How is digital transformation taking place across sectors?

Digital transformation may be a buzz word in the tech realm, but for each company it's special and personal. The definition varies from one business to another. Innovation brings a different sense to each entity, regardless of the similarities that each organization shares, and its implementation is — by default — unique in every case.

Certainly, the global coronavirus epidemic has forced organizations to change their automated road maps and revamp them. As stay-at - home mandates came into full force, a number of businesses were pushed to find ways to smooth out and turn to employee teleworking.

The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has neatly summed up this phenomenon: "In two months, we've seen two years of digital transformation." From remote collaboration and learning to sales and customer support to vital cloud technology and security, we work with customers on a daily basis to help them adapt and remain open to business in a world of all away.

In April, the tech giant saw "more than 200 million members in a single day of Microsoft Teams meeting, creating more than 4.1 billion minutes of meeting." This is only one example of the size of cloud-based communication and video conferencing technologies being implemented in the pandemic.

It is estimated that the global demand for digital transformation will rise from US$ 469.8 billion in 2020 to US$ 1009.8 billion (or more than US$ 1 trillion) by 2025. That's just 5 years.

There is no question that businesses understand that they need to develop and quickly develop in light of the uncertainty caused by the global pandemic. Deloitte found that in the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, C-suite participants spoke a lot about innovation, with half of the receiving calls containing use of the word "innovation."

The accounting firm Big Four also noticed that the focus of the innovation activities of companies led by the pandemic varied across industries. The industrial landscape is echoing ongoing developments, emerging threats, demand from customers and future needs.

Consumer-facing

Deloitte's research showed that consumer-facing businesses draw their focus more regularly to e-commerce, giving online trading a boon as social distancing becomes the new standard. A survey by C+R Research reported that, due to the pandemic, more than half (60 percent) of US shoppers are afraid of shopping in grocery stores and 73 percent are shopping less personally.

The shifting world saw brick-and - mortar shops scrambling with shut-out shutters and retailers to move their storefronts into the cloud. Forrester forecasts that, relative to 2019 gross revenues, the US retail sector will suffer a loss of US$ 321 billion this year.

We see emerging technologies such as retail streaming and touchless shopping come out in full force, although the pandemic is a blessing for e-commerce.

Resource management

Recently, global supply chains have also suffered a major blow as the once linked ocean routes have been widely disrupted by simultaneously closing and opening borders and heavily restricting movements. Disconnected supply chains have prompted businesses to shift production and manufacturing back on-shore. But the cracks of once internationally linked supply chains have prompted businesses to search for tech-inspired solutions.

Quantum computing is one solution which promises to improve the management of the supply chain. The technology offers new capabilities that can power traffic simulations in real-time and improve the planning and scheduling of route logistics. Also, on board are AI and blockchain for eliminating blind spots in supply chains and using predictive models to help producers and suppliers prevent extreme events such as a pandemic.

Power of AI facilitating different Domains

The consulting firm Deloitte also noticed that risk management has been discussed more frequently by financial services and insurance companies. The finance industry is expected to capitalize on various aspects of emerging technologies such as AI, including cost reduction, generation of revenue, customer support, and risk management.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) and Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) found that 64 per cent of financial services leaders plan to significantly implement AI within the next two years, outgrowing the 16 per cent that they are doing today. Finance leaders will progress from having the skills and numbers to taking action with the help of AI in number crunching and data analysis.