digital maturity model

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Digital Maturity: the Channel Strategy Dimension

by Kelly Kubrick on January 20, 2013

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

The fifth dimension of digital maturity is your Channel Strategy. It is one of Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™ assessed in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™, a business planning tool to help organizations improve their digital processes against an established standard.

Channel Strategy icon from the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model

This dimension relates to your organization’s approach to its channel strategy for its digital initiatives. You’ll notice that “mobile” is not a channel – instead, our model assumes your digital channel interactions regardless of the customers use of desktop web vs mobile environments.

Three channel categories

There are three categories of channels, not all of which may apply to you.

  1. Digital marketing and communications channels including the use of paid (advertising), owned (website, mobile app or blog) and earned (social or public relation) media OR
  2. Digital ‘transaction-enabling’ channels such as a) ecommerce or membership sales, or to accept donations b) Non-financial transactions such as accepting job or grant applications, accepting votes or generating leads OR
  3. Digital distribution channels including direct to consumer, retail, wholesale or affiliate / partners.

How does your organization approach its channels?

Think about your organization and its approach to channel management:

1. Which of the three categories of channels described above are you currently using?
2. How would you characterize your organization’s approach to each?
3. What is the funding model for your digital channels?
4. How do you measure performance measurement of your digital channels?

Next, let’s take a look at your organization’s social business strategy.

Answering these questions is will help your organization determine if it is in the best position to implement your digital initiatives. What do you think? Have you got the right channel strategy in place to ensure your organization’s digital success?

Next: Social Business Strategy

Next, let’s take a look at the sixth dimension, your organization’s social business strategy.

Participate in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey

For specific questions that measure the human resources dimension of digital maturity, take the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. We will share our collective results at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

Learn how to measure your organization’s digital maturity

Or, to measure your organization’s digital maturity across all six dimensions, register for our Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital Maturity: the Channel Strategy Dimension

Digital Maturity: the Content Strategy Dimension

by Kelly Kubrick on January 10, 2013

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

The fourth dimension of digital maturity is your Content Strategy. It is one of Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™ assessed in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™, a business planning tool to help organizations improve their digital processes against an established standard.

Content Strategy icon from the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model

With thanks to the combined efforts of Rahel Anne Bailie, Noz Urbina, Halvorson, Kristina and Melissa Rach to provide our industry with working definitions:

Content strategy is “a comprehensive process that builds a framework to create, manage, deliver, share and archive or renew content in reliable ways”

Content strategy encompasses multiple processes

• The inventory and format(s) of the content it produces
• The location and storage of its content
• The organization’s content development and publishing process
• The performance measurement of the content it produces
• The content evaluation and archiving process

Content assets include more than we think

• Information about your organization, the people/employees, and contact information, mission.
• Product and service information
• Sales collateral
• Marketing and or advocacy collateral
• Advertising collateral
• Customer service information
• Employee education and training material
• Product support
• Policies and legal information
• User generated content such as reviews, testimonials, customer service tickets
• Your web, mobile app, blog, social or email content

How does your organization approach content strategy?

Now, think about your organization’s approach to content:

  1. Is there a comprehensive inventory of content?
  2. Which format(s) is that content available in?
  3. Where is content located and stored?
  4. What is your content development and content publishing process?
  5. Who is responsible for producing content?
  6. How is content evaluated?
  7. What is your content archiving process?
  8. Are you producing all the content you need?
  9. What is your policy towards the use of third party sources of content such as user generated content?
  10. Is there clarity internally about the difference between responsive versus adaptive content?

Definition: Responsive Content vs. Adaptive Content

Responsive content “responds to the environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. Content designed for desktop is automatically resized to the screen size of the device in use” – essentially changing in how the content is displayed, visually.

Adaptive content is “format-free, device-independent, scalable, and filterable content that is transformable for display in different environments and on different devices in an automated or dynamic fashion.”

Source: Rockley, Ann and Charles Cooper, Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy, Second Edition, Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper, New Riders, 2012)

With adaptive content, structure is applied to content so that it can be displayed accordingly to business rules that vary by use case.

Answering these questions is will help your organization determine if it is in the best position to implement your digital initiatives. What do you think? Have you got the right content strategy in place to ensure your organization’s digital success?

Next: Channel Strategy

Next, let’s take a look at the fifth dimension, your organization’s channel strategy.

Participate in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey

For specific questions that measure the human resources dimension of digital maturity, take the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. We will share our collective results at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

Learn how to measure your organization’s digital maturity

Or, to measure your organization’s digital maturity across all six dimensions, register for our upcoming Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital Maturity: the Content Strategy Dimension

Digital Maturity: the Data Strategy Dimension

by Kelly Kubrick on December 20, 2012

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

The third dimension of digital maturity is your Data Strategy. It is one of Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™ assessed in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™, a business planning tool to help organizations improve their digital processes against an established standard.

