How digital are our people?

Chris Thorn, Head of Digital at the BHF, talks about being “Digital By Default”, where what we do as an organisation is digital first, rather than adding on digital later as an after-thought. A step along the journey to making Digital By Default a reality is using a framework to understand how “digital” our people are.

Digital Visitor and Resident (V & R) model


“The Digital Visitor and Resident (V & R) model provides a framework to depict how user preference and habit motivates engagement with technology and the web. V&R commonly is described as a continuum, with two modes of online engagement at either end, making a separation between different approaches to engagement. People operating in Visitor mode have a defined goal or task, and select an appropriate online tool to meet their needs as they arise. For example, using a smartphone to search the internet for directions to a local bookstore, thus finding a particular piece of information online and then going offline to complete the task. There will be little in terms of social visibility or trace when online in Visitor mode. People operating in Resident mode are online to connect to, or to be with, other people. For example, posting to the wall in Facebook, tweeting, blogging, or posting comments on blogs. The web supports the projection of their identity and facilities relationships. In other words, Residents live a percentage of their lives online. Unlike the visitor mode, there will be online visibility and presence when in resident mode. It is very common for individuals to engage online in a mixture of Visitor and Resident modes depending on what they are trying to achieve.” Thanks Wikipedia. 

V & R Process Mapping


V & R Process Mapping is a way of getting people to document which digital services and platforms they use, and where they place those on the spectrum. This would include Facebook, Twitter, Sharepoint, Evernote, Email, On Demand TV, video streaming (Youtube), etc. We could use this process across the organisation to understand how digital people are. The more people who complete the process the greater our understanding becomes, and so we develop a better picture of how digital our people are, and where the gaps are in having people who are digital enough to achieve Digital By Default across the organisation.     

— From the V & R framework we get the four stages (Emerging, Establishing, Embedding, and Experiencing).