you lack the resources? Have a chat with one of our consultants who can support you in making and implementing your digital roadmap.