Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends for 2020
Along with sparkly lights and the annual retail frenzy, this question tends to appear at this time of year. You’ve probably already read the odd blog telling us, rather boringly, that it’ll all be Cloud and Edge Computer.
In reality, there’s a lot more to this topic than just reeling out a list of safe favorites. Digital transformation is barely recognizable from one year to the next – and the same goes for the trends. In that spirit, here are my predictions for digital transformation in 202.
Analytics
We all know that these days, data is the currency that we all trade in – so, it stands to reason that getting to grips with that data is going to be of paramount importance in 2020. Businesses looking to succeed will need to make a proper investment in their analytics and, more importantly, turning them into insights to see them through to 2021.
Super-speedy Wifi
Over the last few years, as we demand better and faster ways of working, Wifi providers have been locked into battle. The result of this, for a while, was something of a deadlock but, I reckon all that’s about to change. My prediction is that, instead of fighting one another, we’ll see a partnership between, say, Wifi 6 and 5G which will end their squabbling – and provide a new generation of super-quick Wifi at a reasonable cost too, quite literally, transform our digital operations.
AI
It may seem like stating the obvious but, there’s no doubt that AI and machine learning are going to form the beating heart of digital transformation in the future. Going back to that all-important data, nothing and no-one crunches it better or faster than AI – which will make machine learning the absolute, positive, must-have for businesses for 2020. Additionally, AI will be used for all kinds of clever automation for business; from booking and customer service to forecasting and much much more.
Conversational AI
There’s only one thing better than AI – and that’s AI that you can talk to. Well, sort of, anyway. Although many have fallen out of love with Alexa and Siri once the initial novelty wore off, it’s a different matter when it comes to business digital transformation. The building of platforms which can listen to and action instructions will move to the next level in 2020.
Blockchain
I know there are those who say that Blockchain is just, like, so last year, however, in this instance, I’m not just talking cryptocurrency. A lot of huge companies including Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Alibaba are looking to blockchain as a service platform and, in my humble opinion, we can expect to see some really interesting things coming from this space in the next 12 months.
Robotic Process Automation
I know this isn’t a new concept but, the more we head toward automation, the more we’re going to see robotics come into play – particularly in tandem with AI. Although robotics have been around a while, the technology is now moving at lightning speed and, I predict that we’ll see a surge in RPA investments for 2020.
ACPS Business Partnerships
At the moment, it’s all about connectivity – connecting us to our machines and, our machines to each other. For me, this means that we’re about to see some strong new partnerships being formed as ARM technology becomes more and more sophisticated and widely available.
Connected Vehicles
Many big delivery-based companies are already looking at further transforming their operations by removing the need for human drivers. We’ve already seen delivery by drones (we’re looking at you, Amazon) and, as the technology evolves, I think it’ll be a natural progression to delivery by driverless vehicles in 2020.
Xaas
For the uninitiated, ‘Everything as a service’ is the latest trend in streamlining customer service and, the entire user experience. This encompasses a wide range of possibilities – all of which are closer than we think.
Multi-Cloud
I know, I said I wasn’t going to talk about Cloud – but this is Cloud on steroids. Although multi-cloud environments are being used right now, they’re clunky and tricky to co-ordinate. My crystal ball tells me that we’ll be moving to an API-led application development and containerization to make multi-cloud much more manageable in the next 12 months.
Although it’s reasonable to predict trends for the next year, our technology is moving so fast that I’m sure there’ll be a few surprises along the way!