In today’s world of globalization, fast-changing and competitive markets, and growing customer expectations, digitalization has become a crucial success factor for many corporations. It is a key element in determining whether the company thrives in difficult times, like corona, or drowns in the current of competition. Thus, digital maturity enables future-proof business by bringing various benefits to the company that are concrete, accessible, and extensive.
However, many companies struggle to navigate through their complex digital transformation journey. That is where the Digital Maturity Model (DMM) comes into play! This model was jointly developed by TM Forum and Detecon addressing exactly the pain points during a digital transformation. It is the first industry-standard model which offers a structured and holistic approach to help organizations determining where they are and where they should be heading to.
But how can our Digital Maturity Model boost your business?
The benefits of the DMM can be seen from a general view and an internal & external perspective of a company.
General Benefits:
Authenticity
The DMM was co-developed by Detecon with TM-Forum, known for extensive experience in the field of digitalization and their established standing in the industry. Clients benefit from the TM-Forum’s commitment to accelerate innovation, solve problems quickly, and manage the journey as it has positively influenced the model. In addition, Detecon has a proven track record of successfully assisting numerous organizations on their transformation journey.
Customization
In their digitization process, every company faces individual problems that require individual solutions and support. Detecon therefore offers with the DMM a tailored approach for such complex journeys in order to identify the individual problem areas adequately and to leverage the company's potential.
To determine the current digital maturity level, the assessment is customized to the company in terms of its size, departments, and hierarchical structure. Thus, only an optimal subsequent assessment of the status of the transformation journey and further approaches can be ensured. Detecon’s expert analysis offers tailored improvement measures targeting the pain points, delivering short- and long-term goals and plans, and creating transparency in great detail.
Customization delivers the further benefit that any recommendations we make, prioritize focus areas, and improve in line with your individual overarching digital ambitions - ensuring that we are moving in the right direction together.
Internal/ External Benefits
Transparency
Improvement requires transparency. There are two reasons for this: problem identification and target setting. Only by knowing your current state you will be able to identify the underlying problems and challenges, subsequently, set future targets. The DMM facilitates decision-making by providing transparency and lays the foundation for identifying root causes and corresponding measures and initiatives in transformation projects.
- Internal Perspective: A Digital Maturity Assessment provides you with a holistic view of your as-is as well as your ideal target state. Knowing this gap allows identifying those levers for improvements that are paramount in helping you master the pain points in the organization. Furthermore, the assessment provides you with an interdepartmental sentiment analysis, a tool to compare the departments to one another and identify underlying frictions.
- External Perspective: However, to gain complete transparency, you must look beyond your own nose. How do other companies in the same industry compare to me? Where is the competition ahead of me, where do I have an advantage? The DMM offers comprehensive regional benchmarking that provides valuable insights into the market and provides support in addressing the questions asked. This external orientation is essential for a company to remain competitive.
Making Success Visible
- Internal Perspective: A company stands and falls with its employees. Unmotivated employees have no interest in achieving the set goals and thus hinder success. To create intrinsic motivation, successes must be made visible. The assessment provides this visualization through sentiment analysis, KPIs, and benchmarking. Moreover, a follow-up DMM assessment after some time is useful to show where improvements have been made and where there is reason to celebrate!
- External Perspective: The same applies to the shareholders, their main interest being the profitability of the business. They want to see the company grow, face new challenges, and adapt to new developments. By sharing with them the results achieved, shareholders get a clear overview of the current level of digital maturity and the actions planned in this respect.
We would like to thank Viola Schadde for her collaboration on this article.
