Covid-19. We hear or read about it daily. Regrettably, this is the new reality we have to live in. However, there is a silver lining to any bad thing, even a world pandemic. Although a lot of firms were forced out of business during the first year of coronavirus, many used the help of a suitable app development company to create tailored software solutions to pivot and move online swiftly.
All things considered, the pandemic has shown various companies worldwide the importance of going online and propelled many to start transforming their business immediately to save it. This article presents five digital transformation trends that are here to stay with us in the near future.
What is Digital Transformation?
Before considering the trends in more detail, let’s find out what digital transformation is. In a nutshell, digital transformation is the efficient way a company adopts, uses, and leverages available technologies to bring maximum benefit to the business, its employees, and customers. Firms use tech tools to automate their processes and, in the covid world, to adapt to the new environment.
What are the main trends of digital transformation?
The covid era has brought the world quite a few digital trends that have been positively influencing businesses across the board: online & hybrid working environment, adoption of industry-specific software solutions, The Rise of eCommerce, the prime focus on cybersecurity as well as the widespread adoption of digital payment methods.
Online & Hybrid Working Environment
As the vaccination procedure has become available to almost everyone, workers are gradually returning to their offices. However, many businesses have embraced the remote mode of working or the hybrid one, which represents the combination of both — online and offline. Thus, they do not need physical spaces anymore to operate successfully.
In order to provide convenient online and hybrid modes, companies have to utilize technology to supply their staff with the necessary tools so that they can work and deliver to clients outstanding services from their homes or other places outside of offices.
For instance, for convenient communication between departments and staff members, companies widely use video conferencing software, such as Zoom, WebEx, or Google Meets. For collaboration tools, firms choose Asana, Jira, Trello, and many others that help with project & task management, planning, time tracking, etc.
Adoption Of Industry-Specific Software Solutions
Business does not only utilize technology to help them work remotely, they adopt new cloud solutions that allow them to perform their core activities. The only thing needed for such solutions is a stable internet connection. For instance, Amazon Web Services offers a wide array of such products. Businesses that provide customer service by phone can use Amazon Connect for their services allowing service agents to work from any part of the world.
Hiring people has also become digitized. Now it’s a rarity to conduct person-to-person meetings in office settings. Recruiters and hiring managers opt for special full-cycle hiring solutions that allow them to find the right candidates, interview, hire, and onboard them and do all these things remotely.
The Rise of eCommerce
At the beginning of the pandemic, retailers that moved their businesses online as fast as they could, were able to save their companies. Due to multiple domestic and nationwide lockdowns and various safety policies, people were cooped up at their places and could not visit stores. Thus, they turned to online eCommerce platforms.
In general, Covid-19 boosted online sales to $26.7 trillion, which makes the eCommerce industry one of the most successful business spheres during the pandemic. It also has shown multiple retailers that online digital transformation is vital if they want not only to sustain their business but to boost it.
Peer-to-peer delivery, the service where a delivery person takes a parcel from the sender to the recipient, has also experienced major growth during the coronavirus. And it’s not surprising. Various shops, supermarkets, and online stores used P2P to deliver their goods to customers following the safety distancing measure. What’s more, peer-to-peer delivery was a safety belt for restaurants, cafes, and pubs that were able to bring food and beverages to their clients.
The Need For Stronger Cybersecurity
Going online has its downsides too. Unfortunately, technology is prone to malicious cyber attacks, online frauds, data breaches, and leaks. According to a prime information security news resource, Net Safe Security, 445 million attacks were detected globally in 2020. And it was only at the beginning of the year.
To save their business from such things, firms began to pay thorough attention to cybersecurity. The working-from-home policy has played a significant part in it too, as workers started to work remotely and use their laptops, which are more prone to cyber-attacks.
Now, even simple data breaches and noncompliance results in penalties, lost productivity, damaged reputation and client confidence, and litigation. Building a comprehensive and proactive data protection strategy is now required more than ever to mitigate threats, manage customer expectations, and comply with changing legislation.
Managed IT Service Providers offer a comprehensive approach to data security. Their adept teams adapt to changing data protection regulations by leveraging extensive experience with regulators around the world.
There’s no universal solution for cybersecurity when it comes to critical corporate data. That’s why companies use the development services of reliable third-party companies to create custom-made security software that will cover the specific needs of a business.
The Widespread Adoption of Digital Payment Methods
Digital payment methods help stick to various Covid restrictions. Nowadays pubs, cafes, and restaurants can take orders and get payments online. For instance, a visitor can use their mobile phone to scan a restaurant’s menu in the form of a QR code, choose a course or drink that he or she wants, and pay right away without needing a waiter.
The widespread digital payment adoption is becoming universal as more and more companies are using it to reduce the number of contacts between people. Moreover, cashier-free checkout points in movie theaters and supermarkets are a thing right now. People don’t need to wait in a queue, interact with others, and they can use any convenient payment method, be it their mobile device, watch, or cash. Amazon has even recently opened an entire grocery store without cashiers.
These are five of the leading digital transformation trends that any company should know about, keep a steady eye on, and follow them to drive their business forward