Understanding your company's digital opportunities with one conversation
An entrepreneur who wants to get started with digitization often can't see the forest for the trees. Where do you start? Which step really delivers? The Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA) provides answers to these questions.
With a brief but thorough conversation and a clear report, companies get a map of where they are digitally and what steps make the most sense.
"An entrepreneur, after receiving the report, knows better where to start and who to turn to for help," says Tabe Bruinsma, Sector Specialist at Ynbusiness, Scout at EDIH NN and driver of the development and implementation of the tool.
Own developed model
The idea for the current DMA has its origins in the Smart Industry Hub (SIH) North project (2019-2022). In it, a comprehensive scan was developed to identify business competencies and areas of transition. Two two-hour sessions offered a lot of depth, but in practice follow-up proved difficult: entrepreneurs often did not know how to make their plans concrete, and guidance was limited.
When EDIH NN started, it wanted to improve on this. A standard DMA was provided from Europe, intended to collect European data and benchmark companies. For the Northern Netherlands, however, this tool proved too general. Therefore, the European model was merged with elements from the SIH North assessment and the Focus Scan from Brabant.
"Entrepreneurs in the Northern Netherlands are not always helped by a generic scan. They benefit from a tool that fits their sector and region, otherwise it takes unnecessary time and effort," Tabe said.
The result is a DMA that not only asks the obligatory European questions, but also includes additional themes relevant in the North, such as labor shortages, aging and process automation.
A conversation that makes the difference
The process begins with a 0-meting: a 45- to 60-minute conversation with an EDIH consultant, often conducted in the Northern Netherlands by the specialists of Ynbusiness (Friesland), GroBusiness (Groningen) or Ik ben Drents Ondernemer (Drenthe). In it, the questions are gone through together.
The interview consists of about 25 main questions with some in-depth sub-questions. There is plenty of room for entrepreneurs to speak freely about bottlenecks, ambitions and dilemmas. The interviews are confidential and are conducted by independent first-line non-profit organizations.
"Precisely because we have no commercial interest, we can ask honest and critical questions. Entrepreneurs do not get a sales pitch, but a realistic picture and independent advice," says Tabe.
The outcome is a report that is usually delivered within a week and consists of:
- a clear picture of current digital maturity;
- concrete and achievable recommendations;
- insight into possible next steps;
- a targeted referral to experts or organizations that can help with implementation.
When the report is handed over, a link is often already made to the Solution Provider Database: a national list of verified experts and suppliers. These parties have been pre-screened and linked to specific themes, so entrepreneurs can find support quickly and in a targeted manner.
What entrepreneurs experience
Pim from Kijlstra Betonmortel went through the Digital Maturity Assessment. For him, the interview was mainly a moment of reflection.
"In our industry, technology has been largely the same for decades, but people are constantly changing. With the DMA, we wanted to understand how our processes and digital support can align with the way people work now and in the future. For us, the strength of the conversation was in the external, critical perspective: someone who understands our practice and forces you to look at your own organization differently. It gave us concrete insight into where we still lean heavily on operator dependence and where technology and AI can help make processes more stable and consistent. The DMA is not a theoretical scan, but a practical conversation with clear next steps - down-to-earth and future-oriented," said Pim.
Entrepreneurs who go through the DMA experience it as approachable and practical. The previous SIH scan was well received by companies because it gave them the opportunity to consciously consider their digital future. However, what was often lacking at the time was the right follow-up: entrepreneurs experienced good insights, but the momentum to follow through was sometimes lost. The current model addresses that problem by making follow-up and referral structural.
"We find that entrepreneurs we talk to more often actually do something with the results. They now know not only where they stand, but also who can help them take the next step," says Tabe.
Examples of results are already plentiful: companies that have gone paperless, deployed AI to do more work with the same staff, or introduced robots and cobots to optimize processes and reduce errors. Also
Looking ahead: modules and national rollout
EDIH NN is now working on further development of the tool. There will be modules with which entrepreneurs can go deeper into specific themes, such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and circular processes. Sector-specific questions will also be added so that advice becomes even more targeted.
The ambition is to use the updated DMA in five national regions, linked to a national database. In addition, the focus in the Northern Netherlands will remain on autonomous systems, with close cooperation between knowledge institutions and initiatives such as the AI Hub Noord.
