Insights
Discover the latest trends in digital transformation
Companies of all sizes face industry disruptions like changing customer needs and new technologies. Business transformation needs demand that organizations digitize their internal operations, value chains, and customer interactions to remain competitive. Evolving customer needs and expectations mean faster response and seamless digital customer experiences.
Digital transformation affects each level of an organization. These efforts change how an organization operates and update processes, systems, workflow, and culture to align with evolving times.
Risks of not focusing on digital transformation:
- Outdated systems leading to operational inefficiency
- Siloed teams hampering cooperation across all departments
- Clunky tools and platforms hampering customer experience
- Lack of business agility means falling behind nimble competitors
- Lack of automation means continued redundancies and losses
- Inefficient use of data means losing out on pertinent insights, and real-time feedback
- Lagging in innovation and risk management
The future entails leveraging technology with human-centric design to create those seamless experiences and drive revenue. If businesses hope to outdo the competition, outdated systems and inefficient processes have to go—those who aren't preparing for this future risk extinction.
Insights from leaders
Global business leaders realize that effective digital transformation delivers adaptability, agility, and customer-centricity. But the velocity and pace of change pose their own set of challenges. In this report, we have curated insights from visionary business leaders to share their future imperatives for efficiency, growth and sustainability. They advise fellow leaders on tackling transformation challenges, staying ahead of change, and becoming recession-proof and resilient.
A recession-proof business is agile enough to survive through turbulent market conditions. Companies that adopt the latest technologies can benefit from acting on critical opportunities faster than others. As visionary leaders have pointed out - this is not the time to pause business transformation investments and initiatives. It is only with the hyper-acceleration of technology that they can revolutionize the way businesses operate.
Top trends in digital transformation
Here are some top technology trends that can help companies remain relevant to their customers, employers, and other stakeholders during a recession.
- Automation will be a priority for leaders - Increased automation adoption will help survive disruptions. It helps improve efficiency and productivity, allowing companies to do more work at greater speed and lower costs. Workers are more productive, and lower costs mean lower prices of goods and services, leading to higher consumer satisfaction. As a result, they spend more, which leads to more profits and new jobs.
- Tech investments will continue despite market conditions - Leaders feel that progressive companies will continue with tech investments even during the recession. Studies show that companies that continue to invest in business transformation technologies have an edge in market share. They develop more agile and flexible work methodologies allowing them to move forward doing business without suffering major operational disruptions.
- There will be a laser focus on talent acquisition and retention - Executing digitalization programs requires experience with newer technologies and skills for the new digital environment. 2023 will see a persistent approach to hiring and retaining talent with emerging technology skills in mind. There is a high demand for talent familiar with these emerging techs. At the same time, an equal focus will be given to upskilling the existing talent pool in technology-related competencies.
- Business transformation efforts will impact the ESG goals - Digital transformation and ESG go hand in hand. The former focuses on technology to produce smarter, faster, and more desirable outcomes throughout the value chain. The latter focuses on the broader purpose beyond an organization’s commercial success impacting stakeholders from an environmental, social and governance perspective. Digital transformation can generate tangible and measurable results in promoting and meeting sustainability goals, thus influencing future investments.
As we can see, not going digital is inefficient and expensive. Outdated infrastructure and legacy tools are cumbersome; they are challenging to scale and integrate with modern cloud software investments. They cannot handle today's customer expectations, leading to poor employee experience.
UST's Thinking Ahead Series 2023 showcases what global business leaders want to see in 2023 and beyond. They stress the importance of a digital-first approach to increase efficiency and productivity, improve customer experience journeys and build a resilient enterprise.