BITS College

School of Systems and Technology

Masters of Science in IT Management

Special Topics in ITM course (ES727)

By
Bisrat Reda

Submitted to: Tesfaye Biru (Ph.D.)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

June 2023 G.C
Digital Transformation- The needs, phases and strategic imperatives
Digital Transformation is disrupting businesses in every industry by breaking down
barriers between people, businesses and things. By breaking these barriers, they are
able to create new products, services and find more efficient ways of doing business.
These innovations are happening across organizations of all types, in every industry
and share a common theme like the ability to transform processes & business models,
empower workforce efficiency and innovation, and Personalize customer experiences
(Schwertner, 2017)

Digital transformation is the process by which companies embed technologies across

their businesses to drive fundamental change. The benefits? Increased efficiency,
greater business agility and, ultimately, the unlocking of new value for employees,
customers and shareholders (Accenture, 2023).

The need for digital transformation

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation largely focused on customer

experience. Then, everything changes and accelerated. Now, digital transformation is
the centerpiece of operational efficiency and innovation across the organization
(Accenture, 2023).

Digital transformation has become essential for businesses to remain competitive in

today’s ever-changing technological landscape. In recent years, we’ve witnessed a
rapid transformation in the business world, with many companies adopting new
technologies to streamline their operations and improve their bottom line.

Digital transformation has become essential for businesses to remain competitive in

today’s ever-changing technological landscape. Business should undergo digital
transformation (1) to keep up with customer expectoration and provide seamless
experience across multiple channels (2) to improve business efficiency by automating
manual processes (3) for competitive advantage by leverage emerging technologies
like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and the Internet of Things to
gain insights into customer behavior, streamline operations and improve decision-
making (4) For cost savings, for example, by adopting cloud storage, businesses can
save on hardware costs and reduce the need for physical storage (5) Enhanced
security by enabling them to adopt advanced security measures and (6) to increased
agility (Astapciks, 2023).
The phases of digital transformation

Research identify multiple phases or stages for digital transformation, ranging from
relatively simple to more pervasive changes. digitization, digitalization, and digital
transformation are the most common digital transformation phases. Most of the
literature subscribes that the first two more incremental phases are needed to attain
the most pervasive phase of digital transformation (Verhoef, et al., 2021)

Digitization is the encoding of analog information into a digital format such that
computers can store process, and transmit such information. Digitization is the
process of converting analog information into digital information. Examples concern
the use of digital forms in ordering processes, the use of digital surveys, or the use
digital applications for internal financial declarations. Typically, digitization mainly
digitalizes internal and external documentation processes, but does not change value
creation activities.

Digitalization describes how IT or digital technologies can be used to alter existing

business processes. For example, the creation of new online or mobile communication
channels that allow all customers to easily connect with firms, and which change
traditional firm-customer interaction. Such a change often involves the organization
of new sociotechnical structures with digital artifacts, which were not possible
without digital technologies. In digitalization, IT serves as a key enabler to seize new
business possibilities by changing existing business processes, such as communication,
distribution, or business relationship management. Through digitalization firms apply
digital technologies to optimize existing business processes by allowing a more
efficient coordination between processes, and/or by creating additional customer
value through enhancing user experiences. Hence, digitalization is not only focused on
cost savings, but also includes process improvements that may enhance customer
experiences.

Digital transformation describes a company-wide change that leads to the

development of new business models. Digital transformation affects the whole
company and its ways of doing business hence goes beyond digitalization — the
changing of simple organizational processes and tasks. It rearranges the processes to
change the business logic of a firm or its value creation processes. Moreover, digital
transformation utilizes digital technologies to enable interactions across borders with
suppliers, customers and competitors. Hence, digital technologies can help to attain
a competitive advantage by transforming the organization to leverage existing core
competences or develop new ones. Therefore, digital transformation is inherently
linked to strategic changes in the business model as a result of the implementation of
digital technologies.
Strategic Imperatives of digital transformation (resource,
organizational structure, growth strategies and metrics)

The different phases of digital changes toward digital transformation have important
strategic imperatives for firms. We specify their impacts on required digital
resources, organizational structure, digital growth strategies, and metrics

strategic imperatives that result from digital transformation regarding (1) required
digital resources, (2) required organizational structure, (3) growth strategies, and (4)
required metrics.

