Before beginning any journey, you need a road map, and that is especially true with digital transformation. After all, a road map informs you about where you have already been and where you are heading to next. It is an aspect of digital transformation that leaders should embrace during the start of the journey.

Failure to create a road map before digital transformation could be disastrous for an enterprise. It is said that 70% of all digital transformation projects fail. Although there are probably many reasons behind this, lack of a road map is usually one of the main culprits.

With a digital transformation road map, an enterprise can embark on a successful digital transformation. It allows organizations to define goals and to dedicate resources to coordinate and facilitate all activities.

During the Digital Transformation Online Summit, Chris Grubbs (Product Owner / Senior Project Manager, Enterprise Mobility, Southwest Airlines) hosted a session entitled, “Practical Steps to Digital Success: Building a Digital Transformation Road-Map.” Whether or not you already saw the informative session, here are seven important steps from the session about building a successful digital transformation road map.

1. Focus On Making Users Happy

As Grubbs explained, people are the most important component during digital transformation. By deploying apps to workers and ensuring connectivity, employees will be more satisfied and could perform better. Data is a big part of that, and it is critical to ensure that the right data is given to the right users at the right place and at the right time. During the initial stages of digital transformation, workshops should be conducted so that employees can provide feedback.

2. Get Executive Sponsorship

In order to build and enact a road map for digital transformation, you need the full support of everyone at the c-level. It is imperative to communicate with these key business leaders to keep them informed on the progress of digital transformation. This includes sharing initiatives that have worked, and seeking their help on challenges and roadblocks along the way.

3. Don’t Neglect Workers In The Field

In addition to making users happy, a good road map for digital transformation should get all users involved in the process. Although this does include staff at the headquarters, it’s important not to overlook employees in the field. Their input is crucial to a successful transformation. This might include getting organizational support to pull some field workers from their normal jobs for a day just to test mobile initiatives and to get insight.

4. Build A Comprehensive List Of Stakeholders

No digital transformation road map is complete without a lengthy list of every single stakeholder that you will engage with during the process. This includes your cyber security team, networking team, software team, support desk, and even vendors. As Grubbs said, it is better to be inclusive and include all of them than to add people at the end of the process.

5. Don’t Forget About The Blueprint

Along with the road map, there is also the blue print. This is the architectural diagram used to measure where your enterprise is on the digital transformation journey and about the next steps. The blueprint should highlight dependences that you need. Both the blueprint and road map should be living documents that are updated every month.

6. Visualize The Road Map

Make the road map as visual as possible so that it can show capabilities and impacts for different teams. Grubbs suggested using Microsoft PowerPoint to create it. It should include training times, milestones, and governance checkpoints.

7. Be Aggressive

Finally, there will be hurdles during digital transformation. Don’t let the setbacks stop the process. Learn from the lessons and move forward. Be aggressive by actively communicating with executives when you need help.