Framework library · Technology management
Digital maturity model
A digital maturity model rates an organisation's capability in stages, dimension by dimension, from first experiments to digital ways of working built into how the business runs. Its value is in the gap between the level today and the level the strategy needs, which shows where to invest first. An overall score on its own decides nothing.
Use it when
- A digital or transformation programme is being planned and needs a baseline to measure progress against.
- Leaders disagree about where the organisation stands, and you want the disagreement on the table, dimension by dimension.
- You need to decide which capability to invest in first, and want the gap between today and what the strategy needs to drive the choice.
- Two businesses are combining and need a common view of how differently they work.
Avoid it when
- You want to know how you compare with competitors. A self-assessment rates you against your own statements. Comparison needs outside data: use competitive benchmarking.
- The strategy is not settled. Without it the targets are guesses and the gaps mean nothing. Agree the direction first, for example with a strategy map.
- The question is about one process or one system. Assess that directly with a gap analysis or a business capability map rather than rating the whole organisation.
How to run it
Write down what the strategy needs
Name the one or two outcomes the digital work must deliver, such as "all sales and service available without a call by 2028". The targets come from these, not from a wish to be advanced everywhere.
Rate separately before discussing
Each person rates every statement alone, with evidence in mind. Averaging after a discussion hides the disagreement, which is often the finding.
Talk through the spread
Where ratings differ by two points or more, ask each person what they were thinking of. Agree a score per statement from the evidence.
Set a target for each dimension
The level the strategy needs in the next two to three years. Not every dimension needs to be high; a target of 3 is often enough.
Read the gaps against the strategy
The largest gaps on the dimensions the strategy depends on are where to invest first. A weak dimension the strategy does not need can wait.
Turn the top gaps into initiatives
For each, name an owner, a first action and the evidence that would show the level has moved, then rate again in six or twelve months with the same people.
Work through it
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Mistakes to avoid
- Rating intentions rather than practice. A data governance policy that nobody follows scores 1, not 3.
- Setting the target at 5 everywhere. Every gap then looks urgent, so none is.
- Reading the result as a technology shopping list. Low scores on data, ownership or skills are rarely fixed by buying a system.
- Rating again with different people. Keep the panel the same, or the change you see is a change of raters.
Where it comes from
There is no single standard, and published models differ in their dimensions and levels. Gerald C. Kane and colleagues compared organisations at different stages of digital maturity in "Strategy, not technology, drives digital transformation" (MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte, 2015). TM Forum launched a Digital Maturity Model for communications service providers in May 2017, developed with Deloitte, which rates five dimensions: customer, strategy, technology, operations, and culture, people and organisation (described in Deloitte's "Achieving digital maturity to drive growth", 2018). The dimensions and statements below are Blue Prysm's own. Source.
The dimensions and statements here are Blue Prysm's own. They are not the TM Forum Digital Maturity Model or any other published assessment, and none of their criteria is reproduced.
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Further reading
Work through it with us
The frameworks here are free to use as they stand. If you would rather work through the question behind this one with us, these are the ways an engagement starts.