The different levels of Digital Transformation

Written by Ellipsis Technologies on February 18, 2024

Levels? What’s Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is a broad term encompassing a wide range of initiatives and strategies to leverage digital technologies to improve business outcomes.

Many times, what we read and the information we receive from advances in science and technology, gives us the feeling of being in a future like the one we read in science fiction novels. The truth is that we are experiencing a digital industrial revolution that is changing many things, from the personal and professional level and even the way we work.

Now, how revolutionary is it? Are we moving so fast that organizations must adapt quickly and run without missing a beat?

It all depends on the level of transformation that the organization can execute and assume. We should not expect that tomorrow, in a bakery, the bread will be freshly made and delivered by a robot without human intervention at some point. Now, according to which industries, the functionality and connectivity of the robots is undoubtedly appreciable even though human intervention is still needed in some link, not only from the organization but also from the assembly line itself. Well, in short, that would be an example of a remarkable level of major digital transformation.

But is digital transformation expensive? Are large budgets, eloquence, plans, projects, etc. needed? There is precisely a part of the revolution that we live in today. New companies and technologies are emerging that break or change the market paradigm. Even, there are already small companies that can compete with relevant companies. Therefore, the digital transformation will have a certain level depending on what we want to do. Beacons (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon 🔗) do impressive things and are not especially expensive depending on what we want to do with them.

There are different ways to categorize the levels of digital transformation, but here are some of the most common ones:

1. The 4 Tiers of Digital Transformation:

This framework, proposed by Mohan Subramaniam, identifies four distinct tiers of digital transformation, each of which meets different strategic objectives and allows companies to maximize the value they capture from digital technologies 1. You can find more here: https://hbr.org/2021/09/the-4-tiers-of-digital-transformation 🔗

2. The 4 Levels of Digital Transformation Maturity:

This framework, developed by Paradigma Digital, outlines four levels of maturity in digital transformation: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert 2. You can find more here: https://en.paradigmadigital.com/techbiz/4-levels-digital-transformation-maturity-stage-company/ 🔗

3. The 4 Pillars of Successful Digital Transformations:

This framework, proposed by the authors of a Harvard Business Review article, outlines four pillars of digital transformation: IT uplift, digitizing operations, digital marketing, and new ventures 3. You can find more here: https://hbr.org/2022/01/the-4-pillars-of-successful-digital-transformations 🔗

4. The 3 Levels of Digital Transformation Technology:

This framework, proposed by HEFLO BPM, identifies three levels of digital transformation: customer experience transformation, employee experience transformation, and operational process transformation 4. You can find more here:

https://www.heflo.com/blog/business-transformation/digital-transformation-technology/ 🔗

Or else,

we could also provide other sources of opinions like McKinsey: Digital transformation is the rewiring of an organization, to create value by continuously deploying tech at scale: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-digital-transformation 🔗