Data Strategy icon from the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model An organization’s data strategy “reflects all the ways you capture, store, manage and use information.” Without a data strategy, organizations struggle with

  • Uncertainty about what data is collected / available
  • Poorly understood data standards, and how that can lead data quality issues
    • Is it ‘stale’?
    • Is ‘clean’ and / or ‘trusted’?
    • Is it ‘usable’ / is it ‘accessible’? In which formats?
  • Deciding how long they should store data
  • Who / which roles should be responsible for protecting and securing data
  • A lack of recognition of the strategic value of the data collected

Now, think about your organization’s approach to your data:

  1. Could you inventory the different data sources your organization has available? Within each, do you know what data you are collecting?
  2. How would you characterize your organization’s collection of customer data such as email addresses, ecommerce sales data, or member information?
  3. How would you characterize your organization’s use of data?
    • How ‘clean’ is your data?
    • Do you trust the data?
  4. Who is responsible for collecting and cleaning the various data sources?
  5. Are you collecting the data needed for you to take action with it?
  6. How quickly does your organization act on the data (offline / operational, customer, or digital) you are collecting?

When assessing your level of maturity in data strategy, think about the data you collect, how you use and share it and how frequently and how quickly you act on it.

Answering these questions is will help your organization determine if it is in the best position to implement your digital initiatives. What do you think? Have you got the right data strategy in place to ensure your organization’s digital success?

Next: Content Strategy

Next, let’s take a look at the fourth dimension, your organization’s content strategy.

Participate in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey

For specific questions that measure the human resources dimension of digital maturity, take the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. We will share our collective results at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

Learn how to measure your organization’s digital maturity

Or, to measure your organization’s digital maturity across all six dimensions, register for our upcoming Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital Maturity: the Data Strategy Dimension

Digital Maturity: the Technology Resources Dimension

by Kelly Kubrick on December 10, 2012

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

The second dimension of digital maturity is Technology Resources. It is one of Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™ assessed in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™, a business planning tool to help organizations improve their digital processes against an established standard.

Which technologies are in your technology toolbox today?

Technology Resources icon from the dStrategy Digital Maturity ModelHow has your organization addressed the availability and investment in the technology necessary for implementing your digital initiatives?

What types of digital initiatives are underway?

Are you publishing web content? Social media content? Email content?

If you are publishing digital content, are you managing your website internally or does your agency? Are you (or they) managing those efforts via content management systems?

As data is one of the outputs of web, email and social content management systems, are you using any kind of analytics tools to help generate insight in how those efforts are performing?

Are any of your people trying out any tools that let them collaborate more easily? Perhaps Google Drive or Dropbox to share files with your agencies? Perhaps Skype to avoid expensive long distance phone bills?

What kinds of rules and processes or governance do you have for the use of all of these digital technologies?

Answering these questions is will help your organization determine if it is in the best position to implement your digital initiatives. What do you think? Have you got the right technologies in place to ensure your organization’s digital success?

Next: Data Strategy

Next, let’s take a look at the third dimension, your organization’s data strategy.

Participate in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey

For specific questions that measure the human resources dimension of digital maturity, take the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. We will share our collective results at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

Learn how to measure your organization’s digital maturity

Or, to measure your organization’s digital maturity across all six dimensions, register for our upcoming Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital Maturity: the Technology Resources Dimension

Digital Maturity: the Human Resources Dimension

by Kelly Kubrick on November 20, 2012

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

Introduced in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™, the first dimension of digital maturity is Human Resources.

In the model, a business planning tool to help organizations improve their digital processes against an established standard, we proposed six process areas – “The Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™” – each of which is crucial for organizations to address in order to achieve success in digital.

Human Resources icon from the dStrategy Digital Maturity ModelThe first is your people – the human resources – working on your organization’s digital initiatives. Think about your organization’s approach to them:

Who works on digital initiatives?

Think of three different groups of people:

  1. People currently working with digital technology and processes: publishing, sales / ecommerce, marketing / communications, or collecting / analyzing data;
  2. Senior management / C-suite looking at threats and opportunities resulting from digital, and the impact of digital on your organization’s business model; and
  3. People who are not using digital technologies, processes or media, but who could be, ideally finding increased efficiencies.

Who are those individuals in your organization? How many are there in each group?

Where do those people “live” in your organization?

  • Who are they and what level are they at?
  • Is digital their primary responsibility or is it an ‘off the corner of their desk’ prioritization?
  • Do they work alone or as part of a larger team?

What kind of organizational support is provided to them?

  • Do they report to management who have digital training and or expertise?
  • If part of a team, is the team predominantly working on digital or non-digital initiatives?
  • What kind of training – in digital – is provided to your people?

Answering these questions is the first step in understanding whether your organization is in the best position to resource, and ultimately implement your digital initiatives. What do you think? Have you got the right people involved to ensure your organization’s digital success?