Digital resource

Resources represent a firm’s ownership and control of assets and capabilities. Assets
represent the firm’s resource endowments in physical and intellectual assets, while
capabilities usually reside in the firm’s human, information, or organizational capital,
and glue assets together to enable their successful deployment (Verhoef, et al., 2021). In
pursuit of digital transformation, the firm’s redefinition of how it creates and delivers
value to customers often requires it to access, acquire or develop new digital assets and
capabilities. The most essential digital assets and capabilities needed for digital change
are:

 Digital assets which include the storage of data, information and communication
infrastructure and accompanying technologies to effectively compete in the
digital era;
 Digital agility which is the ability to respond to the market challenges by
continuously modifying and reconfiguration of existing digital assets and
capabilities;
 Digital networking capability-The capability of firms to select, attract, link and
engage a heterogeneous set of network stakeholders like customers, suppliers,
and third parties strongly stimulates the value creation and growth of platforms
and
 Big data analytics capability the capability to acquire and analyze big data
for decision making

Organizational structure

Past research argues that digital transformation has implications for the organizational
structure, favoring a flexible structure composed of separate business units, agile
organizational forms, and digital functional areas.
Separate business units: Autonomous business unit that is separated from incumbents
recommended to deal with new and often disruptive business model by allowing quick
learning.

Agile organization forms: The use of standard, more hierarchical organization schemes,
with multiple management layers and a strong top-down approach, may no longer be
effective in fast-changing digital environments, as the bureaucracy involved reduces
response speed and innovativeness. To stimulate their digital agility, firms require
flexible organization forms that allow for fast responses to constant digital change.

Digital functional areas: The IT function needs to transform from a line function focused
on enabling communication or data flows into a more proactive and orchestrating role
supportive to digital value creation via fast and explorative responses. The employees’
digital skills in marketing and service operations also need to be upgraded to enhance
value creation. From a human resource management perspective, digital transformation
implies the attraction of employees with digital and analytical skills that may replace
existing workforce.

Digital growth strategy

Digital platform is the most prominent growth strategy for digital transformation.
Platforms can grow quickly and handle a growing number of users, including customers,
suppliers, complementary service providers. The costs of serving additional users of
digital platforms are low or sometimes negligible. The platform model also implies that
a growth in the number of users on one side (e.g., customers or suppliers) attracts users
from the other side, as they receive higher utility from using the platform, due to
increasing network effects that create virtuous loops.

While platforms’ growth initially strongly hinges on the introduction of a successful

product, over time the focus increasingly shifts away from a product based mindset
towards a platform-based mindset. This shift implies moving away from focusing on the
creation of new products towards the management of platform partners such as
suppliers and customers.

KPIs

To realize the full potential of digital transformation, digital firms need to measure the
performance improvements on key performance indicators (KPIs). The relevance and
use of KPIs may differ across the phases of digital transformation. The realization of
business values like generating revenues, profits and improve investor value usually
achieved during digital transformation phase. Beyond the differences in metrics across
phases, there is a difference between digital firms and traditional firms. While
traditional firms use profitability as a main financial metrics digital firms focus on
growth figures (e.g., growth in number of users, customers, and sales) instead of
profitability. The primary objective of many digital firms is to achieve growth in the
sheer number of users of the digital ecosystem (e.g., suppliers, customers, third parties)
to create reinforcing network effects that enable further platform growth. A fast-growing
customer base allows them to accumulate valuable data t scale, which can be leveraged
both internally (within the firm), and externally (selling services to external partners,
attaining legitimacy among investors). As long as shareholders expect that the firm is
able to capitalize on their growing user bases, they are willing to accept (short-term)
losses in return for growth.

