Top Digital Transformation Trends That Will Guide 2022
Though digital transformation (DX) has been a buzzword for quite some time, the pandemic has stressed upon the need for digital transformation across all industries, functions and roles. The pandemic has also amply highlighted the follies of transforming in silos, transforming at the cost of humans, unplanned & underprepared transformation, etc. There is a need for accelerated digital transformation, but the failure rates of DX programs are high. What does all this mean for organizations going forward? What trends will shape the digital transformation landscape in 2022 and beyond? How should organizations prepare themselves in the rapidly changing landscape?
Read on to find out.
The Top 4 Digital Transformation Trends for 2022
Greater Focus on People Enablement Than Automation
One of the most critical aspects and components of digital transformation is and must be people. People-centricity is the means to achieve higher efficiency, productivity and business gains. It empowers organizations to build resilience in the face of unforeseeable adversities, uncertainties and ambiguities in the future of work.
But thus far, most DX programs have focused almost entirely on technology and processes. There has been a focused effort to automate with the help of Robotic Process Automation and Desktop Automation. These process automations are typically designed and implemented in a top-down manner, often without involving the people who would use it. People feel like their jobs are at danger or do not know how technology can augment them to perform better. So, they end up not using the technology, finding workarounds and leaving the DX initiative to die an early death.
In 2022, there will be a growing intention among organizations to focus on people augmentation rather than technology. By people enablement, we mean augmenting people with the digital fluency necessary to navigate the accelerated pace of digital transformation. It is about creating a digital culture where people are equipped with necessary digital tools and autonomy to innovate and drive greater value. People augmentation, thus, empowers people to do meaningful work and organizations to gain long-term competitive advantages.
Developing Digital Skills Will Be Among the Top Priorities In 2022
Digital literacy and basic digital skills do not suffice in the age of digital transformation. Organizations deploy several tools, software and applications. Employees need digital fluency to effectively learn and strategically leverage technology and tools to thrive in the future of work.
Digital fluency helps remove the frictions involved in adapting to the relentless changes as people are equipped with digital skills and capabilities to seamlessly navigate uncertainties. In other words, with the right digital skills and capabilities, employees will look at tools and technology as companions in their growth journey. They will more willingly use technology including automation, analytics, AI, ML, digital work assistants and so on to augment themselves to do meaningful work.
So, developing digital skills and capabilities across functions and roles will be a top priority going forward. More organizations will measure the success of digital transformation through metrics such as certificates earned by users, number of users with certified digital skills, number of digital talent roles created, etc. Digital enablement platform will play an important role in augmenting employees as they help people to acquire, master and update all necessary digital skills in one place.
Time of Digital Assistants
Digital assistants endowed with AI, ML, big data and NLP capabilities are the most powerful tools that organizations can deploy. AI-powered digital assistants help users, customers, employees, partners to
A digital enablement platform allow citizen development, wherein no-code and low-code developers can build, train and perfect their own digital work assistants. This is important since there are a bulk of automatable tasks at individual and team levels and thus do not fall in the scope of company-level automation initiatives.
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Through the deployment of assistants, organizations can essentially quickly scale up automation in a way no RPA project can. By adopting digital work assistants, organizations are investing in their own growth and long-term survival. And this is why, 2022 will see greater adoption of this technology.
More Organizations Will Focus on Total Experience
For far too long, customer experience has been at the center of digital transformation initiatives. But more organizations are starting to understand that the business value chain starts way before the customers come into the picture. The business value chain starts with employees and is followed by partners.
If employees and partners do not have fulfilling and seamless experiences, it has a negative impact on customer experiences. Despite dedicated efforts, customer experiences will be broken. This is why we believe more organizations will focus on improving total experiences across the spectrum from employees to partners to customers in 2022 and beyond.
Digital Enablement: Why Will It be Important to DX Initiatives in 2022 and beyond?
Digital enablement is the dynamic, people-centric process of augmenting people so that they are better-equipped to navigate the uncertain and ambiguous future of work. It focuses on enabling people with digital fluency, the right tools like low-code platforms, powerful technology such as AI-powered digital assistants and an agile, digital-first mindset.
Digitally enabled organizations, their employees and users do not run away from new technology or transformation. Instead, they use their digital skills to learn, master and effectively leverage any new technology quickly and seamlessly. Digital enablement creates the environment for the successful implementation of and unlocking the true potential of DX initiatives. That is why digital enablement will be critical to digital transformation in 2022 and beyond.
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