The goal of digital transformation and the integration of bigger and better technologies is to ultimately improve the bottom line, and make every business operation more efficient and cost-effective. Now that technology is rapidly transforming all industries across the globe, such as smart robots in manufacturing or employee management software in any office environment, forward-looking and growth-oriented businesses are faced with the task of implementing new digital solutions to stay competitive, reduce costs, and drive productivity forward.
But these are just some of the benefits of a company-wide digital transformation. Yet, not many business leaders are ready or willing to invest financial resources into such a potentially disruptive project. The key is to educate the business sector on all of the benefits, and to showcase some of the most promising trends pertaining to digital transformation that will dominate in 2020 and beyond. Let’s take a look at these trends and how they can help your business thrive.
Leveraging AI-driven data analytics
Nowadays, there is so much information and market data flowing around the web, and so much new information popping up at every corner, that business leaders are finding it difficult to collect and organize all of it and make actionable reports. The reporting process in the modern business world has become a cost and labor-intensive task, simply due to the lack of human-power or financial resources needed to handle and collate all of that information in a timely manner, or in a way that allows a company to act proactively to market trends instead of reactively.
This is where artificial intelligence comes in to make big data analytics a breeze and help companies make accurate predictions and forecasts without wasting resources. Software utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning is able to analyze and make sense of vast amounts of industry data, which makes customer, competitor, and market research in general more feasible in the long term. This means that, by integrating AI-driven analytics into your operation, you can always stay one step ahead of the game.
Creating a seamless omni-channel experience
Currently, online customers are visiting and spending time on numerous online platforms more than ever before – researching brands, scrolling through social media, reading posts on authority websites, and more. Now, while it used to be that customers would go to a website to purchase a product or sign up for a service, nowadays customers expect of their favorite brands to provide an omni-channel experience and give them the option to buy on their own terms.
In other words, if you don’t integrate new sales channels and methods into your strategy, such as sales and lead generation through compelling content, you are letting potential customers slip through the cracks. Chances are that they will run straight into the welcoming arms of your competitors who are using numerous modes of sales across the web – don’t let that happen.
Bringing software to market faster
In this fast-paced and ever-changing online marketplace, the brand that rolls its product out first, usually wins. Why? Because you’re beating your competitors to the curve, and providing a solution to a long-standing problem to an eager consumer base. Complemented by some smart preemptive marketing, the success of your product is almost guaranteed. But you need to roll the thing out first.
Software development is a typical example of a product that’s difficult to roll out in a timely manner, which is something that digital solutions such as DevOps aim to change by streamlining the software development process and implementing powerful organizational and CI/CD tools, among other things. This type of approach aims to shorten the system development life cycle and the time to market so that you can roll out your software before your competitors.
Utilizing AI-driven chatbot technology
In recent years, chatbots have become extremely popular across a myriad of industries, particularly in those niches such as Ecommerce where online stores experience drastic increases in traffic and have to handle an influx of customers in a timely and professional manner. Chatbots integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning are able to take your customer service department to the next level by streamlining workflow, handling the bulk of customer queries and problems, and letting your human employees handle the complex issues.
Boosting efficiency with cloud computing
And finally, every business should migrate to the cloud in 2020. The benefits that this technology brings to the table are numerous, and include long-term cost savings, increased data security and stability, workflow and real-time collaboration, easy scaling, disaster recovery, and much more. One of the best parts about the cloud is that it allows you to minimize financial waste associated with running an in-house data center and IT infrastructure, while at the same time providing you with the tools you need to make every process in your company more efficient and cost-effective.
Wrapping up
This year and in the years to come, business leaders will have to focus on digital transformation and the integration of innovative solutions in order to retain their competitive advantage. Use these insights to take all of your processes to the next level in 2020, and set the stage for success in the years to come.