For digitally transforming incumbents, achieving high growth is also important, but not
at the cost of profitability. Hence, incumbents, which want to transform digitally, need
to simultaneously attain two main objectives: reducing costs through automation and
growing revenues through enhanced customer experience.

How to bring People, Processes and Technology all together?

Businesses can achieve organizational efficiency by balancing and optimizing the
relationships between people, processes, and technology. The people do the work.
Processes make this work more efficient. Technology helps people do their tasks and
also helps automate the processes.

Successful digital transformation required people, process and technology to be

aligned. Although processes and technologies are the main blocks for digital
transformation, digital transformation is not about the implementation of IT solutions
only. It requires a broader context as about organizational change, cultural
transformation and “moving towards customer-centric approach (VERINA & TITKO,
2019)

A good way to think of people, processes and technology (PPT) framework is to think
of it as a three-legged table. If one of the legs is a bit longer or shorter, the whole
table will lose its balance. Similarly, if the technology changes, you need to modify
the people and processes to adapt to the new tools. Many businesses thought that
new technology and fancy tools at their problems. However, technology is only as
effective as the processes utilizing it and the people who handle it. Similarly, if
organizations don’t implement strong processes, the actions of the people will be
highly ineffective. If people don’t know how to use the technology properly, then the
company won’t create value from its investment in technology. There will be a similar
outcome if the new technology doesn’t integrate with the processes. On the other
hand, if the organization obsesses too much about the process, then they’ll end up
with a good plan on paper but without the right people or the technology to support it
(Khanduri, 2022)

Integrating people, process, and technology requires that that subsystems are
purposefully designed, aligned, and mutually supportive. People, process and
technology should support customer’s value. Customer value will be delivered through
processes. However, perfectly designed process is of no use if the people in the
organization do not possess the skills required to carry out the required tasks, or if
they are not organized such that the right people are available at the right time.
Therefore, the design of process should consider those skills, practices, and
organizational characteristics that will be required to execute that process. Similarly,
technologies that do not fit the process or support the activities of the people will not
achieve their potential and may even hinder performance. Therefore, technologies
must fit the system by supporting the process and enabling the people (Liker &
Morgan, 2006)

A capability based framework for customer experience focused digital

transformation
By: Neeraj Sahu, Hepu Deng, Alemayehu Molla
(Australasian Conference on information systems (2018, Sydney))
Digital transformation can provide numerous benefits for an organization including
improving organizational processes, enhancing customer value propositions, improving
the quality of customer services, empowering customers, reducing the costs of
products and services, innovating new products and services, gaining competitive
advantages, increasing customer retention, increasing revenue, and improving
customer experience. These benefits motivate organizations to invest in digital
transformation.

The implementation of digital transformation for improving customer experience in

organizations is a complex process. It involves managing volatile customer behaviors,
understanding complex customer information, optimizing customer processes,
enhancing business models, integrating various digital technologies, and adapting to
changing business conditions. As a result, the development of a specific framework of
digital transformation towards improving the customer experience would improve the
implementation of digital transformation in organizations. The paper develops a
framework of digital transformation for improving customer experience in
organizations.

The implementation of digital transformation in organizations is a complex process. It

involves several phases including:

 Strategy formulation in which long term strategies and policies for digital
transformation are prepared
 Organizational analysis in which the need for digital transformation is discussed
 Transformation implementation in which digital transformation strategies and
policies are executed
  Change management in which specific changes related to people, processes,
and technologies, due to the adoption of digital transformation are managed
and
 Performance evaluation in which the outcomes from implementing digital
transformation are evaluated.

The adoption of digital transformation in an organization can impact various areas

including business models, operational processes, products & services, and customer
engagement

Previous studies on investigating the implementation of digital transformation for

improving customer experience in organizations primarily focus on four aspects
including:

 The formulation of specific strategies for facilitating implementing digital

transformation towards improving customer experience (strategy oriented)
 The development of various processes of digital transformation for improving
customer experience (process based)
 The integration of digital technologies for improving customer experience
(technology integrated) and
 The evaluation of the performance of digital transformation for improving
customer experience (evaluation based).

