Why Digital Transformation?
Industry experts Gartner predict about 21 billion devices will be connected to a single network by 2020. Many enterprises are not able to cope up with the rapid pace of creating and maintaining open, networked collaborations in a global business environment.
IDC projected the global IoT market to increase up to $1.7 trillion in 2020 recording CAGR of 16.9%; major contributors being mobile devices, excellent connectivity, and IT services.
Developing intelligent systems to learn, adapt and then act on their own rather than based on predefined instructions is a major challenge that enterprises and technology vendors will compete to gain supremacy by 2020.
Key Drivers Of Digital Transformation
Convergence of the key factors in the digital ecosystem such as changing consumer demand, technology, and competition results in a huge market transformation. But what happens when few of these coincide? For instance, a running business model is unable to serve the customers; it means that the business model needs a change to survive in the market.
However, evolving businesses do not reach that tipping point. They are well aware about the current market opportunities and are ready to grab those. With a continuous focus on customer needs, evolving businesses change, adapt, and eventually lead the competition.
Top Strategies of Digital Transformation
The infographic below displays key strategies you should adopt to keep pace with the ever-changing market dynamics.
Digital transformation helps enterprises reimagine each and every business aspect. With continuous evolution of technology trends, top industry leaders believe they need careful collaboration, meticulous planning, as well as participation of all departments for a successful digital transformation.
In the recent past, business models have seen tremendous shifts in how businesses operate, breaking down of data silos, and changing scope of operational roles. Gradually, digital transformation has evolved from just a trend to become the helm of business strategy for modern enterprises.
- Adaptability: In 2016, enterprises were able to understand how cloud computing has forced IT evolution over the years. However, technology alone is not responsible for digital transformation of an enterprise. It is about how the new technology is integrated into the existing organizational culture to embrace the change seamlessly.
- User experience: With new technologies, customers are becoming more aware; they will refrain from brands which do not align with their needs. Delivering a consistent as well as positive customer experience is essential for enterprises so that customers can engage and interact with the brand from any place at any time. Real-time analytics help enterprises discover their customers’ whereabouts and streamline interaction accordingly in high-traffic areas without missing even a single customer touch point.
- Rapid Innovation: If you don’t want to lose the competitive edge, you must engage in proactive innovation. Assess, test, analyze, and judge the new technology much before the other industry players. You cannot waste time or resources in implementing tools that do not offer much business value. Faster time to market will help enterprises to embrace digital transformation opportunities and disrupt business models and markets. Fail fast, to succeed quickly.
- Application program interfaces: Successful digital transformation requires business agility. Technology is continuously evolving; if you are not viable to adopt new technologies and tools, your business value will fade away quickly. Integrating multiple technologies is possible with APIs companies must look to deploy technologies to deliver the best customer experience, if required source them from multiple vendors.
- Gamification: The huge success of Pokemon Go, an app driven by augmented reality poses a huge challenge for businesses which haven’t yet tested the potential of augmented reality and virtual reality. Previously limited to gaming apps, these technologies are easily implemented now. Gamification will serve as a core business strategy in the forthcoming years. Incorporating gamification will improve customer engagement, retain loyal customers, and enhance user experience.
- Internet of Things (IoT): IoT has changed the ways of doing business by creating efficient cities as well as lean enterprises. Industry experts predict that by 2020, 50 billion IoT sensors will be connected through a single network; so, IoT won’t only be transformative for business models but also disruptive.
- Big data analytics: There is a huge amount of data available but how many companies use it to its maximum effect? Analytics help businesses understand how customers think, their wants, and how the brand is perceived in the market. With the help of digital disruption, you can measure almost everything. In the future, analytics will become a cornerstone of major business operations. Strategic decision making will improve with the application of big data analytics.
- Artificial intelligence: Previously considered as science fiction, AI has become a reality with technology advancements. Machine learning might replace low-skilled jobs but AI will collaborate with human skills to resolve complex problems. Soon, AI will become the most disruptive IT force.
These technology trends will definitely shape the core digital transformation initiatives for you in 2017 and more is expected to come in the forthcoming years. There is an urgent need for your organization to rapidly change its culture and technology to survive the effects of digital disruption. You must focus to build an agile and adaptable business model that will thrive in the long run, with the only constant factor being change.