DEVISE project has reached the end and is showcasing pilot project implementation and some results. Three project partners Business Agency Association (Bulgaria), Fomento San Sebastián (Spain) and Northern and Western Regional Assembly (Ireland) have been working together to develop the Digital Maturity Assessment Tool (DMAT) for assessing digital maturity that enables organizations to understand their level through self-assessment.
DMAT allows companies across different industries, sectors, company sizes and geography to map in depth their degree of digital maturity and key digital development areas. This DEVISE tool measures a company’s digital maturity across six dimensions: Digital Readiness, Digital Strategy and Business Model, Data and Connectedness, AI and Automation, Green Digitalisation, Human-centric Digitalisation. In that way, DMAT can issue a detailed report on companies current situation and industry benchmark details with a guideline on how to achieve the digital position they are keen to reach and how to craft a future-oriented digital vision.
This tool is useful for the whole regional digital innovation ecosystem in all participating regions and cities helping match the needs identified to the existing digital solutions. The multinational application of the DMAT also supports the interaction between companies from similar sectors to learn from each other on the improvement of their digital maturity and to exchange good practices after the assessment is made with the same instrument.
Business Agency Association’s experience
DEVISE project partner Silvia Stumpf, BAA Chairwoman of Board, evaluates the impact of DMAT as positive: “its elaboration mobilised the digital innovation ecosystem players and brought closer traditional and digital SMES in forging their digital transformation. Until the start of the DMAT no other similar tool was available for Bulgarian SMEs”. DMAT has been used by both non-digital and digital SMEs and has supported the preparation of companies for a strategic planning of their digital transformation according to the last trends in the twin transition to a greener and smarter business.
“In the launch of the tool in Bulgaria 50 SMEs used DMAT and 35 answered the follow-up questionnaire for appraising its impact in the region and the value it offers to SMEs”, she continues. The SMEs involved evaluated the application of DMAT as very useful and as a valuable and practical guiding tool for planning their digital transformation strategy. In addition, two construction companies and one SME from the tourist sector shared their success stories related to the results from using the tool as a base for starting their digital transformation journey. Furthermore, a collaboration initiative between the construction companies and digital companies in Varna has started and resulted in a common international project, ‘Circular DigiBuild’, for planning digital innovations in the construction business. This initiative includes two partners from DEVISE: BAA and Regional Development Agency of the West Region Romania.
