We’re a month into 2022 and digital transformation is still a flaming topic. As any year begins, new trends, innovations and disruptions set a strong scene for the year ahead.
Even more so in the digital space. Where constant growth in AI, machine learning and digital technologies is ensuring tremendous benefit for businesses across a wide range of industries.
- Global investment in digital transformation will almost double between 2020 and 2024.
- Approximately 91% of businesses invest in some form of digital initiative, and 87% of senior business leaders say that digitisation is a priority.
Being how important digital transformation is, here are a few of the top trends in digital transformation for 2022 and how they’re coming to impact business.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the process of using technology to make your business more efficient and effective. Be it through cloud migration, data wrangling, or machine learning.
It usually involves changes to how you operate, deliver and design products or services, or how you come to connect and interact with your customers.
And there are an abundance of benefits that come with digitisation, such as an increase in productivity, improvements in customer service and cost reductions.
Why Digital Transformation Benefits Organisations
There are many reasons why organisations should undergo a digital transformation.
Some of the benefits include:
Increased Productivity:
Digital transformation can help you improve productivity by giving you the tools and technology to automate tasks and processes. Especially those that are redundant or time consuming.
For example, using a CRM system to automate the process of contacting customers and tracking interactions. Or using a chatbot to answer repetitive questions and offer more value.
Improved Customer Experiences:
By allowing you to respond to customers faster and more effectively, digitisation can help you provide better customer experiences. This extends to the usability and seamlessness of their interactions with you on a website or application.
With access to APIs and machine learning models, you’re able to create incredible and addictive experiences that cater exactly to each customer. For example, fast, easy-to-use applications that can do things like bookings, purchases and aggregations.
Reduced Costs:
Taking on new technology is becoming highly cost-effective. Investment in traditional IT becomes pricier than its modern contenders.
Using cloud infrastructure, for example, is far cheaper than running everything on-prem. You end up saving on maintenance, upgrades and a whole range of CapEx costs, where you shift to an OpEx model with higher flexibility and scalability.
Trends in Digital Transformation for 2022
This year is set to have extra focus on a variety of interesting areas.
A few of the most common ones are:
Workflow Automation
Automation involves using technology to automate manual or repetitive tasks. It allows businesses to operate more efficiently and free up employees’ time to focus on creating more value in their tasks.
And automation of workflows and operations is going to be big in 2022.
Gartner revealed that more than 80% of organisations have indicated continuation, or an increase, in their spend on automation.
It makes perfect sense.
With process automation, you remove many of the time barriers and reduce unnecessary resource usage. You allow for more staff flexibility and smoother task transitions. You even improve customer experiences and ROI.
With focus on automating almost every area in business, sectors like AIOps are surfacing and ensuring smooth connectivity with data and algorithms. This makes for a well-oiled machine fueling your scalability.
Contactless Solutions
Another top trend in digital transformation this year is the increasing use of contactless solutions.
These are solutions that allow you to interact with your customers or employees without the requirement of physical touch. Think facial recognition, gesture control and voice recognition.
Or the many business transactions and processes that can be packed into a single customer journey on a mobile app or web page.
Because of the pandemic, there is a surge in the dependency on digital platforms to make transactions and exchanges. Contactless digital solutions are beneficial because they are far more efficient and secure than traditional methods of interaction.
Especially surrounding digital payments. Where new ways to avoid unnecessary contact and make payments on a global scale are essential.
According to Statista, the UK was the biggest Digital Payments market in Europe with £162.5 billion, in 2020. And Insider Intelligence predicts that “by 2023… worldwide retail ecommerce sales will total $6.169 trillion and make up a 22.3% share of total retail sales. Up from $3.351 trillion and 13.8% in 2019”.
Cloud Investment
Another big trend is the increase in organisational spend on cloud technology. Mostly because it’s one of the most important aspects of digital transformation.
It allows businesses to access information and applications from anywhere in the world, which increases efficiency and productivity. It’s also a lot more affordable than traditional IT systems, and it can be scaled up or down depending on the needs of the business.
The cloud allows businesses to improve the efficiency of their operations and make better decisions based on customer data. Allowing for enhanced, tailor-made experiences.
The cloud can also help businesses reduce costs and improve their bottom lines, while improving their overall competitiveness. Regardless of the market.
According to this report, the global cloud computing market size is expected to grow from £331.5 billion in 2021 to £705.2 billion by 2026.
Stay Ahead of The Curve
Digital transformation is crucial for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve.
And according to Deloitte, 87% of companies think digital will disrupt their industry, however only 44% are prepared for it.
Although not everyone is prepared for this new tech-driven era, most are aware of the far-reaching impact it will have.
The next step?
Get on the cloud. Get your data sorted. Make your ML models work.
