07/06/2022
What is digital maturity
The optimized use of new digital technologies and their application across all sectors—now increasingly virtualized—are, today, among the most relevant factors in determining the success of an organization. While many companies have been strengthening and refining their digital transformation processes, for some Brazilian businesses, digital maturity is still an unknown concept.
==“Companies understand that the virtualized world is no longer an option but a necessary adaptation. This virtual space manifests in many forms—from a customer’s buying journey to a professional’s work journey in a remote environment, for example,” says Adriana Tavares, Head of Portfolio and Digital Solutions at INSI.==
Driving cultural, strategic, and organizational changes that include governance aspects requires in-depth knowledge in areas such as Business Agility, business and operational process management, and technology management.
Components of Digital Maturity indexes These topics take on greater relevance in a digital study by McKinsey & Company, based on an in-depth analysis of corporate data. The research yielded valuable insights into the components, strategies, and digital solutions that define Digital Maturity: a maturity index that companies should strive to achieve. McKinsey refers to this as the Digital Quotient.
When we talk about digital maturity, we are referring to a series of short-, medium-, and long-term actions and processes that equip a company to become truly innovative and disruptive. It’s important to highlight that as a company becomes more complex, so does the need for solutions that encompass every department of the organization.
In this context, partnering with organizations that have proven expertise makes it easier to structure end-to-end processes—resulting in sustainable, enterprise-level digital maturity.
Digital maturity assessment
The term “Digital Maturity” refers to a phenomenon that has emerged alongside digital businesses and Industry 4.0. In the wake of corporate transformation, the application and implementation of modern technologies in business is directly tied to digitalization and virtualization, with a constant pursuit of optimized business processes and operations.
To achieve digital maturity, it’s necessary to invest in technology and implement solutions. Over time, this strengthens the development and maintenance of activities across different sectors, both locally and globally.
Virtualizing operations is an important part of business digitalization in the online environment. However, to succeed in this process, total integration of operations and human capital into digital processes is essential—supported by regular assessments.
In summary, technology applied in favor of digital maturity creates a productive relationship between leadership, employees, and processes—enhancing and improving the customer experience with any product or service.
Corporate digital maturity
There are various definitions of what constitutes valuable digital maturity in the corporate environment. The following characteristics serve as indicators to determine a company’s stage in the digital transformation journey:
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Digital maturity means understanding how organizations systematically prepare to embrace the rapid and recurring digital changes in today’s business landscape.
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The term “Digital Maturity” is directly related to “Digital Transformation,” representing an advanced stage of change management and forming part of a much broader corporate process.
Companies that have invested in their digital maturity are now experiencing substantial improvements in overall business performance. Instead of losing market share, they have expanded it—ensuring greater customer satisfaction with operations and processes. E-commerce success stories are particularly notable in the digital environment.
Digital strategies: consolidating business maturity
Digital strategies are closely tied to disruption, innovation, and business objectives. To execute an effective digital strategy focused on these goals, organizations must invest resources in areas where technology can truly transform corporate dynamics.
It is also necessary to address organizational change management and create mechanisms that provide flexibility for making adjustments in institutional culture, business models, and related operations.
Organizations should focus more on cross-functional collaboration than on traditional “command-and-control” systems. According to digital strategists, the traditional organizational structure slows the journey toward successful digital transformation.
Finally, multidisciplinary teams prepare other employees to “think outside the box,” combining different perspectives from various business areas to apply previously acquired knowledge in new institutional projects.
Shifting from a siloed technical-cultural model to a cross-collaboration model also builds a functional foundation that boosts operational effectiveness and “risk tolerance.” By encouraging experimentation as a digital strategy, innovation and disruption can take root more solidly.
Leadership in digital maturity
To achieve the desired level of digital maturity, digital transformation pushes leaders to reassess the role and value of data in their business models. In a 2012 article, the influential Harvard Business Review reported that data-driven companies were 5% more productive and 6% more profitable than their competitors. Today, data is considered the raw material for developing business strategies.
As a result, communication, human resources management, logistics, and production as a whole are being “renewed,” creating ecosystems that foster innovation. However, technology alone is not enough to create transactions that increase profit margins and enable sustainable growth.
One viable solution lies in using modeled and customized information to establish optimized parameters—making decision-making easier, especially in highly volatile business environments (VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous).
New digital businesses require approaches and leadership that go beyond traditional management models. As Adriana Tavares from INSI points out: “Technology is an enabler for society. Social networks, online stores, remote work, and other services are increasingly indispensable aspects of our daily lives.”
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