Understand Your Company’s level of Digital Maturity for Process Automation

Process automation is the main difficulty EU companies face in digital maturity. This was the factor that prevented the worst evaluation index in a survey on the preparation for the digital transformation of the business.

“On the other hand, according to Forbes, a study carried out by the international consultancy Bip in 2020 showed that on a scale of 1 to 5, the average obtained by large national companies was 2.7, which means an intermediate level of digital maturity.” 

Companies with advanced digital maturity show higher performance and high growth than the competition, which positively impacts business results. 

The most digitally mature organizations are defined by their clear digital transformation strategies, which include process automation, innovation investment, and employee training. 

But what exactly is digital maturity? And how does it differ from digital transformation? That’s what you’ll see now.

What is digital maturity:

Digital maturity consists of a high level of understanding and integration of technologies into the company’s routine. This is a more advanced phase, which happens right after the digital transformation process. 

When a company reaches a high level of maturity in using technological tools and works in a consolidated way with digital processes in its day-to-day, it improves business performance. 

At this stage, organizations apply technological tools in their field of activity. In addition, they acquire the ability to take advantage of the opportunities generated using these resources to promote business development.

Digital transformation vs digital maturity

Confusion about these two concepts is common. Digital transformation is about the inclusion of technological tools in an organization to start digitizing processes.

Digital maturity, on the other hand, corresponds to a stage in which progress is consolidated and integrated into this new reality.

In this sense, teams seek to make the advantages of digital transformation part of the company’s organizational culture.

Therefore: digital transformation is when a company uses digital tools, and digital maturity is when digital transformation is part of the business culture.

Know the levels of digital maturity for process automation according to BCG

According to BCG (The Boston Consulting Group), there are four levels of digital maturity that a company can achieve. Understand what they are below:

1. Springs

It consists of the basic level of digitization. 

At this stage, companies do not care about the outcome of their strategies to support their decisions, despite having a digital presence, such as a website, social networks, and e-commerce.

 Their actions are based on third-party data and do not calculate return on investment.

In process automation, this company still prefers paper and physical document archiving. In the case of storing files in the cloud, there is a lack of integration and difficulty locating the necessary documents. 

In addition, it is typical for the company not to have privacy policies, and documents can be freely accessed and shared.

2. Emerging

This level uses a data storage and processing process in its operational strategies. However, the information obtained is not used in the crossing of results, which shows the lack of governance over these data.

The technology, at this stage, is a little more advanced and the company already has defined processes for storing documents. 

However, the organization of files is still precarious, making it difficult for employees to work, leaving data unsecured and prone to hacker attacks and information theft. 

3. Connected

Companies, at this stage, monitor, analyze and link multichannel data and information. In addition, the organization can connect the results to sales strategies, study the return on investment and predict scenarios through the data obtained.

Regarding the automation of processes, the company has cloud storage in an organized and secure way, limiting some information for professionals but facilitating the day to day in work functions. 

However, the company still allocates resources to perform functions that could be facilitated using technologies.

4. Multimomento

At this level, through the integration of data and communication channels, companies can personalize and provide exceptional experiences based on the individual results of each customer.

Document scanning is established at this level. Therefore, process automation, data protection, cloud storage, data research, and analysis, among other features, are designed to facilitate the day-to-day in the company, promoting more productivity and providing more significant results for the business. 

How McKinsey measures the digital maturity of companies:

For McKinsey, in addition to engaging its customers digitally, the process consists of improving financial performance in four areas: strategy, capabilities, organization, and culture. See below:

1. Strategy 

The first point analyzed in the maturity diagnosis is how much the digital strategy relates to the company’s global strategy. 

Leading companies have a clear link between digital and business strategy. In contrast, less mature companies present a dispersed set of initiatives and do not have a clearly defined transformation plan, implying significant challenges for execution. 

According to Mckinsey, digital and analytics are “enablers” of strategy and do not constitute a strategy.

 The most exciting thing is that, in the diagnosis of EU companies, even among the leading companies, only a tiny portion manages to go further and articulate the digital strategy in multiple dimensions of the business (back office and human resources, for example).

2. Capabilities

In addition to strategy, companies must develop capabilities to sustain change, investing in data and information management for strategic definition and monitoring, tools that promote the generation of insights about the business and improve decision-making. 

 As well as investments to increase the digital engagement of stakeholders through brand positioning in digital media. 

One of the critical points of this phase is identifying tools that generate insights to improve business management from data, which are managed in an organized and systematized way.

3. Organization

At this point, Mckinsey assesses whether the company’s digital and analytics framework encourages collaboration across business units.

 Another point that enters the assessment is whether there are clear KPIs, whether they are related to strategic priorities and whether the institution systematically and regularly monitors them.

In addition, companies are judged on their ability to attract, develop, and retain top talent in digital and analytics and on the existence and proficiency of critical roles that foster communication and understanding between the technology and business specialist roles. 

It is worth mentioning that the level of governance within the company is also analyzed here. 

4. Culture

While solid capabilities are essential, companies can, in a way, balance the gaps when they build agile, flexible cultures under external guidance and with a solid openness to learning.

 We know that culture is essential for generating value in companies that seek a digital transformation, but the truth is that most EU companies face challenges in this dimension. 

This culture that is willing to test and learn agilely incorporates automation initiatives, constant monitoring, sharing with the community (external guidance), and collaboration to combine functions and processes – previously isolated – in a product-oriented culture that moves quickly.

This way, structured environments share data minimize complexity, facilitate rapid relocation of resources, and enable reusable, modular, and interoperable IT systems.

What are the benefits of digital maturity for companies?

Investing in advancing digital maturity in your company provides competitive advantages for the business. 

The fact of performing several tasks at the same time in an automated way guarantees several benefits for the company. Discover the main benefits that digital maturity can offer:

• Increase in productivity: process optimization helps automate internal routines, promoting more productivity in functions that previously took a long time to perform.
• Cost reduction: according to BCG, businesses that fit into multi-moment tend to see a 20% increase in revenues and a reduction of around 30% in expenses.
• Competitiveness in the market: in the EU, companies’ maturity level is still considered intermediate, which shows a business opportunity to take advantage of the moment to get ahead of the competition. 

Therefore, digital maturity is a subject that will be discussed a lot in the coming years. The trend is for companies to reach higher and higher levels to differentiate themselves and keep up with the market.

 Therefore, it is essential to understand which one your business fits into and direct your investments to this area, in addition to keeping track of the advances achieved. 

Do you have questions about your company’s level of digital maturity? Would you like to get help from our experts? Request a call!