The measurement framework
A thermometer does not tell you which temperature to aim for: it tells you where you stand. Our scale measures the digital and AI maturity of an SME on five named levels and four axes, readable by an executive committee in five minutes. It replaces the forty-criteria matrices that nobody reads.
1 Latent · 2 Emerging · 3 Structured · 4 Industrialised · 5 Differentiating
The five levels
Latent
Cold
What we observe
No organised use. Or worse: hidden use of consumer tools with company data. Nobody owns the subject.
The next notch
Decide that the subject exists: executive seminar, minimum rules, audit of what you have.
→ Audit of what you haveEmerging
Warm
What we observe
Things are simmering: individuals experiment, a few personal gains, no measurement, no framework, no priorities.
The next notch
Choose: audit of what you have and solutions plan, art. 4 training, a first solution to implement.
→ Audit + Solutions planStructured
Heating up
What we observe
One or two framed use cases, partial results, a named lead, accessible data, but projects that stay at pilot stage.
Industrialised
In production
What we observe
Several solutions measured (KPIs, unit cost), governance in place (register, policy), skills spread across the teams, costs tracked.
The next notch
Steer the portfolio: fractional digital & AI director, quarterly committee, sovereignty.
→ Fractional digital & AI directorDifferentiating
Advantage
What we observe
Technology is at the heart of the offer or the operating model: industrialised, sovereign where it matters, steered by the executive committee with financial indicators.
The next notch
Stay at the right temperature: second opinion, technology watch, reversibility, new cases.
→ Second opinionWhere companies stand today: 88% of surveyed organisations report using AI, yet agent deployment remains in the single digits across almost every function (AI Index 2026, Stanford, p. 173). Almost everyone has started, almost nobody has industrialised: rungs 1 and 2 are the most crowded. The Cape Pebble Barometer will publish a measured distribution once enough anonymous Thermometer results have come in.
The four axes
A
Do you know where technology creates value and who is responsible for it?
Three criteria scored from 0 to 3. Frequent weak point: Your weak point is strategy: nobody knows where the value is or who owns the subject.
B
Do the data and the tools make it possible to act?
Three criteria scored from 0 to 3. Frequent weak point: Your weak point is your existing systems: scattered data, tools that do not talk to each other, confidentiality not framed.
C
Do the teams know how to use these tools, and do they want to?
Three criteria scored from 0 to 3. Frequent weak point: Your weak point is adoption: the teams are neither trained nor equipped, good practices do not circulate.
D
Are uses inventoried, compliant and under control?
Three criteria scored from 0 to 3. Frequent weak point: Your weak point is governance: no inventory, compliance not addressed, costs and dependencies unknown.
The principle
A services SME aiming for productivity has no reason to spend to reach level 5. The gap between current level and target level gives the number of notches to climb, and therefore the roadmap.
| Ambition at 24 months | Target level | What it implies |
|---|---|---|
Keep pace Avoid falling behind, stay compliant, secure what you have. | 3Structured | Prove and implement: Proof Sprint then production, compliance. |
Gain Measurable productivity and margin on key processes. | 4Industrialised | Steer the portfolio: fractional digital & AI director, quarterly committee, sovereignty. |
Transform Technology changes the company's offer or model. | 5Differentiating | Stay at the right temperature: second opinion, technology watch, reversibility, new cases. |
Twelve questions, five minutes, a level on the Cape Pebble Scale and the first solutions to consider. Free, no sign-up.