Digital transformation in business is no longer just a passing trend. It has become the norm among business leaders and a central component within their forward looking business strategies. While the term digital transformation is rather vague and covers many different advancements and technological improvements, there are top 10 trends which can be expected to contribute to digital transformation in 2017.
Adaptability
The marketplace is always shifting, no matter what business one may be involved with. Adaptability is the name of the game, always. The most adaptable survive, and the rigid unchanging businesses within an industry will almost always eventually die off. For this reason, digital transformation will be driving adaptability in a big way this year as modern enterprises seek to incorporate new technology into their regular operations and company cultures.
CX
CX, or “customer experience,” is really the main goal when it comes to any type of digital transformation. The customer experience provided to customers is what makes or breaks an entire business. There are many different things that factor into the kind of user experience customers receive, and digital transformation can upgrade just about every aspect of the CX that a company provides. If you want to keep customers engaged and involved with your brand, using digital transformation to improve your user experience is absolutely vital.
Technology Adoption
Trying out new technologies, integrating the ones that work, and discarding the ones that don’t—that is, proactive innovation—is the best way to remain competitive in a marketplace that continues to evolve. There’s no longer any time to waste for businesses seeking to try out new technologies. The amount of resources and time wasted in implementing a useless new technology that offers no real value are far too great. With the new technology adoption methods offered by digital transformation this year, however, business leaders can fail fast so that they can then come to succeed even faster.
IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new technology that offers immeasurable insight into the mind of customers. Not only that; it’s also transforming daily life by helping entire cities become more efficient and allowing enterprises to become increasingly leaner. Marketers everyday are learning how valuable big data can be, and the IoT has a whole lot of big data. This innovation will not only be transformative in 2017, but it will also most likely be disruptive to many business models going forward. According to a report by software.org, it’s been estimated that there will be over 50 billion IoT sensors by the year 2020, and probably many, many more in the next decade.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is continuing to expand throughout the world, and new improvements are being made in this field everyday. Soon, machines will be able to learn as well as human beings and adapt to their environments in ways that could have huge implications for every conceivable industry. The future is truly here when we think about what kind of AI is just around the corner and how it will help us accomplish things we couldn’t have possibly imagined just 50 years ago. The world’s most complex problems will seem a lot more solvable once better artificial intelligence has been developed to work with.
Remote Workforce
Having a remote workforce will become far more commonplace in the years to come, and 2017 specifically should see a huge increase in the amount of people working from home. With many jobs now requiring little more than a laptop and an internet connection, there’s no reason to waste money renting an office building to gather employees together when they can be managed from your own homes. Top talent is now up for grabs all over the world, and the ability to work from home is a huge selling point for any employers who are seeking to retain highly skilled workers.
VR and AR
Once limited to the video game world, virtual reality and augmented reality are now finding new applications in many different fields. This technology is new and exciting, and it offers a great way to leave an impression in the mind of a customer. Another potential benefit is the ability to “gamify” workplace processes with this technology in order to improve productivity and worker morale. The spectrum between AR and VR can be described as mixed reality, which can be expected to be seen much more of during this coming year.
Microservices and API
Application Program Interfaces, or API, are going to facilitate massive digital transformation this year as they provide options for multiple platforms to be tied together in a system that is both flexible and fast. Microservices within these applications will be used to reflect individual concerns and will allow other microservices with well defined contracts like RESTful to communicate with each other. These tools are perfect for working within the context of cloud-like technology that feeds on the data from small interactions between microservices.
Technology is evolving at an astounding rate, and many innovations in digital transformation can be expected to be developed this year. From API to VR and AI, 2017 is going to be a year of massive change and evolution in every industry, and, by embracing these advancements, businesses will be able to become much better positioned to thrive.
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