Top 8 Trends Shaping Digital Transformation
As the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing companies to consider stringent measures to cope with the fallout for their growth prospects, many are looking forward to digital transformation to take on the new challenges. According to the Global Trade Magazine, rampant restrictions on people and goods movement, strict lockdown measures, office closures, and interruptions in the supply of commodities are actually turning businesses toward digital transformation.
How is this digital transformation going to take shape in the coming year? Well, this is what we would like to explain here. If you are a startup, you must have an idea of these future trends, corresponding to the digital transformation of businesses. Here we put forward the top digital transformation trends for the upcoming year that are already unfolding.
Top Digital Transformation Trends
1. Shift To Virtual Interaction
This is going to be the new normal for employee communication. While coping with lockdown measures, most companies made their employees work from home and so they resorted to virtual tools for live interactions. It seems this trend will continue in the year ahead, and beyond. In the year ahead, for dealing with the issues created by the absence of personal interaction, businesses will acquire more sophisticated video conferencing capabilities. Messaging and social media interactions will also prosper.
2. Business Process Automation
An increasing number of businesses are piloting automation for their processes in multiple units or functions. According to MuleSoft research, 30% of IT strategists and top decision-makers consider that automation is going to be in the driver’s seat for future digital transformation. Since innovative automation tools and robust ERP and CRM systems are already turning traditional businesses into smart companies, automation of business processes and operation will continue to gain momentum in 2022 and beyond.
3. Enhanced Emphasis On Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel retail marketing is continuing to grow, and this is likely to continue in the next year. The key advantage of omnichannel marketing is that it has a multifaceted approach, bringing both the online and brick-and-mortar stores within the same supply chain. Omnichannel marketing, by breaking through the internal barriers and process silos, can allow unmatched visibility across multiple platforms. In 2022 and beyond more marketers and businesses will take on the advantages of omnichannel retail.
4. More Focus On Predictive Analytics
A key factor that grabbed the attention of people during the COVID-19 crisis is the specific manner in which medical scientists could predict the virus infection growth rate and the peak of the infection spread in different regions. The power of predictive analytics was on full display for everyone to see. Hospitals and healthcare facilities utilized predictive analytics to analyze the location of the infection and the time frame of the spread of contagion with remarkable precision, and they could do this simply because of predictive analytics. While predictive analytics and data driven insights will continue to rise in importance, businesses will also use prescriptive analytics, or analytics-based precise prescriptions, to deal with various constraints and issues.
5. More Investment In Cloud Technologies
For the last couple of years, cloud technology has continued to become popular. Cloud computing will be the key to digital transformation in 2022 and beyond. Thanks to the emergence of several leading cloud platforms and their pay per usage model, cloud adoption is becoming easier and more affordable. Cloud applications will replace legacy applications, allowing for more ease in collaboration and easier ways to employ remote employees and remotely located talents.
6. Cybersecurity Will Be Very Crucial
If you are well informed, you already know that hackers from all over the globe utilized the pandemic to their advantage, leading to several security attacks across the globe. There has been a whopping 238% rise in the attacks on banking websites and apps. The cyberattacks also increased 600% on cloud servers all around the world. Naturally, stronger cybersecurity measures will be a more dominant trend in the coming years.
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies will help build more powerful tools and algorithms to deal with equally advanced cyberthreats. In 2022, companies taking the path of digital transformation will face increased cyberthreats and they will have to deal with more advanced security measures, based on intelligent algorithms.
7. Headless Technology Will Have A More Disruptive Role To Play
The headless tech, which represents a scenario in which companies can segregate the front end presentation layer of their digital solution from the back end data management and functionalities, has already penetrated eCommerce apps and business websites. For example, Amazon Alexa and similar virtual assistants can now shop products and services on behalf of customers.
This is one reason why the customer acquisition cost for eCommerce apps and solutions is steadily increasing. On the other hand, it is customer retention that is increasingly becoming important for businesses to maintain growth, and this is an area that is propelling the growth of omnichannel marketing. Headless technology will continue to have a disruptive effect on eCommerce.
8. Personalized Shopping Experience
Since most customers purchasing and browsing from their smartphones have a preference for a personalized shopping experiences, the businesses adopting digital transformation need to consider this to be a key factor for a satisfactory customer experience. Personalized shopping has already penetrated across most leading eCommerce stores as a crucial competitive factor, and this will continue in the years to come.
As we have already experienced, a smooth and highly personalized mobile shopping experience can itself create such satisfaction that the products and services can even take the backseat in the list of priorities. This means that businesses, while embracing digital transformation, need to deliver highly personalized shopping experiences as a key value offering. Many small businesses setting their foot in the digital space can embrace this digital transformation.
9. Work From Home
It has been a long-standing demand for workers and employees across the sector to enjoy the flexibility of doing their duties from their home environment. But all the companies embracing the "work from home" protocol for their employees have actually been branded as radical. Now the pandemic has completely changed this scenario. Working from home has become the new normal in most industries except for the sectors dealing with essential commodities and services.
In this year, the flexibility of working from home will be a key pillar in the digital transformation of companies. There will be increased adoption of flexible remote work processes, with the workforce connecting through a multitude of digital platforms and solutions. In the coming years, there will be a huge increase in the adoption of digital solutions for remote collaboration and communication.
Conclusion
Obviously, there are several other aspects of digital transformation that we couldn't cover in this short article. But the abovementioned trends obviously provide us a near complete picture of how this digital transformation is going to take place in 2022 and beyond.