Member Article

What is Digital Maturity?

Technologies are reshaping today’s world. And this not only means that the future as we are used to imagining it may be closer than ever before. For business owners that want to grow relevant in this era of digital revolution, technologies create a new environment in which enterprises need to rethink the way they deliver value.

In this context, a new concept called digital maturity was developed a few years ago and since then, it has been actively discussed on different professional platforms. In this article, we will try to explain digital maturity in simple words, so you can figure out if it is something your organization really needs or just a new buzzword everybody will forget about in a year or two.

**What does it mean “to be digitally mature”? **

If you google “digital maturity”, you will find lots of definitions of this term which sometimes cover different scopes if not mean opposite things at all. For example, some think that to be digitally mature, a company just needs to invest in new technologies. At the same time, others insist that there are no digitally mature companies nowadays, so this point still remains unreachable while some businesses are just trying to make their way to it.

Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, but we believe they are way too radical. One can hardly find a modern organization that doesn’t purchase some digital tools and services from time to time. But does this mean that almost all companies are digitally mature? Of course, NO. Many still invest in software development only when it is the only option because certain processes can no longer work without specific applications.

On the other hand, there are companies which show a truly impressive level of consciousness in terms of their attitude to digitalization. For instance, Siemens plant located in Germany is currently 75 percent automated and it is planned to reduce the amount of the required human intervention even more (follow Siemens AG Research). It would be wrong to say that businesses like this are still at their digital infancy stage.

Hence, we believe that the journey to digital maturity is long but accomplishable. In particular, to be considered digitally mature, an organization needs to meet the following requirements:

• understand the value of innovations and have a tech-centric culture
• have a strategy of digital transformation and be ready to invest in its practical implementation
• be data-driven and have an all-round IT ecosystem.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? In general, yes. But is digital maturity something specifically your company needs to achieve? Let’s talk about this next.

Why does every enterprise have to strive for digital maturity?

The reasons like improved efficiency, increase in revenue, enhanced quality of products and services your company delivers etc. are pretty much obvious.

• Improved efficiency,
• Increase in revenue,
• Enhanced quality

But there are also market forces that make businesses to adapt. Because no matter what your business niche is, there are always new players on the market. Companies that were “born” in this highly digitized age are tech-centered by default. Specifically, according to Forbes, 55 % of startups have a digital business strategy. That is why traditional enterprises should understand that they either adopt innovations and stay competitive or just lag behind their more successful rivals.

Now, it’s time to move to a harder question: what steps should a company take to become digitally mature?

Digital maturity model (DMM)

Simply put, DMM is a digital maturity assessment framework that allows tech leaders to determine where their companies are in digital transformation journey and, based on this information, set short-term and long-term goals.

You may also find that some people call the digital maturity model a “digital transformation maturity model”. This is because it not only outlines how the state of digital maturity should look for a specific enterprise, but it also serves as a roadmap to be referred to when the changes are still in progress.

Ideally, the development of DMM should be the first step towards digital maturity. In such a case, tech leaders are able to see the gaps in the IT environment of their organizations more clearly. As a result, it will be easier to set the priorities and create a budget for software development.

There are a lot of digital maturity models which include different criteria an organization can be assessed against. Basically, everything depends on your business area and activity, industry standards etc. But in general, most digital maturity models cover such aspects as culture & attitude, technology infrastructure, operations & processes, strategy, and delivery of services & products.

Conclusion

The final point we want to stress in this article is that digital maturity is not about theorization, it is about taking practical steps towards the creation of a balanced and comprehensive digital ecosystem. A study shows that about 50 percent of tech leaders believe that a good technology partner is the main factor that contributed to the successful implementation of their company’s digital transformation strategy, according to Daniel Newman post on Futurum Research. So if you are looking for professional developers to support your organization on its journey to digital maturity, GBKSOFT is ready to help. Just contact us to get a consultation!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by GBKSOFT .