WHY DIGITAL MATURITY IS IMPORTANT FOR COMPANY DEVELOPMENT

Now businesses are actively implementing digital solutions in their activities, for example, retailers make it easier for customers to shop using online stores, fintech companies help organize personal finances through budget planning applications. Digital transformation affects not only individual companies, but also entire areas: art, medicine, science, media and the state. One of the main results of digitalization is digital maturity. In this article, we tell you what it is, how to determine the level of digital maturity and why every company should strive for it.

What is digital business maturity

Digital maturity is the level of digital development of a company, the ability to create value and improve business processes using digital technologies. Digital maturity is determined by the number of employees of the organization who use IT solutions in their work, the amount of investment in technology, and the corporate culture aimed at implementing digital solutions.

What is the difference between digital maturity and transformation

If digital transformation is a continuous process of introducing new technologies, then digital maturity is the result of these changes.

For example, when an organization starts developing an online store and an application to change the shopping process, this is a transformation. The resulting ecosystem through which customers buy the company's products is the result of a transformation and a step towards digital maturity.

Another example is the transformation of storage systems - migration from local (on-premise) to cloud (off-premise). The resulting scalable cloud storage will be another step towards digital business maturity.

How to determine the level of digital development

First of all, digital maturity is determined by the level of process automation using IT solutions. Investing in technology boosts digital development. To determine the level of digitalization, pay attention to the following aspects.

Project management. With low digital maturity, employees fix tasks in personal messages, verbally, or even on paper. At a high level of development, teams use task managers to discuss, distribute and evaluate tasks. Communications are conducted in Telegram work chats or corporate messengers, and for all questions, an employee can contact the company's support service.

Sales. With a low level of digital development, sales are carried out by phone or in offline meetings. At high, sales are automated using CRM systems and marketing tools, the user can place an online order, and managers use mail, instant messengers, and online meetings.

Marketing. A company with low digital maturity promotes its product haphazardly, relying on its opinion, rather than industry best practices and testing new tools. A high level of development determines promotion through the website, application, social networks and online platforms. Marketers set up contextual and targeted advertising, work on native and affiliate promotion. Employees study the portrait of their customers and set up personalization. To attract new specialists, an analysis of the company's HR brand is carried out.

Data storage. In a company at a low level of digital development, data is stored on users' devices, the exchange takes place via flash drives or mail. At a high level, data is stored in cloud storage, DMP and CRM platforms are used, document management services are connected.

Support within the company. High digital maturity is impossible without the organization of IT services. IT Service Management can help with this - a system for automating IT processes in the company's service departments, such as the legal department, IT, HR and other internal departments. The implementation of ITSM takes place in accordance with ITIL - this is a description of the best industry practices for managing IT services using a process-service approach.

Service management within the company. Companies at a high level of digital maturity use ESM systems that are responsible for managing enterprise services. ESM operates on the principles of IT service management in non-IT business functions. The company's solutions are combined on a single platform, where a set of services simplifies the management of all processes.

What are the stages of digital maturity

The Boston Consulting Group, which specializes in management consulting, and Think with Google, in their joint project Digital Maturity Benchmark, identified four stages of digital maturity.

1. The company uses the quality of data to aggregate data across departments and requires strong management support and stakeholder engagement.
2. The organization is focused on improving experiences, adopting new technologies, and developing strategies to scale across departments.
3. Businesses use data-driven processes to improve performance, use offline and online data to drive sales and support overall company goals.
4. The organization uses fully data-driven integrations, streamlining across channels, touchpoints, and departments.

You can use the Digital Maturity Benchmark project to determine where you are. To do this, you need to answer questions. The result will be development advice and a business roadmap based on an analysis of the level of digital maturity.

How to raise the level of digital maturity

Cloud systems are a prerequisite for digital maturity. Cloud business is growing, startups and small companies can use the clouds for a small cost. Data storage, servers, networks, software, monitoring tools and many other tools can be rented from the provider.

A mature company provides employees with a single cloud platform for any interaction. More professionals are getting the opportunity to work remotely.

ITSM systems help to automate IT processes in the company's service departments. ESM systems are responsible for managing corporate services, combining all services on one site. ITSM and ESM simplify the management of all company processes.

All aspects of digital transformation require a fault-tolerant and scalable IT infrastructure – without the ability to quickly scale up capacity and secure data, digital maturity is impossible.

Blockchain technologies, ML and big data analysis will help to improve the efficiency of operations. To optimize interaction with customers - CRM and customer experience management systems.

It is essential to educate and engage employees in digital development. Business transformation should be transparent and clear to all participants, because not only tools will change, but also business processes, models of team interaction. For successful digital development, an environment where employees are constantly developing and ready to implement new digital products will help. Mature companies have a transparent and understandable structure, where there is no need for manual management.

Why digital development is important for business

By focusing on capabilities that increase the level of digital maturity, companies can improve competitive advantages: time to market, cost efficiency, product quality and customer satisfaction.

Digitally mature companies use data and technology to continuously improve every aspect of their business model: what the company offers, how it operates, and how it interacts with its customers and suppliers.

It should be borne in mind that digital transformation is impossible in a vacuum: the company's partners and cloud providers will help in the process of business digitalization. A cloud service provider will help you achieve digital maturity.

Cloud provider ITGLOBAL.COM rents out all types of computing resources in the cloud. Services such as the rental of computing power and software, the necessary information and professional support will be important aspects of digital transformation.