The paper revealed that although there are various studies which contributes on
digital transformation for improving customer experience in organizations from
different perspectives, there is, however, lack of a comprehensive framework for
facilitating the implementation of digital transformation in organizations towards
improving customer experience.

The researcher proposed a conceptual framework based on the analysis of existing

literature on digital transformation for improving customer experience in the context
of the dynamic capability theory. The proposed conceptual framework consists of four
dimensions including:

 Analytics: the systematic analysis of customer data using digital technologies

for discovering the embedded knowledge in organizations.
 Business: the change of business conditions for improving customer experience
through digital transformation
 Customers: the entire customer interaction journey with the organization
through digital transformation and
 Digitalization: the adaptability, usability and integration-ability of digital
technologies with respect to existing infrastructure in organizations
The study uses a qualitative approach for the development of a digital transformation
framework towards improving customer experience. The study employs the Delphi
technique based on semi-structured face-to-face interviews for three rounds of
iterations for collecting data and sharing the results among the participants to build
consensus towards the development of the framework. The research is performed in
an Australian organization which has executed digital transformation programs for
improving customer experience with a total of 21 participants.

The researchers finally develop a digital transformation framework consisting of four

dimensions, namely, (1) analytics, (2) business, (3) customer, and (4) digitalization.
Each dimension involves various sub-dimensions. The analytics dimension can be
effectively influenced by three sub-dimensions, namely, (1.1) data analytics, (1.2)
customer trends analytics and (1.3) process analytics. The business dimension is
affected by three sub-dimensions, namely, (2.1) strategic execution, (2.2) business
model and (2.3) value proposition. The customer dimension is derived by the
effectiveness of four sub-dimensions, namely, (3.1) process, (3.2) collaboration, (3.3)
services and (3.4) engagement. Finally, the digitalization dimension is reflected
through the three sub-dimensions, namely, (4.1) digital integration, (4.2) digital
capacities and (4.3) digital capabilities. The below figure shows the developed digital
transformation framework.
Review of other digital transformation framework

Digital Transformation Framework, by Tonder et.al.

The Digital Business Transformation framework proposed by Chanté et.al. (2020) is

built on five key items: (1) product offerings, (2) customers, (3) resources, (4)
capability and (5) strategy. The framework proposed the digital transformation
process to start with customer by raising a question of how can the customer− the
main focus of any business − be better served using digital technologies, also referred
to as a digital customer, then organizations should focus on how they could either
develop new products or adapt existing ones by digitally infusing them. Thirdly
resources are critical in this process. This refers to the business possessing the
necessary resources to incorporate digital technologies into its business model. The
business need also to determine whether it possesses the necessary capabilities to
ensure digital transformation and business model innovation. Alternatively, the
business needs to determine whether existing capabilities can be turned into digital
capabilities. This has been identified as a critical factor in terms of digitalization and
digital transformation. Finally, the strategy needs to be adapted to include digital
technologies. This is known as a digital business strategy, defined in the literature as
a unique business strategy that is formulated and executed by leveraging digital
technologies (Tonder, Schachtebeck, Nieuwenhuizen, & Bossink, 2020)

Digital Transformation Framework, by Matt et al.

Digital transformation framework by Matt et al. (2015) argues that “digital

transformation strategies should encompass four essential dimensions: use of
technologies, changes in value creation, structured changes, and financial aspects.”

