Digital Transformation in Digitally Mature Organisations: Managers’ perspectives on challenges in progressing in digital maturity

Abstract: Today’s flow of technological advancements is putting pressure on organisations to maintain a digital transformation to stay competitive in their industries. According to previous research, digitally mature organisations have significantly higher profitability and revenue growth compared to lower-maturity organizations. This study aims to describe the main challenges and solutions met by managers to stay competitive in an increasingly digital world. Based on existing work on digital transformation, the research questions ask: What are the main challenges for managers in digitally mature organisations to progress in their digital transformation? And how do managers suggest overcoming these challenges? In this context, the researchers define digital transformation as the integration of value-adding digitization initiatives into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how the business operates and delivers value to customers. Based on a literature review, the researchers sent out a self-assessment questionnaire to managers to identify their status of digital maturity. Managers who assessed their organisation with a high level of maturity, Digital Masters, were consequently interviewed to gain further insights into their main challenges. Analysis of the responses demonstrated that the main challenges concerned the internal elements of digital transformation, focusing on leading the digital change within the organisation and changing the already established legacy systems. The results indicate that for digitally mature organisations to progress in their digital transformation,organisations need not only to focus on outward development, but also on digitally transforming their internal processes.