The cost of digital immaturity

Users’ expectations are always evolving, and it only ever goes in one direction. They want faster, slicker, and more user-friendly digital experiences. 50% more users drop-off when a page takes 3 seconds to load than 2 seconds, which gives a flavour of users’ levels of patience when digital touchpoints are slow or awkward to use.

Digitally immature organisations don’t centre decision making around the needs of their users. This means that they can’t keep up with users ever higher expectations of digital services.

We often see this in the higher education sector. Universities must appeal to young people – the modal age of a university applicant is 18, and 80% of applicants are under 21. Yet university websites tend to appear frozen in time, sometimes not having received major design updates in a decade. They frequently require gen-z teenagers to use systems they’re not familiar with (Yes, gen-z don’t like email).

If you’re not digitally mature then, old, outdated assumptions about users’ needs continue to inform decision making around digital projects long after those assumptions have become divorced from the reality of users’ expectations. Projects should be tested early on to validate assumptions with real users, preventing expensive mistakes which come about by investing in the wrong solutions. This only works when an organisation has learned to use the right set of techniques for managing digital projects.

You probably know all too well the frustration of having to use systems that were imposed on you and your team, rather than being informed by what you need.

You’re not alone. A five year research project conducted by the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University surveyed 1,500 non-profits with revenues of more than $100,000. It uncovered antiquated IT systems, staff frequently lacking sufficient training to use digital systems, and often staff were spending 25% of their time collecting or inputting data manually.

According to the charity digital skills report, which draws on a survey of over 500 UK charities, two-thirds of charity staff don’t think their IT is well managed, and find it gets in the way of what they need to do. It also found that 73% of UK charities lacked the technical capacity to implement solutions that could automate repetitive tasks, forcing staff to maintain manual processes.

All this wasted time keeps you from working on more fulfilling tasks that actually advance the mission of your organisation. It’s immensely frustrating, and it’s also expensive. 26% of employees’ time is typically taken up by administrative chores and inefficient ways of working, meaning your organisation is spending vast sums on time that is effectively wasted.

Unsuitable systems are usually the result of procurement being something that is done to you rather than something that is done for you.

Digitally immature organisations often procure systems that they think will solve their problems without getting sufficient input from the teams of digital practitioners who actually use the systems day-to-day.

This results in clunky processes, wasted time, and in the worst cases means teams end up using workarounds and don’t use the system as intended. It means wasted investment in expensive systems that don’t solve the problem they were intended to address.

At the root cause of a lot of these factors we’ve discussed is a risk-averse culture that stymies innovation. Have you ever asked why something is done the way it is, only to be told ‘we’ve always done it this way’?

That’s not a reason to keep a process when you may have identified a simpler or more effective way of doing something. But if your leadership is highly risk-averse, they’ll be inherently resistant to change because trying something new always entails the risk of failure.

Ideally, teams would be given the agency and autonomy to own and change processes where they can make the case for improved ways of working, but digital immaturity and top-down thinking are barriers to this.

As we’ve discussed, working with outdated systems or not being provided with adequate training is immensely frustrating. Great talent doesn’t want to see its time wasted, so digital immaturity creates problems with staff motivation and retention.

Just like with users’ rising expectations, standing still isn’t an option. Technology is always evolving, and your team will atrophy if you don’t invest in it. The most innovative team members will move on, and you’ll be stuck in a negative spiral of digital immaturity.

Staff at digitally mature non-profits are 3.5 times more likely to report being highly motivated, and 43% of employees at low-maturity organisations consider leaving their roles annually, which is over twice the rate of those at digitally mature organisations.

You don’t need us to tell you about the cost of employee churn. Recruitment, onboarding and training are all expensive, so investment in reducing churn can quickly pay for itself.

We’ve spent much of this article discussing the costs of digital immaturity for organisations. But digital immaturity also takes a toll on individuals– as you’ll know!

Digital practitioners in the nonprofit sector are frequently stressed out and overworked. The Workplace Wellbeing Index by the mental health charity Mind found that a quarter of staff feel their workload is unmanageable, with almost a fifth working 50 or more hours a week. This frequently leads to burnout.

The solution to being overworked is to simplify, refine processes to be more effective, and better use technology to remove or speed up administrative tasks that sap time and energy. This is what digital maturity is all about. Becoming more digitally mature can help your organisation achieve its goals, and at the same time help you have a better, more balanced working life.

Digital maturity is vital to the success of your organisation, and to your own ability to work effectively. Yet we know that most digital transformation projects fail.

So, what's the solution? Clearly, launching headfirst into a massive, top-down digital transformation programme is not the answer.

Instead, we recommend taking a pragmatic approach. Focus on upskilling your teams and empowering them to introduce new tools and ways of working that suit their needs. This addresses many of the core issues we've discussed – from unsuitable systems being imposed from above to the frustration of teams lacking agency to improve their processes.

The journey to digital maturity doesn't need to be overwhelming. Small, strategic steps focused on building your team's capabilities can lead to meaningful improvements in how your organisation operates.

It's a cliché that ‘a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’, but it’s true. Ask yourself: What could I do next week to make us more digitally mature?

Thinking in terms of specific steps rather than abstract ideas can catalyse action and lets you get started on something tangible rather than getting bogged down in theory.

That’s why we’ve called our upcoming webinar on this subject Digital transformation you can start next week. We'll be sharing our pragmatic approach to digital transformation and providing concrete takeaways you can implement immediately to help your organisation become more digitally mature.

We’ll be joined by Josie Tree, Head of Web Transformation at Kingston University, and Sean Clemenson, Head of Digital at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, who’ll be sharing the insights they’ve gleaned from working on effective digital transformation projects at large charities and universities.

Join us on April 4th at 2pm to take the first step toward building an organisation that's more confident, makes better decisions, better serves its users and has happier teams.