Whether it is due to the emergence of next-gen technologies like artificial intelligence and microservices or businesses and enterprises acknowledging the true power of data, the entire world is walking towards a major revolutionary phase, also termed as digital transformation. Simplifying the textbook definition, digital transformation is a modern-day approach to generate enhanced customer experience, modify business core practices, and revamp cultural norms by fostering innovation and technology adoption.
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As per the latest reports from Grand View Research, the digital transformation market has witnessed a whopping growth in revenue of $731.13 billion in 2022 with an anticipated CAGR of 26.7%. That being said, businesses are now looking forward to adopt intuitive and scalable strategies that can provide them the leverage needed to thrive in the digital world. Considering this, it’s crucial for everyone to know more about the latest digital transformation trends that will primarily drive the market in 2024.
No code development and automated workflows
It is indeed true that software development is one of the toughest phases that businesses need to handle. Not only do they have to hire a third-party development company but they also need to deal with challenges like increased time to market, real-time errors, reduced flexibility and scalability, and many more. Such hiccups can slow down the pace of digital transformation, making it more difficult to generate better user experiences.
This is where the innovative concept of no-code or low-code development comes into play. As the name suggests, it is a radical approach to develop software with pre-built templates and configurable backend modules. Professionals with little to no knowledge of programming and other development-related topics can easily create functional, intuitive, and scalable software for the business. Furthermore, when coupled with automated workflows, the software can function rapidly and enhance customer experience across all channels involved.
Everything-as-a-Service or XaaS
In early days, businesses collaborated with cloud providers to migrate the core functionalities and platforms to the cloud network for improved and scalable business operations. However, the cloud models adopted had limited scopes and were not flexible enough for further modification on the go. For instance, a business adopting SaaS or Software-as-a-Service could only access the software from the cloud network the vendor offered. It wasn’t possible to include anything else as a service within the cloud network, like infrastructure or hardware platform.
To overcome these restrictions and provide optimal control over the verticals, businesses are now adopting a new model named Everything-as-a-Service. XaaS is an innovative approach where businesses offer every type of services on a subscription model to the users. It can be the software access, hardware components, security services, or anything else. The major reason for the huge success rate for the XaaS business model is the widespread user acceptance and flexible service level agreements. Furthermore, XaaS allows access to the services from anywhere and anytime, thereby transferring the control to the users in an in-depth sense.
Integrating Customer Data Platform or CDP
Personalization is on the rise and businesses are putting in more effort to offer customized experiences to the customers. However, the present scenario is quite unstable as customer data is quite versatile and tracking every single information from multifarious platforms is indeed difficult. Any miss can lead the business to its doom as that will negatively impact user experience, causing customers to leave the business midway.
That’s why integrating the Customer Data Platform software or CDP seems to be an ideal solution to eliminate data and communication silos and overcome the risks caused due to handling customer datasets from disconnected platforms. CDP brings together all types of customer data on a centralized platform, from user preferences to customer actions, sales reports, and so on. As a result, businesses can easily study the data and generate reports that will provide them the leverage to take faster actions, make prompt decisions, and analyze user actions and choices accurately.
AI and ML layers in business core functionalities
One of the major digital transformation trends that will bring huge success to businesses in 2024 is integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning layers in core functionalities. Artificial intelligence allows businesses to automate the workflows and use software that can learn from data reports and scale the functionalities accordingly. With no dependency on human interference, the AI-bases software can make decisions by itself and generate better user experiences throughout. For instance, AI-based chatbot can enable businesses to communicate with customers in real-time without depending on any human assistant. The software interprets user statements and accordingly generates the response based on the pre-fed modules.
Apart from AI, machine learning will also play a crucial role in enabling businesses to adopt digital transformation in the coming years. It enables a software to learn and train itself from datasets acquired through innumerable channels, thereby ensuring the functionalities can be scaled as per the changing user actions and behaviors. Furthermore, when coupled with NLP or natural language processing, the ML layers will enable the software to analyze user sentiments and actions more accurately and precisely. Therefore, businesses can leverage the technologies to generate better user responses across all channels.
