Information Technology Maturity Evaluation in a Large Brazilian Cosmetics Industry

Abstract

Maturity evaluation has been one of the most important research topics for many of knowledge management areas. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a maturity framework for Information Technology- IT area showing the dimensions to be managed in terms of stages of development for technology management. The literature review was based on the analysis of the technological transformations within the organizations, assessing the importance of the technology and the way in which it is transforming companies, as well as, the maturity for IT determining the potential framework that will serve as object of the research deployment. Following a qualitative and exploratory approach, the research method considered was a case study carried out in a large Brazilian cosmetics industry. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied in samples of professionals from the IT area. The data worked were primary, with a temporal cross-section and the data were evaluated by way of content analysis. The result of the research provided the basis to evaluate the maturity of the IT of this cosmetics industry, with the following objectives: analyze the company’s current level of development from the dimensions of people, processes, technology and management. This study brings out important contribution once few articles considering the thematic of IT maturity were found in the literature. The main theoretical contribution is based on the opportunity of deploying a methodology as a reference whereas the practical contribution is linked to the framework presented which can be a reference for practitioners on IT maturity evaluation in other organizations.