10 Digital Transformation Technologies & Trends That Will Dominate Enterprises in 2021

Digital transformation is essential for businesses to survive the constantly advancing digital technology. The concept can be defined as the adoption of digital technology by companies to improve business efficiency and innovation while focusing on the customer and product-driven insights.

Businesses focus on three core concepts to achieve digital transformation: people, process, and technology. A customer-focused transformation links together employee and customer experience. Organizations transform to add technology for the sake of customers because the process benefits those they are serving. Such organizations also invest in state-of-the-art technology to provide the best customer experience.

Recent technology trends have seen application into digital transformation. Some of the technologies that dominate the market today are listed below.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things has been around for decades now. With the recent advancements of 5G networks, new possibilities are being explored for more efficient IoT applications. Different devices and equipment now incorporate embedded software and hardware, enabling them to communicate and become smart. Smart objects can sense or be controlled remotely, creating opportunities to be integrated into computer-based systems.

The use of IoT devices results in improved efficiency and economic benefits, with less human interaction.

Big Data and Data Analysis

The importance of user data has led to the collection of large amounts of information regarding customers. User data helps predict a person’s habits and develop more personalized customer experiences. For example, with data on the types of products a user searches, an organization can provide ads related to that item and encourage them to purchase their product.

Collecting data from millions of devices requires massive amounts of storage. Cloud technologies and artificial intelligence are often used in storing and analyzing these pools of data.

Cloud Computing

Cloud technology provides on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. Handling large amounts of data on physical on-site storage devices can be challenging and costly. Hence, organizations tend to prefer cloud storage solutions, which offer a cheaper and more effective alternative.

Cloud technology is not only limited to data storage but also computing. With cloud computing, organizations can perform their tasks on more powerful cloud servers, eliminating the cost of maintaining physical servers.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) provide automation for several tasks, becoming essential in business operations and decision-making. With the extensive data collected through Big Data, these technologies offer a faster and more efficient data analysis.

The efficiency of AI technologies results in more accurate insights from the analyzed data. With the automation provided by efficient AI and ML, businesses eliminate the chances of their systems being prone to human errors.

Mobile Technology

Digital transformation is also driven by the rise of mobile technologies. Mobile devices provide customers and employees the freedom to interact with their company from any location. These devices’ computing power, accessibility, and popularity increase the speed and volume of interactions between a company and its customers.

With the availability of location services on mobile technology, businesses can get more insight into market trends related to users in a particular location. Such data can be valuable in making decisions about products and services.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Augmented reality (AR) provides a digital customer experience that immerses the customer in an interactive visual experience. Through AR technologies, businesses offer a way for users to interact with physical items over a digital platform.

Virtual reality (VR) offers a more limited visual experience, where users are immersed in a digital world through a headset device. VR does not provide the ability to interact with physical devices but only allows them to explore the environment in this interface.

Businesses can use AR and VR to provide an immersive shopping experience where customers explore and interact with various products from the comfort of their homes. For example, an entertainment business such as an escape room can provide a virtual reality experience to its customers and enable them to participate from any location.

Robotic Process Automation

Robots have found extensive use in the manufacturing industry today. Integrating robotics and other digital transformation technologies such as AI and ML provides a more efficient option for repetitive tasks. This approach eliminates the need for human intervention in lower-level tasks, hence improving overall efficiency.

Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, provides an innovative solution to the manufacturing industry. By using computer-aided designs, teams across the globe can work together to design a product. Collaborators can create and modify a prototype virtually and in real-time, thereby eliminating the cost and improving productivity.

The use of 3D printing has also given rise to distributed manufacturing. This process decentralizes production to manufacture the end-product closer to the consumer.

API Based Integration

Most software projects nowadays are based on API integrated into a single system. API integration allows companies to rapidly develop software products, hence reducing market time and cost. This approach provides a flexible digital transformation in which businesses can produce several low-cost components before integrating them into an overall system.

Digital Twin

Digital twin technology is a type of digital transformation in which real-world physical objects are given virtual replicas. These virtual representations replicate the dynamics and critical elements of the object it represents. This method is usually achieved by fitting the virtual model with artificial intelligence and feeding it with real-time data about the physical object.

Digital twins can create virtual models for evaluation, estimation, and metering in various scenarios.

Conclusion

Digital transformation technologies are essential in keeping up with modern business developments. Businesses that integrate these technologies witness increased efficiency, cost-saving, revenue growth, and customer experience. Digital technologies are often interconnected and produce the most optimal outcome when used together.