What is the future of digital transformation?

As technology continues to evolve and transform, it will affect every aspect of the enterprise environment. Some companies will survive, others will perish, and among those who will survive are early adopters of digital transformation.

Bitsorchestra couldn't overlook the growing importance of digitalization and its role in enterprise development.

However, the major focus of course will be put on digital transformation and the future of digital transformation.

The benefits of Digital Transformation

1. Through digital transformation, you can identify and fund your organization's digital transformation efforts.
2. The value of your organization can be captured by managing your partnerships and ecosystems. By developing a portfolio of digital initiatives, you can move from a product-centric to a solution-centric approach.
3. Maintaining the momentum of your digital transformation and ensuring sustainable performance can improve the performance of your business. This can be accomplished by scaling initiatives and measuring performance of your company.
4. The buzzword digital transformation is still evolving into an industry priority.

Past and Present of the Digital Transformation Industry

Let's look at the past of digital transformation before diving into its future and define some major tendencies.

Tendency #1. Digital transformation is getting a lot of buzz at the moment (Google Trends shows a tenfold increase in interest over the last five years), but it is not a new concept.

Tendency #2. Today's digital transformation industry has been shaped by numerous technological advances like for example the discovery of the World Wide Web that was invented in the 1980s, and was widely adopted in the 1990s.

Tendency #3.   Digital transformation began in the early 2000s. Despite the fact that most retail purchases are made with cash in brick-and-mortar stores, most advertising campaigns feature digital elements.

Tendency #4. Over the past decade, smart devices and social media platforms have forced businesses and consumers to change the way they communicate, and the quality of customer service has improved as well.

Tendency #5.  Due to the widespread use of mobile devices and rapid adoption of digital technologies in developing countries, digital transformation budgets have risen dramatically since 2015.

Tendency #6. Companies are leveraging technology and SaaS in the digital world to create lean, agile operations that can react quickly to changes in the competitive environment, allowing employees to focus on strategic work instead of mundane tasks.

Ten trends driving digital transformation in the future

1. Continued growth in digital transformation spending

By 2023, global investments in digital transformation will reach $2.3 trillion. In this respect, China is predicted to surpass Europe as the largest spender of digital transformation by 2023.

In the financial sector (such as banking, insurance, securities, and investments), digital transformation will be most prominent as compared with the other sectors. Within three years, robotic manufacturing investments will double thus increasing its importance.

2. The focus will shift from B2B to B2B2C

Business-to-business companies will increasingly offer highly customized products and services via B2B2C eCommerce (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer). Furthermore, B2B customers are used to frictionless shopping and excellent customer service. B2B companies can offer services similar to those offered by Amazon by using B2B2C.

3. The Internet of Things (IoT) offers significant opportunities

IoT-connected devices are predicted to increase almost threefold by 2023. For example, sensor technology is booming in manufacturing, thanks in part to lower sensor costs, enabling companies to gain a comprehensive understanding of shop floors, field operations, manufacturing supply chains, and outsourced operations.

4. Technology will not be the only factor; people will play a significant role

Digital transformation is not enabled by technology alone. People play a critical role. In today's world, not enough people possess these skills (and mindsets).

5. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Will Revolutionize Manufacturing

Artificial intelligence will become increasingly important in manufacturing. Research indicates that AI-based technologies will boost manufacturing productivity by 50 percent by 2035.

6. In-house solutions will continue to be dominated by Everything as a Service (XaaS)

Instead of retraining current employees or hiring from a shrinking (and increasingly expensive) labor pool, companies will increasingly turn to cloud-based, third-party applications. Financial efficiency, enhanced productivity, cyber-security, agility, and flexibility are some of the advantages of XaaS.

7. 5G will boost digital transformation

It has been talked about for years, but 5G known as the fifth-generation wireless network, will not arrive in full force for at least two more years. It is expected that 5G will have a profound impact on the digital transformation industry, spurring rapid advancements in smart cities, smart vehicles, smart manufacturing, and IoT-intensive technologies.

8. Artificial intelligence (AI) will fill the IT skills gap

In the nearest future AI will fill the upcoming skills gap. It is easy to understand why companies prefer artificial intelligence to human intelligence. With fewer developers, companies can focus on strategic, forward-looking challenges instead of endless, menial coding.

9. Privacy Concerns Will Threaten Reputations

Regardless of how big a business is, it will fail to meet the public's expectations regarding privacy, and its reputation will suffer. Businesses that invest in cybersecurity and communicate their security and privacy policies to customers will gain a competitive advantage in the future.

10. There Will Be Less Novelty and More Pragmatism

Companies often invest in the latest technologies to appear innovative without considering their implications (initiating digital transformations instead of undergoing digital change). Such changes are rarely considered in relation to the bottom line or whether investing elsewhere might make more sense. Automating the wrong processes leads to poor performance.

We expect digital transformation to continue in 2022. The business world describes digital transformation as a set of more advanced solutions that would replace the existing technology with more advanced solutions. Though this is a simple definition, it is not easily applicable to the workplace. To achieve digital transformation benefits, organizations must overcome a big number of challenges. To stay at the forefront of their industries, they have to collectively embraced digital transformation.

Based on people, processes, and technologies, BitsOrchestra team have developed three summaries of their experiences with digital transformation.

• a successful digital transformation depends on a clear strategy and proper choice of methodology. If your industry doesn't have a digital strategy in place, you can almost guarantee its destruction by technologically advanced competitors.
• Leaders within the company should also be aware of and support the digital transformation process, otherwise their companies will lose out in the long run. There's no doubt that the process doesn't happen overnight, and it involves a lot of work.

We adhere to the following principles:

1. Digitization improves efficiency – Investing in digital transformation leads to better service delivery through new technological processes, so it makes sense. Your organization, as well as customers, can save time and resources with a faster, more efficient service.
2. There is a skills shortage – Younger employees in a company may be more knowledgeable and technologically adept than older generations while an organization's older, more senior members display better business acumen.
3. Only a few can make big jumps – Not every company approaches innovation the same way. Aiming for rapid progress and transitioning to a new business development layer won't make much of a difference if an organization's daily focus is on targets and performance. The first step towards digital transformation will not result in a great leap towards digitizing the entire company...but a series of small steps will.