Study on the Digital Transformation Capability of Cost Consultation Enterprises Based on Maturity Model

Abstract

The digital maturity model (DMM) can help enterprises scientifically evaluate their digital maturity level, identify their weaknesses, and then further formulate improvement strategies. Most of the existing relevant studies focus on the Internet industry, new retail industry, and manufacturing industry, while discussion on other industries is rare. The cost consultation industry is a typical data-intensive industry. The study on its digital transformation capacity is a response to the digital cost trend in the current engineering field. The purpose of this paper is to build a DMM to evaluate the digital maturity level of cost consultation enterprises. Based on capability maturity theory and industry characteristics, the key dimensions and specific evaluation index system of the digital transformation of cost consultation enterprises are determined by using literature analysis, expert interview, and other methods, and a DMM of cost consultation enterprises is built. The model covers six dimensions, namely, top-level design, infrastructure, cost consultation business process, professional management, comprehensive integration, and digital cost performance, which are divided into 18 categories and 61 domains. On this basis, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation are comprehensively used to evaluate the digital maturity. Finally, a benchmark central enterprise in China’s high-speed rail industry, the Institute of Industry and Economics, China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd. is selected for the case study. Results show that this enterprise, as a whole, is at the digital pioneer level. However, the effects of professional management and comprehensive integration are general, which should be the future improvement direction of digital transformation. This paper can provide the theoretical reference for the digital transformation of the cost consultation industry.