A look at phone hacking: what it is, how it happens, and how to protect yourself

Malware fake notifications

In the recent past, phone hacking has reared its head once again. Needless to say, with the widespread use of smartphones – over 3 billion users worldwide and growing (image below), it is no wonder that hackers are now more focused on hacking smartphones. Vital services such as banking, online payments, and email that can … Read more

4 Industries Where Mobile Apps Are a Must-Have: A Data-informed Outlook

Mobile Apps

According to Applied Market Research, by 2026, the mobile apps market globally will be $407.31 billion. The bigger question, however is, should all businesses and brands in all industries join the bandwagon and have an app made for them? Are there industries that need to get started with their app journeys more than others? And … Read more

How can you measure UX?

Checkout UX

The 16th of July 2020 was “Get to Know your Customers Day”. We as a tech company therefore decided to explore a key concept when it comes to keeping your customers happy as they interact with your brand – user experience (UX). The big question is – how do you know that you are on … Read more

Where you might be going wrong in your digital transformation process

Digital Transformation

In 2019, Digital Transformation was named the number one priority for IT initiatives in companies worldwide. By 2023, expenditure on technology and related services that enable DT will be $2.3 trillion. Brands have already begun to enjoy the benefits of digital transformation (DT or DX). For example,  Domino’s Pizza has been able to integrate digital … Read more

Of WWDC, Intel, and some ramblings about what this might mean

Apple Ditches Intel

So WWDC 2020 – Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference happened last week, between the 22nd and 26th of June. Despite being the first-ever virtual-only WWDC due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot happened: iOS 14 is now available in beta for developers, we now have Scribble to help us to literally ‘scribble’ on our iOS devices, … Read more

Should you build an Android or iOS app for your business?

OS Versions

You have finally concluded that a mobile app is the best strategy for your brand, depending on the goals that you intend to achieve. In case you have not, read our article on Why are mobile apps important for businesses? One last thing that you need to decide, however, is the operating system (OS) to … Read more

What Technologies are at the Forefront of Digital Transformation?

iOT and Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is now a buzzword. And for good reason. There are benefits to reap from it. According to a McKinsey article titled Welcome to the Digital Factory: The answer to how to scale your digital transformation, companies are already reaping its benefits:

  • More effective resource utilization
  • Shipping products faster to market
  • More targeted talent acquisition allowing businesses to pivot for better competition

The question then is no longer which companies or industries should join the digital transformation bandwagon. It is a matter of when.

In this article, we define digital transformation, take a look at what it’s not, its components, and explore technology as one of its key drivers.

What digital transformation means

Digital transformation is in essence, the reimagining or rethinking how businesses or organizations use technology. It can be seen as implementing the ‘result’ of the aforementioned thinking process.

Of interest is the fact that digital transformation is sometimes a response spurred by changes in customer behavior or brand expectations or even competition, or simply market demands.

In order for digital transformation to succeed, there is a need for collaboration across the entire organizations’ departments and the people in them.

What digital transformation is not

Now that we have defined what digital transformation is, let us look at what it isn’t:

It’s not a ‘one size fits all’

Digital transformation is by no means a ‘one size fits all’. If a business or organization decides to use another company’s digital transformation as a blueprint of their own, then they are highly likely to run into problems sooner or later. Each business’s unique set of circumstances must be taken into consideration.

It’s not synonymous to job loss

Some people in the organization may resist digital transformation as they are afraid of losing their jobs. It is important that the team in charge of leading digital transformation in your organization communicate that digital transformation can take care of the mundane tasks, leaving the employees to focus on their core.

It’s not just about technology

A lot of factors need to come into play for digital transformation to succeed. Yes, you need to have the right technologies and tools, and the people to build them. You however also need your employees on board with the whole digital transformation idea. You need to involve the users that you are targeting, and you need to have your business model figured.

For example, if you are building technology to automate your employees’ mundane tasks, you need to involve them. Let them understand the benefits of the technology and hear their pains out. They understand their everyday tasks since they are the ones ‘on the ground’.

Technology as the vehicle of digital transformation

There is undoubtedly no digital transformation without technology. Technology is the tool, the vehicle that allows digital transformation to get to its destination. Once a business or organization has figured the things that need to change, improve, or introduce, then technology comes in to help build the necessary tools and solutions.

Technologies that are leading digital transformation

Let us explore the technologies that are making digital transformation possible.

The cloud

According to a Gartner forecast, the cloud services market will be worth $266 billion in 2020, a 17% increase. This is because companies are opting for cloud as the de facto digital transformation technology.

Cloud comes with several benefits which companies want to take full advantage of:

  • more regular backups
  • automated database updates
  • lesser hardware upgrades, as you can easily scale with the cloud
  • reduced downtime as testing can be done separately from live servers

Data science

Companies are leveraging the data they collect from various sources to use in decision making. Data science allows for the analysis of large data sets that helps businesses get information about customer behavior and expectations, and even insights on risk in the business. It helps businesses see the aspects of the business that need to be transformed and optimized.

Data science also makes it possible to see emerging trends in the business that can help make predictions. For eCommerce stores, for example, it is possible to see trends in the types of items purchased during certain times in a month for example, and to stock more of those products.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The terms AI and ML (Machine Learning) can be confusing. AI is the bracket term for technologies that make machines ‘smart’. In that sense then, ML is a part of AI. ML involves building models that make it possible to make machines, or software ‘smart’. The models are largely predictive and therefore aid in decision making.

In a 2019 Gartner CIO survey, the use of AI by enterprises has increased by a whopping 270% over the last 4 years.

Machine Learning

Machine Learning comes in to aid in decision making and predictions. With Machine Learning, large data sets can be used for example to help personalize customer experiences. Data points about the customer’s purchase behavior can be analyzed, and the customer is only served information that is related to the purchased products, for example via email marketing.

With Machine Learning, a business is able to build models that can be used for predictions and test them over and over. It can also be leveraged to scale up existing processes within your business.

IoT

IoT (Internet of Things) refers to the extended capabilities of other ‘things’ – devices or other environments –  to be able to connect to the internet. Why this is important to digital transformation is because these other ‘things’ are able to collect data points which can further be used in the streamlining of the digital transformation process.

A smartwatch that a consumer uses for tracking fitness can collect data points for a fitness company that even the user themselves may not be able to. This way, the fitness company can fine-tune its product or service offering to better meet customer needs.

Blockchain

Blockchain comes in to help with the efficiency of transactions over a network, for example in tracking cargo as it moves from region to region, or in the creation of the distributed ledger (databases that are accessible by different parties, for example, different companies) for the sake of more efficient tracking of transactions.

In conclusion

We have explored the concept of digital transformation and the technologies that power it. As we have mentioned, technology is only a vehicle, and on its own will not help your business achieve the digital transformation that it needs. You need the right team, mindset and strategy to work in tandem with technology in order to see the success of your digital transformation journey.

Are you looking for a software development company to help you build your digital transformation tools? Contact us today.

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