What Is Digital Maturity and How Can Your Business Achieve It?

When digital maturity is talked about, it’s often associated with having the latest technology or AI tools. While there’s some truth to that, that’s not what it’s all about. Instead, it’s about using the tools you already have and how you use them strategically to optimise the business.  

Many companies spend millions building out complex systems that barely improve performance. But truly mature ones integrate the valuable technology as their main tool for growth.

What Does Digital Maturity Actually Mean Then? 

At its core, digital maturity is all about how effectively an organisation uses digital tools to improve performance consistently. It’s an iteration of the quality versus quantity argument in business, but in the form of how well a business uses a platform. 

This is seen best when businesses make fast and data-driven decisions. They automate tasks when needed so their staff can focus on less repetitive tasks. And when customer experience (CX) is involved, it’s always seamless across all their touchpoints. 

Relating to businesses and organisations, each digital initiative needs to connect clearly to a certain business goal. If it doesn’t exactly improve the bottom line or customer satisfaction, then it’s not worth doing. 

The Four Stages of Digital Development 

If we’re talking about maturity, it’s best to look at it broken down into 4 distinct stages: 

1. Digital Beginners 

As the name suggests, they’re teams that rely on the basics. Think of email, simple websites, and standard office apps like Office 365. The tech they use supports the business but doesn’t move it forward. 

2. Digital Followers 

This is where CRMS, analytics dashboards, and cloud apps begin to pop up. The challenge at this stage revolves around inconsistent adoption of the chosen technology across all departments. 

3. Digital Collaborators 

Here’s where things click. Repetitive work is automated, teams are collaborating, and the whole business’s data is flowing and centralised. It also flows outward to customers as they get a better and more consistent experience. 

4. Digital Leaders 

This is the top tier. These are the companies that use the right technology to innovate themselves and their business models. They predict market shifts, if not predict them, and set the benchmark for everyone else. 

How to Assess Where You Stand 

If you’re not sure which stage you’re at, then it’s best to look at the business when it comes to changes digitally. Start with an honest look at your current setup and ask questions like: 

• Technology: Can your systems communicate with each other? Can they scale as you grow?

• Data: Can decision-makers access real-time insights, or do they wait for monthly reports?

• Processes: Which manual tasks still eat up your team’s time?

• CX: Is it consistent across touchpoints, or does it feel like starting from scratch every time?

• Innovation: How often are you rolling out something new to move the business forward? 

Treat it like a checklist, if you will. The important part is to find out where your strengths lie and where you’re being held back.

Your Path to Digital Leadership 

It’s obvious that we all want to get to the 4th stage as fast as we can. But to get there, we have to stop chasing every new shiny feature, get a strategic mindset and follow this path:  

• Start with Outcomes: It can be lower costs or better CX. It’s important to define what success looks like. 

• Prioritise Integration: A few connected systems always beat a dozen disconnected ones.

• Focus on Data Quality: Don’t dwell on analytics if your data isn’t reliable in the first place.

• Invest in Your People: It should involve everyone in the organisation, not just focus on IT.

• Measure in Impact: Track how your investments in technology affect the business positively. 

The Bottom Line 

Having digital maturity should be high up on a business’s list of priorities. Nobody wants to be left behind when talking about tech, especially when it’s already an essential part of every business. What’s important right now is to determine where you stand and work your way up to being part of the trend setters.