From scattered to self-sustaining
Every dimension of an organization sits at one of five levels. Progress runs from level 1, where nothing is defined, to level 5, where the capability is part of the culture and sustains itself.
Initial Level 1
Everything starts loose and driven by urgency. Nothing is defined.
Developing Level 2
There are attempts and goodwill, but they live in only a few hands.
Defined Level 3
It is written down, with clear owners and processes.
Managed Level 4
It is measured, reviewed and improved proactively.
Optimized Level 5
It is part of the culture and sustains itself, with real-time data.
The six phases are the engine
The levels tell you where you are. The six KAIROS phases are the engine that moves an organization from one level to the next, dimension by dimension.
Know and Assess measure the current level in each dimension. Ideate and Roadmap set the target level and the path, prioritized by value and effort. Orchestrate executes. Sustain measures again and holds the gain.
The cycle repeats. Each pass climbs one or more rungs in the dimensions that deliver the most value first.
Three pillars, one complete reading
Maturity is read across three pillars. Each pillar brings together concrete dimensions, and each dimension describes what you see at each of the five levels.
Business
The direction, the value and the rules of the game.
Strategy and direction
Measures whether there is a clear, shared direction rather than scattered initiatives.
Initiatives start loose, driven by urgency. There is no stated direction.
A vision exists, but it lives in a few heads and does not reach daily work.
There is a written strategy, with objectives and a sponsor who backs it.
The strategy guides each area's decisions and is reviewed on a regular basis.
Direction is part of the culture. Every relevant decision is measured against it.
Business value
Measures whether the real contribution of initiatives is quantified.
Value is not assessed. Decisions are made on intuition or trend.
Business cases are understood, but they are not measured or reviewed.
There are defined indicators, reported and compared against targets. Work is prioritized by value.
Value is measured before and after, with hard data, and direction is adjusted from it.
The value of each initiative is visible to leadership in real time and guides investment.
Governance and prioritization
Measures how it is decided what gets done and who can do what.
Anyone does anything, without rules or control.
Owners are assigned and there is some visibility of what exists.
There are clear policies, a process to request and prioritize, and usage monitoring.
Duplicated or abandoned resources are detected and put in order. Governance is proactive.
Governance is automated, with risk-based approvals, without slowing the pace down.
People
The culture, the talent and the human backbone.
Culture and adoption
Measures whether people actually use what gets implemented.
Tools are rolled out and left unused. Adoption is not managed.
There are one-off adoption efforts and a few internal champions.
There is onboarding for new users and an adoption strategy.
There is a community of champions, regular touchpoints and shared success stories.
A large, proven internal community, with mentors and a growth path.
Capabilities and talent
Measures whether the knowledge and roles to sustain it exist.
Knowledge lives in one or two people. If they leave, it collapses.
Cases are piloted with technical teams, but without a training plan.
There is a training strategy and defined roles for the key areas.
Mixed teams, business and technical, plan and execute together.
Teams form themselves as the need arises, with a shared development strategy.
Support and continuity
Measures what happens when something fails or has to be maintained over time.
Everyone fends for themselves. There is no support or lifecycle process.
Informal support and some management of the solution lifecycle.
Support involves a help desk, with risk profiles per solution.
A dedicated support team, clear roles and continuous improvement aligned to the business.
Support activities are automated and operating responsibilities are fully understood.
Technology
The systems, the data, the security and the automation.
Architecture and systems
Measures whether the systems are in order and talk to each other.
Disconnected systems, with manual re-entry of data between them.
Some integrations, but without a standard or a defined lifecycle.
An environment and lifecycle strategy, with orderly deployments.
Environments per use case, automated deployments and deliberate architecture.
Enterprise architecture that builds these capabilities into every decision.
Data and integration
Measures whether decisions are made with reliable data.
Scattered data, no single source. Decisions are made on intuition.
Isolated reports are looked at when there is time to build them.
A single source and data that support key decisions with some regularity.
Common data models that allow reuse and comparison across areas.
End-to-end analytics and dashboards that give leadership real-time visibility.
Security
Measures whether the operation and the information are protected.
Basic security, no data policies or monitoring. Compliance is not understood.
Default controls configured and teams starting to define a strategy.
A data policy for every environment and regular review of recommendations.
Fine-grained access control, proactive monitoring and threat detection.
End-to-end identity and data management, with security by design in every project.
Automation and responsible AI
Measures whether work is automated and AI is used with judgment.
Manual, one-off processes. AI with no governance or awareness of risk.
Standardized but still manual processes. First AI pilots without a framework.
Automated flows and requests. A responsible AI policy defined.
Automated lifecycle. AI risks managed with a recognized framework.
End-to-end automation and responsible AI built into the whole cycle.
Know where you are. Decide where you are going.
The assessment places your organization on each of the ten dimensions and shows the first stretch of the road.