The financial aspect is at the core of this model, it serves as the primary driver and
motivation which is a unique approach at proposing a framework for understanding
the dynamics of digital transformation of a business entity, considering that an
organization’s strategic focus is primary on sustainable growth and profit in the long
run. The model further clarify that the use of technologies addresses a company’s
attitudes towards new technologies as well as its ability to exploit these technologies.
From a business perspective, the use of new technologies often implies changes in
value creation These concern the impact of digital transformation strategies on
firms’ value chains, i.e. how far the new digital activities deviate from the classical –
often still analog – core business. With different technologies in use and different
forms of value creation, structural changes are often needed to provide an adequate
basis for the new operations ( Matt, Hess, & Benlian, 2015). The below figure
illustrates the dependencies between the different dimensions as part of this Digital
Transformation Framework.
This framework was proposed and developed within the academia, it is yet to be
tested or validated as a rigorous framework that can be applied in understanding
digitalization. Hence, it still remains in the conceptual stage of development.

Service-Dominant Logic and Performance-Based Contracting: A Systems

Thinking Perspective
By: David Nowicki, Brian Sauser, Wesley Randall, Robert Lusch
Service Science · March 2018
Service-dominant (S-D) logic

The design and development of systems have been driven in the past by market needs
within a goods and manufacturing–based model (i.e., goods-dominant (G-D) logic)
with supporting strategies that have not been structured around performance.
Current market and economic shifts have resulted in concepts supported by the value-
in-use and co-creation of value rather than the value-in-exchange and embedded-
value concepts of the G-D logic. This shift is defined by service-dominant (S-D).
Fundamental to this shift is that firms are moving from an approach of “designing to
customers” to “designing with customers.”

In the S-D logic view, service is the application of knowledge and skills for the benefit
of another entity, and this best occurs via the co-creation of value between actor and
beneficiaries through leveraging knowledge, skills, and innovation of the respective
entities or firms. The structure of S-D logic is explained using 11 foundational
premises:

1. Service is the fundamental basis of exchange

2. Indirect exchange masks the fundamental basis of exchange
3. Goods are distribution mechanisms for service provision
 4. Operant resources are the fundamental source of strategic benefit
5. All economies are service economies.
6. Value is co-created by multiple actors, always including the beneficiary.
7. Actors cannot deliver value but can participate in the creation and offering of
value propositions
8. A service-centered view is inherently beneficiary oriented and relational
9. All social and economic actors are resource integrators.
10. Value is always uniquely and phenomenological determined by the beneficiary
11. Value co-creation is coordinated through actor-generated institutions and
institutional arrangements

Performance Based Contracting (PBC)

Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) is a contracting approach that focuses on

outcomes rather than inputs. It is a way of incentivizing service providers to achieve
specific performance goals, such as improving customer satisfaction or reducing costs.
PBC is often used in the context of government contracts, where the government pays
service providers based on their performance. PBC represents a major departure from
traditional supply chain strategies by focusing on outcomes (solutions) rather than
transactions.

PBC focuses on the dynamic application of investment to leverage the system

resources (e.g., material, labor, transportation, facilities, information) in ways that
increase system affordability. This is accomplished by monetizing future costs in ways
that shift the base sustainment-dominated system (SDS) business model from return
on revenue to return on assets

Successful performance-based contracts create a mutually beneficial relationship

between a buyer and a supplier where the supplier is compensated based on their
ability to properly support a customer’s system (i.e., the supplier’s performance), and
as such, PBC can be viewed as an SDS support system. The quantity and location of
the supporting resources are strategic and tactical supply chain decisions that are
best influenced by a holistic approach.

System Thinking

Systems thinking is a way of understanding how different parts of a system interact

with each other and how the system as a whole function. It is a way of looking at the
big picture and understanding how different elements of a system are interconnected.

Systems thinking provides an ability to define how subsystems integrate into a single
system, understand the environment in which it should perform, identify the synergy
and emergent properties of combined systems, and describe a system from all
relevant perspectives. Overall, systems thinking provides a more comprehensive and
effective approach to understanding service systems, and helps us to design service
systems that are more effective and efficient.
Boardman Soft Systems Methodology

The Boardman Soft Systems Methodology (BSSM) is a problem structuring technique

used in systems thinking to create systemigrams. The BSSM is used in the research
paper to create a systemigram that represents a systems thinking approach to each of
the 11 S-D logic FPs, in the context of PBC, and an overall view of the interactions
and synergy of these 11 FPs

The BSSM follows seven steps that can be viewed as an iterative process for defining
an ill-defined, emerging, or developing problem, theory, or system of interest. The
BSSM is useful for understanding motivations, viewpoints, and interactions and
addressing qualitative dimensions of problem situations.

