Architectural and construction firms have invested heavily in digital management and automation tools over the past few years to avoid falling behind the curve. Many firms believe these investments have been successful, with 32% classifying themselves as digitally mature in 2023, compared to just 18% in 2021.
Digital maturity is measured by how well business and IT management are integrated together—and how well this combination leads to increased revenue, improved customer experiences, and other key performance metrics. However, a significant number of firms say they have also struggled to integrate these new digital management tools into their daily workflows. With this definition in mind, it’s clear that that 32% figure doesn’t tell the full story.
The problem is that many firms have confused activity for progress. While they have leveled up the quality of their tech stacks, firms have sometimes failed to invest equivalent resources in the tech rollout process — an oversight that prevents them from achieving true digital maturity.
In the absence of a more strategic approach, firms will continue to struggle with inefficient internal processes that damage customer satisfaction. However, by reconfiguring their digital management systems for specific business needs, firms can optimize the potential of these tools and take more substantive steps toward digital maturity.
Why Are So Many Firms Falling Behind?
It’s important to recognize that firms aren’t struggling to achieve seamless tech processes due to carelessness. The rapid implementation of new digital tools during the height of the pandemic was not accompanied by strategic thinking or consideration of the outcomes these tools would drive. Those rushed implementations are now manifesting as bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
For example, organizations often implemented new digital management tools without consulting the project managers who would end up using them. In many instances, decision-makers failed to consider that these employees already had their own preferred tools (and workflows that centered around these tools). As a result, employees resisted change, leading to protracted transitions and, in some cases, disregard for the new tools.
Organizations have also struggled to adjust to elevated turnover rates in recent years. High turnover rates mean organizations need to devote more time and resources to training new employees on essential technology, but many organizations simply don’t have these resources to spare. When new employees aren’t receiving proper training on your digital tools and half of your existing employees remain committed to legacy processes, data ends up in disparate locations, making it difficult to extract insights that inform business strategy.
Ultimately, a lack of strategy in the way you implement digital management tools leads to a cascade of inefficiencies that can prevent companies from reaching digital maturity. But it’s not too late to course-correct and streamline digital processes.
Achieving Digital Maturity Starts With Understanding Your Business
It’s impossible to develop a strategy to bring your business and technologies closer together if you haven’t identified your desired outcomes. When considering a new approach, it can be tempting to abandon all your existing tools and start fresh, but this may not be necessary.
Instead of looking at the systems your competitors are investing in, start by identifying any features of the current technology that your team is not fully utilizing. Tools that have fallen out of favor with your employees are likely to see decreased usage, so it’s wise to work backward from these findings to identify the source of the problem and areas for improvement.
As part of this process, solicit opinions and feedback from employees to add color to these insights. An employee may prefer a new digital management tool over the previous one but continue to use the former tool for the sake of convenience. Alternatively, they may not have been effectively trained on the new tool, and as a result, they have reverted to the old platform simply because they are more familiar with it.
In addition to employee insights, it’s important to take the organization’s core competencies into account. How do you win projects? What differentiates you from competitors? Grounding decision-making in self-awareness can give you greater confidence that potential digital management systems make business sense for your organization.
After compiling these insights, implement your new technology using an incremental approach. This might involve sunsetting applications that employees aren’t using and gradually onboarding applications that are better suited to the needs of employees and the business. Just as you involved employees in the research process, involve them in the execution process by communicating clearly and consistently about the reasons for these decisions. To ensure the new approach delivers results, establish relevant KPIs and solicit feedback along the way.
Finally, consider how your new digital tools can enable new growth opportunities for your firm. A higher level of digital maturity gives businesses more freedom when it comes to launching new service offerings that maximize efficiencies. For example, consider a mechanical engineering company that specializes in HVAC. Historically, these types of companies engineered and designed mechanical systems for buildings but are now installing smart monitoring solutions to help building owners manage their HVAC systems across multiple properties.
This added capability is a natural extension of the HVAC company’s core service offerings. Rolling out this new technology-based service, while ensuring continued alignment with the original service and area of expertise, gives the organization a greater opportunity to generate recurring revenue. This is digital maturity in action: combining IT innovation and business decision-making to achieve desired results.
Work Backward to Reach Digital Maturity
Digital maturity can’t be measured by the complexity of your solutions. You may have a more advanced tech stack than a competitor, but if it’s not driving results, your competitor has the upper hand.
To untangle the mess created by hasty technology implementations, you need to identify the inefficiencies they have caused and configure systems to meet your business and employee needs. This approach may result in investments into new tools and tech, but the overall process can also reveal how your organization can more effectively utilize the tools that are already in place. Taking an open-minded and nuanced approach will help your organization benefit from the improved efficiencies and flexibility that digital maturity can offer.