AIOps or Artificial Intelligence in IT Operations
The modern-day IT architectures are based on various next-gen technologies and approaches, like microservices, hybrid cloud model, edge computing, and so on. Due to the integration of such complex tech layers, encountering numerous defects and hurdles is common. This is what causes businesses the setback as the errors are hard to identify and resolve with prompt actions. The software modules involved with IT operations fail to recognize the root causes of fatalities, which is why delays are introduced in deliverability. It further disrupts business operations conducted through legacy applications and workflows.
To overcome these hurdles, many organizations are adopting a new and innovative approach, termed as AIOps or Artificial Intelligence in IT Operations. It encompasses the principles of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data under a single umbrella. An AIOps-based software can monitor processes and workflows automatically based on the machine learning algorithm fed at the core and identify critical and major risks involved with the functionalities and deliverability. With early detection of the problems, professionals can work on the resolutions much faster before any negative impact can be seen in the real-time user environment. Furthermore, AIOps solutions allow businesses to maintain user conversions, automate routine IT practices, and eliminate data and communication silos with ease.
Metaverse, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality
With increasing demand for immersive user experience, businesses have started to adopt three next-gen technologies, namely augmented reality, virtual reality, and metaverse. Augmented and virtual reality provide an interactive and intuitive experience to the user by enhancing the real-time components via computer-based simulations. For instance, Google Lens utilizes AR and VR to scan any real-time picture or object through the camera and generate results about the same from the internet. Similarly, several gaming manufacturers use real-time computer simulations to provide an immersive experience to the gamers and induce the virtual world with realistic features and UI.
Metaverse, on the other hand, extends the concepts of VR and AR by allowing users to communicate with NPCs and other real-time users in a virtual world. In other words, it blurs the fine line between digital and physical worlds by imitating the objects from the real-time world and generating simulated components in the metaverse. It has found extensive application in several industries, like gaming, fintech, and so on.
Decentralization through blockchain
Since the introduction of cryptocurrencies, blockchain has become the center of attraction in the digital world. Even though its initial purpose was to store and manage records regarding cryptocurrencies and the transactions on the digital ledger, it is now being implemented in other IT sectors also. For instance, several fintech companies have integrated blockchain at their core operations to store sensitive and confidential records. Since blockchain has a decentralized structure, the power isn’t restricted to a single user. In other words, users with access to the ledger can update, add, and delete any record without having to depend on anyone.
Furthermore, blockchain provides the flexibility of usage since it doesn’t depend on the time zones or areas. Any user can access the ledger from different parts of the world and at any time, owing to its decentralized architecture. Also, it offers an enhanced security architecture, allowing businesses to focus more on strengthening the encryption programs and avoid phishing and other types of cybercrimes.
Increased data security and privacy
Despite offering a host of opportunities to businesses worldwide, the digital platform has several drawbacks and cyberattack is one of them. With hundreds of reports filed every month, cybercrime is indeed a concerning topic businesses should address at the earliest for a successful digital transformation journey. Most datasets businesses deal with are related to their customers and with no proper security protocols, these information pieces can be hacked and used for malicious action. Besides, a poorly protected system can create a deathblow to the business, leading to customer loss, financial loss, and the overall brand value.
Owing to this, it is imperative for businesses to analyze and identify the loopholes in the existing security protocols and encryption layers. With this, it will be easier for the security team to strengthen data privacy and safety without any hassle. Furthermore, it will provide assurance to the customers that their personal information pieces are in reliable hands.
Conclusion
Embrace the future of business with these transformative digital trends, propelling your organization into a realm of innovation, efficiency, and unparalleled success. Businesses should start planning and strategizing early so that integrating these technological and procedural trends won’t cause any operational disruption or delayed delivery. Apart from this, it is also crucial to analyze the trends properly so that the scopes can be understood for further planning. If you are struggling with comparing the market trends with your business needs, do not worry as Gowide will help you realize the most effective digital transformation trends needed to amp up your business deliverability and productivity.
