Spending on digital transformation has risen and is expected to accelerate in the following years. If you haven’t invested in the process yet, it might be a good time to put digital at the heart of your business strategy. So, what can be expected in the area in the upcoming year? Where to direct your endeavors?
If you need clarification on what we’re talking about here, check out our post on what digital transformation is first. And more importantly, see if your company is ready for digital transformation.
Top digital transformation trends 2023
Years ago, digital transformation primarily applied to communication channels and computer-aided task performance. Nowadays, the trends in digital transformation concentrate on remodeling business processes and resource planning. We’ve defined six tech trends 2023 to keep a weather eye on.
Looking for cost-effectiveness
In times of high inflation, rising labor costs, and escalating energy prices worldwide, companies are frantically searching for solutions that will help them keep expenditures down and manage resources more efficiently. One way to achieve this is by assessing and improving processes with digital solutions. There are industries, such as manufacturing, where costs have always been a focal point. For them, digital transformation opens possibilities of cutting costs in completely new areas.
A more concrete example from our backyard is training automation. Especially when employee turnover is high, and new machines/tools are introduced more often than ever, training becomes a substantial part of the company budget. Thus, with our Nsflow platform, you can automate courses to the extent that the system verifies the tasks performed by trainees. For example, for one of the automotive market leaders, we’ve developed a training system for forklift operators.
→ Read more about the latest digital trends in cost saving.
Repetitive tasks automation
Another broader digital transformation trend is the automation of routine, manual activities. Usually, they’re error-prone, time-consuming, costly, and involve a lot of person-hours. Digital systems can take over these areas and improve their operational effectiveness. All industries can benefit from task automation, from office environments to highly specialized laboratories.
Here are a few examples to look at: shrimp counting in industrial farms, bacteria counting in microbiological laboratories, or automated car ads posting. To know more, go to the article on task automation.
Life-like experiences
Despite the increasing tendency to digitalize processes in various industries, employees and customers still value real experiences and interactions. When these needs are satisfied, their effectiveness and satisfaction improve. Thus, we can’t eliminate the human factor and true-life experience from business environments in the face of digital transformation.
That’s when augmented reality and virtual reality come to a rescue, offering cost- and time-efficient methods that mimic life-like situations. From virtual tours taken during onboarding, real-time remote support of experts that gives a sense of closeness thanks to AR glasses, or remote factory acceptance tests that substitute for physical contact with examined machinery, the trend to use AR and VR will definitely grow in 2023.
Data and data again
Data is considered one of the most valuable enterprise commodities. Companies generate many figures – on their processes, clients, and employees. However, we still observe that data frequently remains unstructured or that every department collects and analyzes it separately.
Thus, data science is the next big trend in digital transformation. DS is the art of collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data from different sources. Employing algorithms, scientific methods, and systems makes it possible to understand patterns, gather insights, and even predict future events. It serves a significant role in risk reduction, efficiency improvement, planning, and forecasting.
Safety above all
In these troubled times, managers will make an extra effort to fortify their companies against possible mishaps. Thus, the attention will center on the digital methods that improve the safety of:
- business: risk management, predictive analysis, automated training, process and task automation, process digitalization, tasks performed remotely,
- employees: AR training, checklists of tasks, remote support available at hand,
- clients: systems verifying the quality of products and protecting their data.
For example, we’ve built a computer vision system that automatically verifies whether employees wear protective masks in production halls.
Starting small
This digital transformation market trend results directly from the previous point. Companies are sitting on the fence, trying to balance the need to digitize and spend less in the face of a worldwide crisis.
The saying Better safe than sorry has never been more up-to-date than nowadays. As a result, companies adopt a technique of small steps – digitalize one area at a time to verify if an organization is ready for DT, see if it works (see how to measure digital transformation), and make employees used to the fact or, preferably, enthusiastic about DT. Somehow, this approach is similar to MVP building in app development.
Wrap-up
We advise you to put technology last when coming up with digital transformation ideas. Of course, there are new trends in IT as well, but to bring value, DT has to start with understanding your needs, goals, and deciding where your next big opportunities are. Only this way do you have the strongest chance for true success and innovation. Hopefully, the tech trends 2023 outlined in this article will help you identify the possible directions to divert your attention to.
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