Digital transformation needs a digital maturity model

TM Forum hosted its third Digital Maturity Model & Metrics workshop in Singapore at TM Forum Live! Asia last week, where participants discussed how to develop a common maturity model. In this interview, TM Forum Chairman David Pleasance explains why the DMM is so important. Digital transformation requires companies to rethink not only how they operate internally but also how they interact with their customers and other players in the supply chain, says TM Forum Chairman David Pleasance. And that requires a digital maturity model. For communications service providers, there is no industry-agreed maturity model that has been broadly adopted, which can be problematic, because without a ubiquitous model and a consistent set of definitions and metrics, benchmarking is difficult. Maturity models can help companies structure problems, set goals, assess their current state, plan next steps, benchmark and go to market. TM Forum is working on the Digital Maturity Model to help companies navigate their digital transformation journeys, and we have been holding workshops worldwide to get our members’ input. The most recent workshop was held at TM Forum Live! 2016 in Singapore last week.

“TM Form has a rich history of being a collaboration platform,” says Pleasance. “The development of the Digital Maturity Model will be done in a collaborative way, where we draw upon the perspectives and experiences of various members to bring together a common view of what the maturity model looks like. It’s not going to be one group sitting in a room developing the model, but rather it’s going to be an assembly of inputs from many members.”

Pleasance urges TM Forum members to get involved in the important work of developing the maturity model, which can include attending workshops to prioritize the functions or dimensions they would like to see in a common model and identify business values and metrics for the most important functions. But that’s not the only way to get involved. "[Involvement] can mean working on the project team, but it can also mean providing input, testing the model, applying it in the business and providing feedback so that it can be improved.” Watch this interview with Pleasance to learn more:

Watch all the video interviews from TM Forum Live! Asia, including speakers, Catalysts and more: