A meta-model-driven approach to support digitization evolution with Maturity Models

Digitization makes knowledge and information a centerpiece since these connect all dimensions affected by innovation, i.e., people, processes, organization, business, and technology. Maturity Models (MMs) support managers in this evolution. The paper provides a theoretical formalization of MMs to give a practical knowledge contribution to increasing the intensiveness of information in enterprises, through digitization evolution. The paper reviews the main MMs, and presents their state of the art. Then, it defines a backbone structure common to MMs to abstract and describe their features by a meta-model. The new meta-model-driven approach guides companies in the selection of MMs, and in designing a new MM, where needed. The meta-model formalizes the two-levels inputs, the process, and the output to align the company’s motivations with the MM features, resulting in the definition of an appropriate MM for organizations. A qualitative exploratory case study shows the approach and its results, providing guidelines for future actions.