Upcoming Presentation: Measuring the Maturity of Your Digital Transformation Efforts

 

By N. Christine Aykac, PMI-ACP, PMI-RMP, PMP
Project Coach/Learning Strategist
Acuna Consulting

According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), companies are pouring millions into “digital transformation” initiatives. However, a high percentage of those efforts fail to pay off.  According to HBR, that’s because companies are jumping on specific technology initiatives. In short, most organizations see digital transformation as a project with start and end dates, and they are working towards an end date. On the way, most of them are measuring the transformation efforts based on the output of a project, and their assessments are related to key activities within those projects.

As you may know, upgrading a system, implementing a new process, and setting up a new service are all projects. Within the transformation strategy, you will have projects to improve your systems, but the transformation is not a project, whether digital, agile, or business transformation. There is no end to any transformation efforts because continuous improvement is an ongoing, never-ending effort. Once you reach the optimal state, there would be innovations, the market will change, new needs will arise, and you will be continuing improvements, adapting new methods, and changing your processes. 

Experts call this era the fourth industrial revolution, or simply the “digital revolution.” Yes, I believe it is part of the industrial revolution series, but I’d like to bring your attention to one thing: Digital revaluation is not linear anymore, like the previous ones! The second industrial revolution followed the previous one about 100 years later, like electrical power following the steam power, improving how we produce products. On the other hand, the digital revolution impacts everything: our social lives, our culture and how we behave. That’s why I believe the transformation is a lifelong journey. That’s why we should look at transformation-related activities from a different angle. It is a maturity process that goes in cycles. 

Technology, systems, and applications will help you with your digital transformation efforts, but they are not the drivers of the digital transformation. A mindset of the organization and accepting the change is never-ending; it is a continuous key endeavor here. So, when assessing the digital transformation efforts, one needs to look at the multi-dimensional way. Similar to the digital revolution, digital transformation is not linear.

I identified a few dimensions for you to consider:

•    Systems: Available tools and infrastructure for employees, customers, partners.
•    Business Model: How value is delivered in the industry, i.e., traditional - bricks and mortar, or you are a startup, sailing on uncharted waters.
•    Organizational Culture: Current organizational mindsets, culture, and structure. Collaboration and business functions how are they working. 
•    Processes: Current organizational process, i.e., is decision-making hierarchal, lean and collaborative or a one-man show. How about your business ecosystems - holistic or descriptive? 
•    People: Available talent and their capabilities; how much are your people participating in the digital transformation activities? Are they aware that their organization is going through a digital transformation?

You may ask, “Is that all?” Not at all; however, I’d like to keep it short and simple. You might include or exclude other dimensions important for your businesses, such as the environment of your organizations’ functions. These dimensions are just to give you an idea on how to decide which dimensions should be included in your transformation’s efforts. 

Sometimes organizations focus solely on technology or processes. Failure to address all dimensions related to your business leaves significant value on the table. New technologies create substantial opportunities, but corporations that don’t recognize and pursue transformation in a multi-dimensional way may find themselves missing out on these opportunities. 

How can you measure the maturity of your transformation efforts? First, you should answer the “why.” Why should you measure the maturity of your transformation efforts? 

As you may know, maturity is related to the degree of formality and continuous optimization of processes. Thus, the maturity spans from ad-hoc practices to formally defined steps and actively optimizing processes, systems, operations, and so forth. Maturity assessments are not a one-time exercise; you should be running them periodically as an operational activity, not a project. It also helps to identify an organization’s maturity in a number of areas and points out the areas of improvement. Maturity models are valuable tools for benchmarking capability that give an incremental target for improvements. It provides a starting point for moving forward and reaching our goals.

As mentioned, digital transformation is not a project, and there are multiple dimensions to any transformation efforts. So, how can you reach an acceptable level of maturity within your organization? How can you bring your teams to a “collective thinking” state to improve the effectiveness of your efforts? Once you have a realistic answer, you should apply a very simple model to measure the maturity level.
 

Interested in learning more and furthering the dialogue? Join me on Wednesday, 6 October, at the PMI Virtual Experience Series event and attend Session 403: Measuring the Maturity of Your Digital Transformation Efforts.