 Step 1: The problem situation: Unstructured.

 Step 2: The Problem Situation: Expressed.
 Step 3: Structured Text.
 Step 4 Systemigram Design.
 Step 5: Dramatization and Dialogue.
 Step 6: Feasible and Desirable Changes.
 Step 7: Action to Improve the Problem Situation.

Steps 1–7 are then repeated until a valid outcome of a BSSM is achieved. Valid is
defined as follows:

(i) The people concerned (i.e., stakeholders) feel that the problem has been
solved, or
(ii) The problem situation has been improved, or
(iii) Insights have been gained.

S-D Logic and PBC

Individually, S-D logic and PBC represent transformative shifts that are quite similar.
Both S-D logic and PBC focus on performance outcomes and value instead of the
provision of products, and they move away from firms or entities working separately
to collaborating or working together.

S-D logic focuses on how firms offer value propositions in the form of service. In the S-
D logic view, service is the application of knowledge and skills for the benefit of
another entity, and this best occurs via the co-creation of value between actor and
beneficiaries through leveraging knowledge, skills, and innovation of the respective
entities or firms. In PBC, the customers are the beneficiaries, as described in S-D logic
and the actors are the beneficiaries as well as the other co-creators of knowledge,
skills, and innovation. Importantly, this suggests that firms cannot create or provide
actors’ value but can only co-create value, and hence collaboration should become
systemic.

The tight coupling around affordability, knowledge, skills, and innovation led to
research to determine whether PBC is a practical instance of S-D logic. This theory–
practice link was used to empirically develop a PBC theory, consistent with S-D logic,
that examines and explains complex supply chain relationships. Using grounded
theory, developed a PBC theory consistent with S-D logic that examines and explains
complex supply chain relationships: “Performance-based outcomes will lead managers
to co-create and exchange knowledge across a supply chain to achieve continuous
value creation for the end user and the entire network.

From the point forwarded above the paper investigate if a new propositions emerge
when using a systems thinking perspective to investigate S-D logic in the context of
PBC. The objective of the paper is to provide a set of testable propositions based on
an application of systems thinking to extend the theory of S-D logic while making it
more actionable in the context of PBC.

Findings

The research paper concludes that Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) is consistent

with the foundational premises of Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, particularly in terms
of the co-creation of value and the integration of resources and knowledge across the
network.

The use of a systemigram to explore PBC and S-D logic has allowed the researchers to
discover additional insights in S-D logic that have not been shown in the literature
from other studies. The paper suggests that S-D logic provides a theoretical lens for
examining PBC and interpreting the results, and that the use of a systems thinking
methodology provides further evidence of the insights from S-D logic in the context of
PBC. The paper concludes that S-D logic is now better positioned for more rigorous
discussions of PBC by applying a theoretically sound and tested framework that moves
the focus from transactions to the co-creation of value.

Frameworks for the Development of Digital Competencies

A competency is a cluster of related knowledge, skills, abilities, and characteristics
that are related to the performance of a significant aspect of the practice of a
profession. A competency model is a collection of competencies that are relevant to
the performance in a particular job, job family, or functional area while a
competency framework is a broad framework for integrating, organizing, and aligning
various competency models (Human Resource Proffesional Association).
DigComp 2.2 The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens

DigComp is a descriptive, enabling framework designed to support the development of

digital competence of individuals personally and professionally. This framework is
published by European Union in 2022 targeting Policy makers; Teachers/trainers;
Labor market partners (employers and unions).

The competences are a combination of:

 Knowledge: It means the outcome of the assimilation of information through

learning. Knowledge is the body of facts, principles, theories and practices that
is related to a field of work or study.
 Skills: They are the ability to apply knowledge and use know-how to complete
tasks and solve problems. and
 Attitudes: They are conceived as the motivators of performance, the basis for
continued competent performance. They include values, aspirations and
priorities.

