What truly matters to nail digitalization

Digitalization is an ongoing trend, whatever industry you are in. It does not really matter whether your competitors are already innovating or not. Digital innovators such as Amazon, Uber, AirBnB – but also start-ups you probably haven’t heard of just yet – are already setting new expectations for your customers.

To which extend is digitalization a success factor within your industry? And how do you compare to your peers on digitalization?

Top 3 concepts around digitalization

Several concepts are trying to provide an answer to these questions:

  • Digitalization: the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; the process of moving to a digital business. Also referred to as digital transformation.
  • Digital maturity: the combination of digital intensity and transformation management intensity. Digital intensity: investment in technologies and tech-related initiatives aimed at changing the way the organization works; transformation management intensity: investment in leadership competencies to support that digital transformation.
  • Digital quotient: a measure of a company’s digital maturity and capabilities in relation with financial performance. The purpose is to identify the digital strengths and weaknesses of an organization, and to provide a matrix for comparison.

What truly matters

You can thus rely on well-defined frameworks to assess your organization’s digital capabilities. This will help you in comparing yourself to your peers across one or several industries.

What truly matters though, on top of looking at culture, processes, capabilities, etc. is your strategy. Because digital transformation isn’t all about the technology, it’s about the strategy that drives it, and the people who empower it.

So, before anything, ask yourself the question: is your digital strategy good enough?

#digital maturity #digital quotient #digitalization