Assessing digital capabilities for digital transformation — The MIND framework

Abstract

With the rise in the advances and adoption of digital technologies and evolving business dynamics, we live in an era where many organisations are embarking on digital transformation. To stay relevant, however, organisations struggle to comprehensively outline the digital capabilities they have or need in relation to the digital transformation objectives they aim for. This struggle stems from the paucity of knowledge and practical guidance on how to assess the digital capabilities of organisations relative to their desired digital transformation goals. This paper presents a framework (MIND Framework) for assessing digital capabilities in four critical areas – Management (M), Infrastructure (I), Networking/Sourcing (N), and Development (D) – abstracted from prior literature. The framework assesses digital capability status in each area in relation to the organisation's stated digital transformation goals. MIND, which is an outcome of a multi-year design science research project, helps organisations assess their current capability status and create a pathway for navigating from their current status to the desired transformation state. In this article, we describe an in-depth application of the MIND framework in assessing the digital capabilities of an incumbent company in the digital transformation process. Based on this, we illustrate how the framework can provide valuable insights and attitudinal shifts in an organisation's digital transformation efforts. We further abstract from the case to demonstrate how the assessment of an organisation's digital capabilities can provide valuable insights and critical input for any organisation embarking on a digital transformation journey. We conclude with a detailed guideline on how organisations can apply the MIND framework in their transformation journey.