Next: Technology Resources

Next, let’s take a look at the second dimension, your organization’s technology resources.

Participate in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey

For specific questions that measure the human resources dimension of digital maturity, take the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. We will share our collective results at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

Learn how to measure your organization’s digital maturity

Or, to measure your organization’s digital maturity across all six dimensions, register for our upcoming Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital Maturity: the Human Resources Dimension

Introducing the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity, aka the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™

by Kelly Kubrick on November 19, 2012

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

Do any of these sound familiar?

  • A digital campaign launches without measurement
  • A new product launches but the online customer support content doesn’t get updated
  • A new technology conflicts with an existing process in the online sales channel

Given all that we know about digital business today, how do these things happen?

It starts innocently. The pressure to launch – a responsive website, a Twitter account, anything – everything! – is such that the project kicks off without a clear, let alone known, process.

The requirement for action overwhelms the time available to plan. Suddenly, your digital presence suffers from the old “Fire, Ready, Aim” joke.

We promise there is a better way. Take advantage of established business planning tools such project plans and budgets. And, maturity models.

Take advantage of maturity models

A maturity model is business planning tool to help your organization improve processes against an established standard. Maturity models include assessment criteria and a method to score your efforts relative to the criteria.

The lower your score, the more opportunity there is to improve. The higher your score, the more you have optimized a given process, and the higher your maturity rating is.

Most importantly, the simplicity and clarity of a completed maturity model provides everyone in your organization a common starting point: the equivalent of the arrow on a map saying “You are here”.

 

What is a digital maturity model?

A digital maturity model is a business planning tool specifically intended to help your organization assess its digital processes against an established standard. Doing so will provide a framework – a road map, if you will – to progress your digital efforts.

By knowing where you are today, you are better able to decide where you could be in the future – and how you will get there. Assessing your digital maturity will help you visualize your path forward and set priorities for digital process improvement.

 

Introducing the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity – the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™

We created the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model, including assessment criteria and a rating method – from Zero, through Low, Medium and High – to help you assess your organization’s current digital maturity.

Image of the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity - the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model

Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity – dStrategy Digital Maturity Model

Our assessment criteria span six dimensions, each of which is necessary for the successful execution of digital strategy. The Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™ are described at each link below:

  1. Human Resources
  2. Technology Resources
  3. Data Strategy
  4. Content Strategy
  5. Channel Strategy
  6. Social Business Strategy

We look forward to discussing the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™ with you here, and at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

In 2013, we introduced the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™ at Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver, British Columbia and Ottawa, Ontario. Our audience not only confirmed the tremendous value that the Model provides, they asked, “What’s next?”

Share your insights

Next, we’re happy to report, is the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. Now in it’s third year, we invite you to share your insights.

Learn how to measure and map your organization’s digital maturity

Then, you asked us how you could map your organization’s digital maturity and how you could apply and act on your assessment results. We listened and launched the Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop Corporate Training, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

We look forward to the next step in our collective path to digital maturity with you!

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Kelly KubrickIntroducing the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity, aka the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™

What is Digital Strategy?

by Kelly Kubrick on November 9, 2012

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

Defining Digital Strategy: Finding Common Ground

As a relatively new concept, there is no commonly understood definition of digital strategy. Many would say that digital strategy has to do with incorporating email, websites and social networks into marketing and communications efforts. Some might say it has to do with accepting electronic payment, registrations or donations. Others would say that it relates to going mobile.

Depending on your sector and industry, the perception and role of digital changes radically. To some, it’s disruptive in the worst possible way. To digital–first companies, it is their native habitat. To many, it hints at new opportunities – and to far too many, it is threatening, impacting roles and job expectations.

To muddy the waters further, the rationale for digital is ever evolving. Initial efforts focused on substitution – uncovering cost savings and improved efficiency. Then, focus shifted to identifying what we could sell online. And today, focus has shifted again, as we find ourselves asking how to use digital to improve the overall business.

Which brings us to this:

Digital Strategy Leads to Competitive Advantage

Digital strategy is the process of identifying, articulating and executing on digital opportunities that will increase your organization’s competitive advantage.

A competitive advantage is found when your organization “acquires or develops abilities” – such as technology or people – that allows you to create value, which no other organization is capable of. Those in the public or not for profit sectors might bristle at the term competitive, but we believe it still applies when seen through the lens of a competitive–comparative set.

A critical word in our definition is “process”. If a digital strategy is a process, remember that a process presumes a progression – from an initial starting point, to the approach of and overtaking of milestones to destinations both identified and unknown.

A practical and efficient way to do this is to take advantage of established planning tools such as maturity models. In our next post, we’ll introduce you to the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model.

We look forward to discussing our definition with you at at Digital Strategy Conference.

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Kelly KubrickWhat is Digital Strategy?