DigCom digital competence is combination of 21 competences grouped in five main

areas the five areas are Information and data literacy; Communication and
collaboration; Digital content creation; Safety; and Problem solving. The below figure
shows DigCom conceptual reference model.

There are eight proficiency level in DigComp framework which is categorized in to

four group:
 1. Foundation

Level 1: At basic level and with guidance, I can:

Level 2: At basic level and with autonomy and appropriate guidance where needed, I
can:

2. Intermediate

Level 3: On my own and solving straightforward problems, I can:

Level 4: Independently, according to my own needs, and solving well-defined and
non-routine problems, I can:

3. Advanced

Level 5: As well as guiding others, I can:

Level 6: At advanced level, according to my own needs and those of others, and in
complex contexts, I can:

4. Highly Specialized

Level 7: At highly specialized level, I can:

Level 8: At the most advanced and specialized level, I can:

Defining the skill citizen will need in the future world of work.

This framework aims to define the skills citizens will need in the future world of
work. The skills are defined by three criteria regardless of economic sector and/or
occupation within which people work i.e. 1) to add value beyond what can be done by
automated systems and intelligent machines; 2) operate in a digital environment; 3)
continually adapt to new ways of working and new occupations. The framework is
developed by McKinsey & Company, Global, 2019 targeting Citizens;
Teachers/trainers; Non-governmental organizations; Labor market partners
(employers and unions).

The framework identified 56 foundational skills that will help citizens thrive in the
future work across 13 skills group and four categories as stated in the below figures.
 Common Digital Competency Framework for Teachers

This publication is the latest version of the Common Digital Competence Framework
for Teachers published in January 2017 by The National Institute of Educational
Technologies and Teacher Training (INTEF), institution belonging to the Ministry of
Education, Culture and Sport (MECD) of the Spanish government. It aims to provide to
the aforementioned framework the improvements suggested by all the experts who
have participated in its validation process.

The Common Digital Competence Framework for Teachers is a reference framework

for the diagnosis and improvement of the digital competences for teachers. These
competences are defined as those teachers need to develop in the 21st century to
improve their teaching practice and for their continuous professional development.
The Common Digital Competence Framework for Teachers is made up by 5
competence areas and their 21 competences defined in 6 proficiency levels. Each
competence provides a detailed description as well as the descriptors based in terms
of knowledge, ability and attitude. This framework is the foundation for the Digital
Competence Portfolio for Teachers, digital tool by INTEF to endorse the
aforementioned competence.

The five areas that comprise the digital competence for teachers are set in this
framework:
 Area 1. Information and data literacy
 Area 2. Communication and Collaboration
 Area 3. Digital content creation
 Area 4. Safety
 Area 5. Problem Solving

The 21 competences that make the aforementioned areas are addressed in each of
these. Furthermore, six progressive proficiency levels are set.
 A1 Foundation level
 A2 Foundation level
 B1 Intermediate level
 B2 Intermediate level
 C1 Advanced level
 C2 Advanced level
Matt, C., Hess, T., & Benlian, A. (2015). Digital Transformation Strategies. Business and Information
Systems Engineering.

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en/insights/digital-transformation-index

Astapciks, I. (2023). https://www.forbes.com/. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/03/20/why-do-companies-need-digital-
transformation/?sh=33b5b0472bab

Human Resource Proffesional Association. (n.d.). Human Resources Proffesional Compitency Framework.

Khanduri, A. (2022, March 8). People, Process, Technology: The PPT Framework, Explained. Retrieved
from https://www.plutora.com/: https://www.plutora.com/blog/people-process-technology-
ppt-framework-explained

Liker, J. K., & Morgan, J. M. (2006). The Toyota Way in Services: The Case of Lean Product Development.
JSTOR.

McKinsey & Company, Global. (2019). Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work.
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