Through The Looking Glass – Digital Trends 2022

The pandemic has propelled every leader to assess how far their organization has reached in its digital transformation journey. Organizations have adopted Digital for survival; wherein cloud enabled remote work and AI/ML brought efficiencies in the existing processes.

The services industry is in an enviable position to act as a catalyst and spur their own and customers digital transformation journey. Unfortunately, most services firms receive tactical transformation requests from clients. Ideally no transformation initiative succeeds without changing the business model to fully embrace digital capabilities and this requires a fundamental change in business strategy. And to succeed in that endeavor, we need to align the business and technology strategy.

In this article, I am outlining the Digital Trends that I see shaping 2022.

1.??????Prioritizing Cybersecurity

The pandemic, and ensuing dependence on Digital technologies, has made cybersecurity more relevant as there were many and continuous attacks on several companies. Since most of the companies switched to remote working, there arose a need for better and vigilant security measures. The speed of digital transformation should take cognizance of security strategies and infrastructure.

2.??????AI Democratization

The pandemic?triggered an acceleration?in the democratization of AI and data. Virtually overnight, companies, governments, and other agencies found themselves needing to work together to create a faster solution to stop the spread of the virus. Data, AI, and machine learning were the tools that they naturally turned to. AI helped identify patterns – not only on the spread of the pandemic but also in interpolation of data to create vaccines for the same.

AI became very much a part of our everyday lives. As computing power continues to be more affordable and the cloud enables access to this computing power as well as software and frameworks, more and more companies will be able to benefit from AI.

AI continues to touch all aspects of our lives. It is be powered by massive data that use powerful computing capabilities. AI Democratization brings its own challenges vis-à-vis ethics and trust. Models shall need to be monitored and secured to ensure its usage for intended purposes.

3.??????Blockchain to Witness Development

With rapid technology adoption last year, blockchain has been brought to the limelight. Although earlier blockchain was corelated with?cryptocurrency, blockchain is now adopted in different industries, for various purposes from tracking provenance to supply chain to building consensus through smart contracts. NFTs are another area of growth. In the coming years, blockchain will play a crucial role in cybersecurity and will mature with increased adoption in industries.

4.??????Digital Banking

The finance and banking sector were some of the most impacted industries with rapid digitalization. Most of these services went online and initiated?digital payments, digital credit application processes, online loan applications, etc. They are on a move to enhance the digital user experience through efficient digital transformation. Digital payments services and digital banking will reshape the transformation in the financial sector.

5.??????Customer Data Platforms Will Storm

Data is the oil for customer-centric business models. However, gathering and managing data can be quite difficult without good infrastructure. Customer Data Platforms or CDPs step in here. CDPs collect data from all sources, organize, tag, and make them usable. There is an abundance of data available today and businesses often end up not utilizing them to maximum benefit. Data analytics has also become a potential ingredient to enhance growth and efficiency. Considering these factors, CDPs will empower and revolutionize digital transformation.

6.??????Multi-Cloud

While businesses are actively migrating to the cloud, it is imperative to note the growth of a multi-cloud system. It removes common barriers providers face and also eliminate vendor lock-ins. In recent days, systems depending on a single hyperscaler have had outages impacting consumers across the globe.

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud systems will shape the transformation of businesses. Multi-cloud enables the user to distribute cloud computing assets, software, and applications across different cloud platforms. They can also use several public and private cloud infrastructures.

7.??????XaaS and Transformation

Everything as a Service or XaaS has already gained importance in the business ecosystem. It can simplify technology deployments and as the services will have quick access, it can be widely employed by companies. The XaaS model can enhance agility and help businesses in streamlining digital transformation.

8.??????Remote Work To Stay

Since the pandemic, offices have been working from home and in remote conditions. Several surveys and studies suggest that this remote work strategy is to stay here for long. Companies have identified the potential benefit of working remotely and this has also led to accelerating digital transformation. There will be more innovations and smart technologies to cater to the needs of the ‘work from home’/’hybrid mode of work’.

9.??????Automation at the Core

Automation can increase the pace of digital transformation and businesses will largely focus on automating the processes and reap cost savings in years ahead. During the pandemic, several companies had to adopt automation to remain in the market. Thus, automation has become the core of digital transformation. With AI, machine learning, and IoT being integrated into businesses, it will be possible to automate the Enterprise Resource Planning model to enable better growth and agility.

10.??5G Will Become the New Normal

In the current scenario, digital is normal and businesses are striving to manage operations from homes and remote spaces.?5G?empowered all of this and more. 5G network?can provide unprecedented speed and connectivity that can cater to the growing demand for increased bandwidth and reliable connectivity. 5G going mainstream will enable better IoT connectivity, enhance user experience and digital collaboration, and accelerate digital transformation.

Adoption of Digital technologies still remains a challenge. Most leaders have struggled to overcome a culture resistant to change and an operating model designed to support steady evolution over radical and disruptive transformation. All services firms have enhanced focus on digital business transformation. Digital transformation, though accelerated due to pandemic, still needs a cultural shift for mass adoption; a fundamental change in how we operate and deliver value to customers. It requires us to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.

With technology being integrated everywhere, and considering the changing business landscape,?Digital Transformation has a lot to offer in the forthcoming year.?