Like the path out of lockdown, digital maturity needs a roadmap

Photo by Rémi Jacquaint on Unsplash.

It’s hard to hold back the excitement about the end of a lockdown approaching and the hope of a better year ahead thanks to the vaccine roll-out. The past 12 months have changed us all - privately and professionally.

Many of the charities I work with have reacted incredibly to the pandemic. They’ve pivoted to whole new models of service delivery, project management and staffing, working under tight deadlines with limited resources. They have been very good at being reactive and opportunistic. But, understandably, they have not been strategic. 

If your charity has weathered the storm of Covid-19, now is the time to build a strategic approach to digitising your organisation.

In my role as a digital maturity consultant, people often ask me, “We know we need to become more digital, but where do we start?

Like the UK government’s roadmap out of lockdown, non-profits should build the roadmap to becoming more digitally mature - planning steps and measuring their effects before proceeding to the next stage.

1. Make data-driven decisions

Many countries have moved in and out of different degrees of lockdown and restrictions, as the level of coronavirus risk rises and falls. The decision to close or open the economy rests on real data, like the ‘R’ rate for example.

The first step to effective digital transformation is to know where your organisation is starting from. My Digital Maturity Assessment helps non-profits understand what level of digital maturity they are at. Scoring across 15 competencies, from audience insight, planning, data and technology to staff experience and service delivery, the digital maturity assessment helps organisations see their strengths and weaknesses. Based on the results, you can decide which areas to focus on first. Then you can keep using the assessment to keep track of the competencies as they change over time.

2. Involve the right people

A successful roadmap is built on insights from all the people who will be involved and affected. In the UK, the national roadmap out of lockdown has to take into account the needs of school children, care-home residents, working parents, business owners and many more stakeholders.

To digitally transform, people from all sections of your organisation need to be involved. With contributions from core parts of your business, such as supporter care, communications, IT or data, you bring in the experience, insights and buy-in that you need to drive effective change. 

Who needs to be involved differs from one organisation to another.  To help you decide, you can use  stakeholder mapping tools, or have a look at this blog about the importance of involving the right people at the right time.

3. Think beyond the hardware

In the UK, our roadmap out of lockdown partially relies on widespread vaccination. We need syringes, vaccines, storage fridges, masks, gloves and more to deliver millions of jabs. But it’s also about so much more than the hardware. We need dedicated staff, appropriate training, effective communication systems and robust data management.

Digital maturity is about so much more than hardware. It’s never just a new CRM, organisational website, intranet or email system that you need. As the Digital Maturity Assessment shows, the beliefs, attitudes and willingness of your team matter just as much as – if not more than – the tools you have. A CRM will never resolve the issue of siloed working or the fear to test and fail in order to learn. 

The difference between a good try and a triumph often comes down to culture. As every person who has been involved in digital change programmes will tell you, it’s all about people.

4. Communicate clearly

To digitally transform an organisation, we need a shared vision and clear roadmap to get there. Like a nation coming out of lockdown, we need clarity on what we are trying to achieve and what steps we will take to get there.

Julie Dodd, Director of Transformation at Parkinsons UK used my Digital Maturity Framework at the beginning of the change process she’s been leading in the organisation.

In Julie’s view, one of the strengths of the Digital Maturity Assessment is that it counters some of the misconceptions that exist around digital. One person may think it's all about email marketing and websites, another that it's all about hardware and "IT stuff", and another that it's all about digital services.

Thinking about digital maturity helps people see that digital effectiveness requires us to do lots of things well. With a number score for each of the 15 competencies that matter, you can get an objective picture of where your organisation really sits. For Julie, it was important to know where Parkinsons UK were in terms of digital maturity, and what needed to change.

Beyond that it's about taking a programmatic approach, fixing the basics first. If your data infrastructure is a mess, your digital services will struggle to be really effective. Next, you need to build a network of digital leaders in the organisation with responsibility for different areas of maturity. Lastly, Julie recommends - keep plugging away. Transformation takes time.

5. Build back better

As the chaos of Covid-19 subsides, the world looks different. Many of us have new ideas of community, a new attitude to work, or a new sense of what we are capable of collectively. Amid calls to #BuildBackBetter, we should ask ourselves what we’ve learnt from the crisis and what digital changes we want to build upon. 

Hopefully, your organisation has weathered the storm of Covid-19, and you can now begin to look ahead. Where does your charity need to go, and how can digital help you to get there? Involving the right people, gathering and monitoring data, and communicating your vision are essential. Lastly, invest in digital where it can bring most impact. And remember: this requires looking at the whole picture - people, skills and culture, not just tech. 

If you’d like a chat about the Digital Maturity Assessment or need a hand interpreting the results, let me know.