When people remember 2020, they will view it as the year that rug was pulled out from under the world’s feet. The coronavirus pandemic brought about many ‘firsts’ for everyone, but especially the IT sector that helped keep things going.
But while the virus brought change, it also allowed digital transformation to take center stage and drive innovation to heights that we weren’t always anticipating. One year later, many businesses are still trying to maintain their ROI, while many others have gone under. Either way, a strong digital presence, and smooth online operations have proved to be the best way for businesses to survive and stand out amongst their competition.
Lots of enterprises have already started planning or implementing certain digital transformations leveraging technologies such as cloud, APIs, and big data. It is clear that the world has stumbled into a wave of unique technical and business patterns that will affect the way businesses and the tech world operate online. In that vein, here are 6 digital transformation trends that we will see this year.
5 Digital Transformation Trends The World Will See in 2021
- Digital Customer Experience
We started seeing this shift take over in the last few years and intensify in 2020. This pattern will continue in 2021, and customers’ needs are aimed more towards convenience and comfort, rather than strict loyalty. Because customer experience has always been at the forefront of every organization’s success, improving the overall digital experience will always be a priority.
The pandemic has brought forth the need for faster and more intuitive options. This will encourage businesses to seek out solutions that are tailored for maximum convenience, even in cases requiring self-service.
- Microservices
Businesses frequently employ microservices in their production because they offer greater scalability, efficiency, and flexibility. This particular architectural style is useful to organizations because it makes service-to-service communication more reliable and secure. They also make it possible to get greater ROIs through optimized resources. And of course, it makes deployments faster and ensures that codes are more reusable.
- Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure
What makes hybrid cloud infrastructure so appealing to businesses and enterprises? For starters, they allow businesses to blend their private and public strategies for a ‘best of both worlds’ approach. As a result, businesses get to meet the needs of a swelling customer base as they grow and evolve. Besides a smoother, more balanced approach, a hybrid cloud infrastructure protects data as businesses accumulate greater amounts of information.
But businesses can only reap these benefits if they are willing to invest in security, cloud technology, and various other areas.
- Automation
Automation has been growing in popularity for a while now as it results in operational efficiency, which improves business processes and then boosts productivity. Automation is a general term that covers various related trends within the category. Contactless and touchless mechanisms are the newest automation trend being adopted by businesses across sectors. This contactless operation was vital during the pandemic and there is a good chance it will continue in the far future.
However, security is a pretty valid concern in this kind of automation. Moreover, technological errors with contactless solutions can lead to customer frustration, so there needs to be some kind of backup plan in place for this to work properly.
- Cybersecurity
During the pandemic, cloud servers saw a massive increase in attacks from hackers and users with malicious intent. To counteract these attempts and prevent hackers from exploiting businesses and their customers, cybersecurity is now a serious concern. Digital cybersecurity is vital for protecting remote collaboration, customer data, and other sensitive information that are floating around online now.
Confidential computing will also help secure the cyberworld in the upcoming years. This implements encryption throughout the whole computation process, providing extra levels of security around sensitive information. Major IT firms are in the process of developing new procedures for confidential computing. Although it’s a little early to tell, we can safely predict that they will become the norm in the next few years.
Final Thoughts
Adjusting to the pandemic is still a work in progress and many organizations are still getting the hang of it. The new normal isn’t going anywhere, and this will influence many of the trends in technology we see in the near future. Keeping track of these digital transformation trends (and implementing them) will go a long way in helping your business stay on top of things during times of disruption.