Mastering CI Maturity: Understanding Level 6
In a previous article, I introduced a capability maturity model for organizational adoption and use of AI and other collaborative technologies (aka “collaborative intelligence” or CI).
This is the final article in this series. It describes Maturity Level 6, named “Renewing.” It will provide more detail about the observable characteristics at this level.
Now that the entire model is articulated, I will provide an assessment tool to help organizations determine their maturity level. In a future post, I will announce its availability and describe it.
Organizations at Maturity Level 5 have successfully transformed themselves into CI-driven businesses. However, the rate of growth and expansion of machine intelligence will continue apace for many more years. Thus, organizations must continually renew themselves (e.g., reach Maturity Level 6) to maintain their competitive positions and avoid the need for future transformations.
Characteristics of Organizations with "Renewing" Collaborative Intelligence
Organizational Awareness/Knowledge of CI Technologies
At Maturity Level 6, the organization has embedded mechanisms for continual, autonomous learning and adaptation that maintain its cutting-edge CI capabilities. CI systems autonomously scan industry advancements, research publications, and competitive landscapes to identify relevant CI innovations. These systems autonomously assess and distribute insights to relevant teams while adjusting internal learning resources in response to new CI developments.
Human leaders focus on evaluating and aligning the strategic implications of these discoveries rather than managing learning initiatives. This structure ensures that the organization remains aware of emerging CI technologies and can seamlessly integrate them, keeping it at the forefront of CI advancements without needing future large-scale transformation efforts.
CI-Related Skills/Experience and CI-Specific Skills Management Processes
The organization has established a self-sustaining skills ecosystem in which CI systems continuously evaluate emerging CI-related skills from the broader industry and automatically integrate relevant ones into employee training programs. These CI-driven processes assess skill gaps, track competency development, and assign advanced learning tasks autonomously as needed. CI systems provide employees with real-time feedback on their skill progression and suggest skill-enhancement opportunities tied to organizational needs. Human talent leaders oversee high-level workforce planning and strategic skills alignment, while CI systems maintain skill relevance and alignment.
Influence of CI on Business Strategy
CI systems autonomously analyze and interpret large-scale market, operational, and competitive data, providing strategic recommendations and real-time adjustments to business strategies. These CI systems independently generate strategic insights, propose adjustments, and simulate potential outcomes, allowing the organization to respond quickly to changes without manual intervention. Human leaders focus on high-level validation and refinement of these strategies, leveraging CI-generated insights for strategic alignment with long-term goals.
By continually monitoring the external environment, CI systems anticipate shifts that could impact strategic priorities. They autonomously initiate minor course corrections and inform leaders of significant trends. This approach ensures the organization’s strategies remain adaptive and forward-looking, minimizing the need for disruptive transformation.
CI Technologies Deployed
At Maturity Level 6, CI technologies are integrated across all critical functions with adaptive mechanisms for ongoing optimization. These CI systems monitor their performance and usage, autonomously initiating adjustments or recommending upgrades for review based on operational data, emerging standards, and evolving business needs. While some minor updates are handled autonomously, significant changes or upgrades require validation from human leaders, ensuring that all deployments align with strategic priorities.
Human oversight remains focused on evaluating and approving major technology shifts, while CI systems autonomously handle more minor optimizations and routine assessments. This balanced approach allows the organization to maintain cutting-edge capabilities while ensuring alignment with broader strategic objectives, minimizing the need for disruptive overhauls.
CI-Enabled Business Processes, Job Designs, and Team Structures
CI-enabled business processes, job designs, and team structures are highly adaptable and self-optimizing, enabling continuous alignment with evolving organizational goals. CI systems autonomously monitor workflow efficiency, task allocation, and team collaboration patterns, identifying areas for improvement and proposing adjustments to processes or team structures. Routine adjustments are implemented autonomously, while significant process changes or restructuring recommendations are flagged for human review to ensure strategic alignment.
Human roles focus on strategic guidance, complex decision-making, and areas requiring creativity or judgment, while CI systems manage and optimize day-to-day operations. This structure fosters a fluid, adaptive work environment where team configurations, processes, and roles can be adjusted as needed to maintain peak efficiency and alignment with current objectives, reducing the need for large-scale restructuring.
CI-Enabled or Embedded Products/Services
The organization’s products and services are designed to incorporate new CI technologies continually, with integration driven by economic justification and human approval. CI systems autonomously monitor advancements in CI capabilities and assess their potential impact on existing offerings, conducting cost-benefit analyses to determine the viability of upgrades or feature enhancements. For minor enhancements, CI systems may implement changes automatically; however, more significant updates require human evaluation to ensure alignment with strategic goals and market positioning.
This framework allows products and services to evolve dynamically based on real-time user feedback, usage patterns, and market trends. Human oversight ensures that only economically viable and strategically relevant innovations are introduced, while CI systems handle the day-to-day monitoring and implementation of minor improvements. This adaptive approach enables the organization to maintain a competitive edge by continuously refreshing its offerings without disruptive redevelopment cycles.
