Growing up digital—how digital maturity drives business forward
2 min read
Rose de Fremery
Is your business pursuing digital transformation? Wait, what does that even mean? It conjures images of adopting the latest gadget and keeping up with the Joneses on the other side of that digital fence—or maybe your company truly allowing technology to inspire new ways of doing business.
Honestly, the hype surrounding digital transformation may be getting in the way of progress. The concept of digital maturity is a better way to think about how businesses can adapt to today’s digitally enhanced landscape—you know, once it gets demystified.
Digital transformation vs. digital maturity
Let’s be honest: “Digital transformation” is a loaded term. Although it’s meant to describe a company that successfully adjusts to the changing business environment and makes the most of the golden opportunities within it, the word “transformation” implies that cutting-edge technology is a magic wand IT leaders can instantly wave to make everything work perfectly. Then, everyone can smile in satisfaction and get back to business as usual (or cringe and struggle in the wake of failed technology innovation—a major liability when a business has this mindset about technology).
Tech pros know that getting the business to embrace a strategic digital approach can’t be accomplished in such a transactional way. It’s complicated—and often requires far more cultural change than most folks assume. That’s why it’s useful to think of this endeavor in terms of digital maturity, which is more expansive in scope than implementing a single piece of technology. According to MIT Sloan Management Review, “Digital maturity is the process of your company learning how to respond appropriately to the emerging digital competitive environment.” This viewpoint assumes the business will undergo continual evolution similar to the way humans do over the different stages of their lives.
Understand the digital maturity lifecycle
Of course, there are other technology maturity frameworks out there already, all with easy-to-follow indicators for how to get from point A to point B. By contrast, the digital maturity lifecycle takes a far more gradual and holistic approach. Just as a child slowly grows into an adolescent long before reaching adulthood, so too, does a business. You can’t leapfrog across any stage of maturity when it comes to evolution. You may not necessarily even know what maturity looks like for your organization early in the process, but that’s fine. Novatech has been an IT industry leader for over 25 years- we can show you the way through this evolution. Contact our MITS team today: Novatech.net
