Mapping the High-Tech Industry’s Evolution Towards Digital Maturity

The high-tech industry moves at a rapid pace, balancing innovation with ever-rising demand. Digital maturity has become a major focus in recent years as enterprises discover new opportunities to further enhance their design-to-source processes. High-tech manufacturers across multiple industries are adopting innovative digital technologies to achieve their business objectives.

Digital maturity is a gauge of how well and how quickly a company can adapt to market changes. Join us as we look at the technologies driving the industry’s evolution, and what’s on the horizon, click below to take the self-assessment and find out where your organization lands on Supplyframe’s digital maturity model!

The Technologies Driving Digital Maturity for High Tech

Leading semiconductor, electronic component, and electronic systems companies are in the vanguard of this evolution. AMD, Intel, and Texas Instruments are mature component and system companies that serve aerospace, automotive, and industrial companies in the steady adoption of new and powerful technology solutions that ensure they stay in the vanguard. 

These companies are grouped into seven groups in the US: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. China has four: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi. 

The technology these and other companies are developing is transformative: Fifth-generation cellular technology (5G), artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality (AR & VR), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and quantum computing are redefining the future and how we interact.

5G is the foundation for taking digital connections to the world. It can download movies in seconds, deliver lag-free gaming, and unlock the full potential of IoT devices. The technology 

AI is a transformational advancement in machine learning that makes decisions just like humans. AI delivers higher upload and download speeds, more consistent connections, and improved capacity than previous networks. It is revolutionizing industries from automotive to healthcare to finance. Soon, AI-driven personal assistants and smart devices will be integral to our daily lives, simplifying tasks and enhancing convenience.

AR and VR are blurring the lines between the physical and digital worlds. AR enhances reality with digital information, and VR immerses us in entirely virtual environments. These technologies have applications across many industries, including gaming, education, and healthcare. Even remote work is creating new ways to interact with technology.

IoT is on a path to become integral to our lives. It connects everyday objects, from refrigerators to cars, to the internet. This connectivity enables remote monitoring and control, making homes and cities more intelligent. With tech expertise, we can help businesses harness the power of IoT for efficiency and innovation.

Blockchain technology is known for producing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. It is moving beyond the finance market by offering secure, transparent ways to record and verify transactions. From supply chain management to voting systems, blockchain has the potential to revolutionize how we trust and verify digital interactions.

Quantum computing is on the horizon, offering processing power beyond imagination. Unlike classical computers that use bits (0s and 1s), quantum computers use qubits, which can represent multiple states simultaneously. This technology can potentially revolutionize fields like cryptography, drug discovery, and climate modeling.

The convergence of augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing multiple sectors. 

VR has transformed remote work, making virtual meetings more interactive and efficient by being enhanced by IoT for improved data collaboration. In data visualization, VR and IoT enable innovative interpretation of large datasets and make more intelligent decision-making. 

IoT’s integration with digital twins facilitates effective tracking and management in security and construction, while its combination with smart cameras boosts surveillance and traffic monitoring capabilities. In healthcare, manufacturing, and security, remote monitoring is enhanced through the synergy of IoT with AR and VR, providing real-time response capabilities. 

Biometrics is more potent with IoT, bolstering security and health monitoring. AR is crucial in Industry 4.0, streamlining manufacturing and warehousing processes. The retail industry is transforming with the amalgamation of AI, IoT, and AR/VR, leading to personalized customer experiences and innovative marketing strategies. AR’s integration with IoT offers enhanced data visualization, which is crucial for industries like manufacturing. 

Visualizing real-time IoT data through AR makes workplaces safer and more efficient. In retail, combining IoT with AR offers customers unique shopping experiences and enables efficient maintenance and repair processes. Finally, the blend of AR and IoT is reshaping entertainment, offering immersive gaming experiences, and demonstrating the profound impact of these technologies on shaping the future.

Understanding The Five Levels of Maturity 

Level 1: Initial

Level 1 is the most basic maturity level, meaning the company has a few digital elements. These digital elements might only happen sporadically, be of poor quality, and occur without planning, monitoring, or connecting to the organization’s objectives. It is simply that digital elements are happening, or you have demonstrated they can occur when necessary. 

Level 2: Managed

The company plans and periodically reviews the digital elements in this activity, and they confirm the elements are appropriate for the organization.

Digital elements are activated, and a plan for maturity level covers how and when they will happen. The plan must be subject to at least a basic, periodic review process to ensure the digital elements support the goal.

At this level of maturity, it is possible that management of the digital elements is good but is happening in a silo. There may be no attempt to coordinate with other areas of the organization, standardize processes, or ensure the digital elements of activities support the broader strategic objectives.

Level 3: Integrated

Digital elements are used effectively to deliver the strategy. The processes and systems are standardized and aligned with digital and non-digital activities.

At this level, there should be a clear sense that the digital elements contribute to the organization’s strategic objectives and that plans align with teams or departments where they exist. Level 3 maturity requires coordinated planning and prioritization of digital and non-digital elements. 

Level 4: Optimizing

Systematically gather and review evidence of the effectiveness of digital and non-digital elements in this activity to improve the approach.

At Level 2, it was sufficient to have a periodic basic review process in place. At Level 4, the requirement is more robust. Decisions are based on evidence of elements of activities that are effective and which are less effective. This evidence-based review continually improves the approach. It should also include both digital and non-digital activities. 

The objective is to have a balanced perspective, recognizing that digital options are not necessarily preferable to non-digital ones. Identifying when a manual or offline approach might be better than the digital alternative is a sign of digital maturity.

Level 5: Transforming

Digital elements support significant innovation and substantial strategic change.

Level 5 enables signaling using digital elements to drive significant organizational improvements with strategic value. Think of it as a high priority. Even a large and well-resourced organization should not expect to mark more than a handful of activities as achieving or aiming for Level 5. 

A well-managed, integrated, and continually optimized approach operating at Level 4 will be sufficient for most activities.

Benchmark Your Organization’s Digital Maturity

Supplyframe’s new Digital Maturity Model self-assessment allows you to measure your organization’s progress towards digital excellence across five categories, with an individual score for each.

Our recent survey and industry report found that the average score for high tech organizations is 1.3 out of a possible 5. To discover where your organization lands, take the self-assessment today!