CI-Aware Management Processes/Metrics
At Maturity Level 6, management processes and metrics are optimized for continuous improvement. CI systems autonomously monitor, analyze, and report human and machine performance. These systems track metrics that assess the impact of CI on strategic objectives, operational efficiencies, and decision quality, generating insights that allow for ongoing adjustments to maximize performance.
Routine performance optimizations are handled autonomously, while significant trends or anomalies are flagged for human review. This enables leaders to make strategic adjustments based on real-time data. Human management focuses on refining high-level metrics and adapting long-term strategies as organizational needs evolve, while CI systems autonomously drive day-to-day performance tracking and reporting. This structure enables a continuously adaptive organization that proactively aligns with emerging opportunities and challenges.
CI Governance Processes and Policies
CI governance processes and policies are structured to ensure ongoing alignment with emerging CI technologies and regulatory standards. CI systems autonomously track compliance with internal policies and external regulations, managing routine audits and flagging potential policy deviations for human review. Policies are designed to evolve with minimal disruption, with CI systems recommending updates as new CI capabilities, risks, or regulations arise.
Human governance teams assess and approve recommendations for significant policy changes, focusing on strategic and ethical considerations. This adaptive governance framework allows the organization to stay compliant and ethically grounded, proactively addressing risks and seizing opportunities presented by CI advancements. Human oversight ensures that governance policies remain aligned with organizational values, while CI systems manage day-to-day compliance, supporting a seamless, secure CI environment without frequent manual intervention.
Organizational Culture
The organizational culture aligns with the core principles of collaborative intelligence, fostering an environment where continuous renewal and adaptation are core values. Employees view CI systems as essential collaborators and actively participate in refining human-machine workflows. CI-driven insights regularly inform team practices and decision-making. The culture emphasizes agility, openness to change, and a proactive approach to leveraging CI innovations.
Leadership reinforces this culture by emphasizing the strategic importance of human expertise and machine intelligence. It promotes a forward-looking mindset that ensures the organization remains adaptable and primed for ongoing advancement without needing large-scale cultural shifts.
Data Models, Architectures, Workflows, and Management Processes/Policies
Data models, architectures, workflows, and management processes are designed to evolve continuously, supporting seamless integration of new data sources, formats, and CI capabilities. Systems autonomously manage data ingestion, processing, and storage, optimizing data flows to support operational and strategic objectives. These systems monitor data usage patterns, assess data quality, and adapt workflows in real time to ensure optimal accessibility and performance.
Significant architectural changes or data policy updates are proposed for human review, ensuring alignment with broader organizational goals and regulatory requirements. Human oversight focuses on long-term data strategy and high-level data governance, while CI systems autonomously handle daily data management tasks and incremental improvements. This continuous adaptation ensures the organization’s data infrastructure remains agile, secure, and capable of supporting future CI needs without requiring large-scale restructuring.
Computing and Cybersecurity Infrastructure
The organization’s computing and cybersecurity infrastructure is designed for continual self-assessment and adaptive scaling, ensuring secure and efficient support for autonomous and collaborative CI functions. Systems monitor infrastructure performance, identifying capacity needs, potential vulnerabilities, and areas for optimization. Routine adjustments, such as resource allocation and minor security patches, are handled autonomously to maintain peak efficiency and resilience.
For more extensive infrastructure upgrades or significant security enhancements, the CI systems provide data-driven recommendations that human IT leaders review to ensure strategic alignment and compliance. Human oversight is focused on high-level cybersecurity planning and long-term infrastructure strategy, while systems autonomously manage real-time monitoring, response, and minor infrastructure adjustments. This approach allows the infrastructure to remain robust, scalable, and responsive to evolving CI demands without requiring major overhauls.
The Collaborative Intelligence Capability Maturity Model (CI-CMM) provides a practical framework for organizations adopting collaborative intelligence (CI), guiding them from initial exploration to continuously adaptive CI-driven enterprises. As organizations advance through each maturity level, they systematically integrate CI technologies, refine processes, and realign roles to support efficient, data-driven decision-making and optimized human-machine collaboration. By following the CMM, businesses address the specific challenges of CI integration at each stage, building a stable foundation for future growth.
Reaching Maturity Level 6—the "Renewing" stage—means that an organization has achieved a state of ongoing adaptability, with mechanisms in place to assess and integrate new advancements as they become relevant. This eliminates the need for disruptive transformations, allowing the organization to remain responsive to change and sustain its competitive edge. The CMM thus serves as both a roadmap and a continuous improvement strategy, helping organizations move confidently toward a future of resilience and sustained innovation.
Collaborative Intelligence is a Transformativ, LLC publication. If you’d like to learn more about how to become an AI-powered enterprise, please contact us here.