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In the business market, reaching digital maturity is a sure way to obtain a competitive advantage. After all, with so many technological tools available, there is no reason not to use them to increase business innovation.
However, this is not such a simple practice. The journey takes time and requires care and constant investment in technologies and IT services related to servers, hosting and consulting.
Even so, all efforts pay off and create ideal conditions for your brand to gain presence and win over more and more people (consumers, talented professionals, partners and suppliers). Such conduct demonstrates care for innovations and conveys an attitude aligned with digital transformation.
With that in mind, we’ve put together everything you need to know about digital maturity. Understand how to measure and implement this valuable strategy in your enterprise.
What is digital maturity?
Digital maturity corresponds to the level of technological innovation that a company reaches in the operational flow and in the customer journey. In an ideal circumstance, automation acts to support organizational activities — support that generates efficiency in the teams, processes and technologies that already existed in the company.
In a digitally mature enterprise, it is difficult to see the technology, as it is properly integrated into the business, making routine procedures more natural, intuitive and agile.
However, it is important to say that digital maturity is a variable condition. This means that companies can be more or less mature, they can evolve or go backwards if they stop investing in technological innovations and let the competition overcome them. That’s why it’s important to constantly assess the maturity level to ensure continuous evolution.
Digital maturity in Brazil
according to research by Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC)presented by Exame magazine, 18% of Brazilian companies are at the beginning of digital transformation, 45% are on the way and 36% have already reached a certain level of maturity.
In addition, it is important to emphasize that it is people who digitize processes, products and services and not just technologies. Therefore, professional training is essential. Therefore, we see that Brazil needs to invest heavily in the technical qualification of its employees to reach a good level of digital maturity.
With regard to micro and small enterprises (MSEs), a survey by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV)shows that they are in the first levels of digital maturity, with the average corresponding to 40.77 points — on a scale from 0 to 100.
What are the stages of digital maturity?
Digital maturity contains four distinct and gradual stages. Are they:
- nascent: is the basic level and corresponds to enterprises that are not very connected to the data that corresponds to the results of their operations, and use information from third parties (Googles Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.) to formulate their strategies;
- emerging: they still use data from third-party brands, but they also collect referrals on their own. It has better technical capacity and qualified staff to deal with this demand. Generate insights more easily;
- connected: refers to businesses that integrate information from different sources (channels), being able to collect results and evaluate specific metrics, always looking for improvements and innovations;
- multimoment: is when companies use technologies to enhance internal operations and deliver unique and personalized experiences, according to the individual characteristics of their consumers, regardless of the channels used.
How does digital maturity benefit your business?
The higher the digital maturity of a company, the better its activities and results will be. After all, technological tools are innovation carriers and allow institutions from all segments to be able to compete with each other on an equal basis.
The most expressive advantages of this condition correspond to:
- automation improvement;
- growth of information security;
- digitization for operational efficiency;
- reducing bureaucracy of activities and obligations;
- reduction of failures and rework;
- incorporation of data intelligence;
- qualification of the customer experience.
How to measure the level of digital maturity of the company?
If the company knows where it is, it becomes easier how long it will take to reach its goals. To do this, you need to ask the following specific questions to measure the digital maturity of your business:
- Do we have clear strategic management and organizational missions?
- Where are we in our digital transformation cycle?
- Do we have company-wide buy-in?
- What disruptive drivers drive digitalization at our institution (competition, operational demands, customer needs)?
- What emerging technology trends could impact our corporation?
- What is our level of technological dominance compared to the market?
- How efficient is our operational activity and digital experience across different channels?
- How do we innovate technologically?
- How do we track the results of our digital initiatives?
By raising the answers to such questions, you will know exactly what stage of maturity your company is in.
How to implement this strategy?
Technology is only one part of the strategy, after all, digital maturity is about how your company uses technology. It’s a constant improvement activity that leads to success—if done accurately. See the following recommendations for making your business digitally mature.
Don’t hesitate to take a risk
Implementing digital maturity works by trial and error. And that generates rewards for experimentation and iteration, making all teams and departments acquire technological mastery regarding the resources and tools used. If you are afraid to take risks and innovate in this way, your company will struggle with this type of maturation.
Take care of the organizational structure
It is necessary to have an adequate organizational structure to support innovation and digital maturity. This means that all levels of the company must be involved. Buy-in needs to be part of all teams and departments to prevent the flow of technology implementation and experimentation from going unchecked.
Then, you need to improve all industries—not just marketing, sales, and IT—to embrace digital transformation. If you implement innovation evenly and gradually, your company will mature more easily.
Nurture a digital culture of continuous learning
Continuous digital learning should be part of the teams’ routine so that they acquire experience and mastery over the tools and systems available in the company. For this, it is necessary to constantly instruct them so that they are able to use such technologies and suggest improvements in strategic operational points. This proactivity needs to be encouraged so that all professionals develop new skills and competencies.
Invest in omnichannel
Digitally mature institutions can monitor all stages of the customer journey, especially in the available contact channels, in order to generate strategic insights.
In this sense, omnichannel (integration between different channels) is indispensable for the company’s continuous technological maturation process. Thus, it is possible to improve the experience of consumers and obtain valuable data to improve the results of your brand.
So, did you understand what digital maturity is? After measuring and implementing this strategy, your company will be ready to carry out continuous optimizations in internal processes and commercial journeys. The secret lies in assessing technological trends to understand whether they are compatible with the operational and marketing demands of your business.
Did you know that cloud computing is all about digital maturity? Understand.
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