Article > Platforms
What’s Your Digital Maturity Score?
By: Dusty Dean | Q4 2020
Clients seek BITCADET because they are frustrated. They are tired of investing in technological advancements to see them fail. They are fatigued from just playing catch-up to their competitors. Often, they are demoralized and unable to say where the problem really lies; they just want a new path forward and they want the guaranteed execution success of a specialized digital consulting firm.
When we begin work with clients one of our most revealing questions is: do your employees have the skills to use the digital tools you’re investing in?
Using this in-depth analysis, we understand each team member’s skill set, the opportunities and constraints, and how prepared the company is for digital change.
Most clients are stunned by the results, often overestimating the skills of their staff. According to OECD, only 31% of US workers possess the digital literacy skills needed to navigate a new online form, accurately use drop down menus, and use sort functions to find information1.
It’s no surprise then that across industries, less than 30% of technological change projects are successful2. They fail at many points: from execution through maintenance, and the problem is often inextricably linked to a failure of staff adoption.
This led BITCADET to acknowledge several key components critical for digital project success:
- There must be a deep understanding of the process and the people
- Proposed solutions cannot be too technically advanced for staff
- The pace of change is often slow for managers and fast for employees, expectations must be managed
- The project must be successful among the staff to sustain long-term adoption
Our initial step with each client is to assess the Digital Literacy Quotient of their employees. Using this in-depth analysis, we understand each team member’s skill set, the opportunities and constraints, and how prepared the company is for digital change. Next, we understand the Digital Maturity Score of the proposed technical solution.
Using the Digital Literacy Quotient and the Digital Maturity Score, we then develop each client’s Organizational Digital Intersection Point (ODIP). ODIP is when the skills of the employees and the technical requirements of the solution intersect, and indicates the proposed solution is ready for adoption. We achieve ODIP in one of two ways: we scale down the amount of technical skills the solution requires or increase the digital skill level of the staff. As the employee technical aptitude increases, so can the technical features of the solution.
We encourage all organizations considering a major digital initiative, or experiencing failure with an ongoing project, to begin by assessing the digital literacy of their team and the digital tools they are expected to operate. By assuring you do not have a mismatch of employee skill set and solution skill requirements, you’ll be in a stronger position for success.
1 – OECD (2016), Skills Matter: Further Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Skills Studies,
OECD Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264258051-en
2 – https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/unlocking-success-in-digital-transformations
