Let's start exploring and predicting the tech trends leading the way for the next wave of digital transformation.
Before we even start, let’s address the term ”digital transformation” because we're going to see it lose its mojo. We’re already seeing this start to happen as leaders use other terms when explaining their business change efforts. It’s probably a good thing, though. As leaders get over the hype of the term ”digital transformation,” they’ll start getting down to the real business of actually transforming.
Why try to predict the future?
We are somewhat reluctant to try to predict the future. Most predictions are simply wrong or fuzzy enough, not to say anything valuable. Trying to keep up with technology, making predictions for emerging technologies and digital trends might be perceived as very difficult or pure guesswork. But keep in mind, the plans you make now and the success of the products and services you're currently working on depending greatly on how the digital landscape changes.
If your company misses a trend or technology that turns out to have a major impact on your line of business, you might be left behind. This is one reason why it’s so important to keep track of the digital transformation trends on the horizon, as these will impact the plans you make today and help you prepare for how business is changing, evolving, and expanding.
How does WilburFlow work with trends and hypotheses on new digital technology?
To be honest, our specialty is to help our customer companies grow and take advantage of their employees' potential, not to predict future technology breakthroughs. Therefore our method is simple. In addition to working with interesting companies in various tech sectors and talking to a huge number of people in the industry, we read and study everything we can come across. We collect data, analyze, test, and compile content, so you and our customers don’t have to do it.
Fortunately, the big digital transformation trends are not too difficult to track, as they're already impacting businesses and will continue to do so in 2020.
While older, more mature foundational technologies will continue to find themselves at the center of most digital transformation initiatives, we believe that these trends will dominate digital transformation discussions in 2020. In this text, we’ve chosen to highlight six interesting trends with great business-changing potential.
Ok, enough talk, let’s start with the digital transformation predictions!
1. There is going to be even more noise about AI, but 2020 is not the year that AI change the world
If you think there’s already a lot of talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI), prepare for more in 2020. All kinds of companies, especially startups, will to an even greater extent brand themselves as AI-powered and market it extensively - regardless of what they actually offer.
Similarly, bigger and established public companies will increasingly repackage their services with some sort of AI touch as an attempt to satisfy top management and shareholders' need for digital transformation success stories.
Even though there will be a lot of proper progress in the field of AI, 2020 is shaping up to be another year of people getting disillusioned with the distance between marketing and reality.
2. In 2020 business transformation will increasingly be driven by data
Data-driven decision-making is one of the key elements in building a successful business. Useful insights are necessary for producing the right solutions to problems. Data is also highly valuable for turning information into knowledge and insights to act on.
Automation technologies will help data-driven business transformation immensely. So let's continue the trend analysis with more thoughts about AI. AI is not all talk and no action. We will see increased investments in Machine Learning (ML) and AI because companies need the capability to process vast volumes of data accurately and in real-time.
These two technologies will continue to be integrated into services, infrastructures, and applications. We will also see progress in the implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA isn’t in any way new, but it can be considered the lowest hanging fruit on the AI tree.
3. We will continue to simplify networks and migrate to the cloud in 2020
What’s a digital transformation prediction without the other big digital transformation hype term - the cloud? Cloud migration has been gathering increasing momentum amongst enterprises in recent years and will continue to do so.
As organizations realize that cloud migration promises much greater scalability, flexibility, optimization, and lower costs for their big data applications, beginning the cloud journey makes increasing operational sense.
In 2020, we expect that not only will organizations increasingly make the transition to the cloud, but they will also do so through a carefully planned approach after seeing how early adopters have often foundered. Just as organizations recognize the cloud's benefits, they see the risks too, and we expect this will be reflected in more carefully planned cloud migration journeys.
4. 2020 will be a year of faster connectivity. Much faster
There are many technologies today that cannot be realized to their fullest due to limited connectivity. Autonomous vehicles, for instance, need to communicate with other vehicles on the road constantly. They also have to receive and relay tons of information all at once. Thus, they require faster connections than what’s currently available. In a similar light, wearable techs and smart cities cannot be implemented fully due to connectivity issues.
2020, however, we can expect these problems to be resolved. That’s because two of the biggest digital transformation trends for 2020 will be taking the spotlight: 5G and Wi-Fi 6.
The fifth-generation or 5G network is expected to either replace or expand the 4G LTE connection we have today to increase mobile connectivity. It offers an exponential increase in speed, faster than the previous generation of mobile networks could ever hope to achieve.
Additionally, the next generation of Wi-Fi networks, Wi-Fi 6, is capable of a much faster download speed than the current one, 4x faster at least. Wi-Fi 6 is projected to grow by about five-fold within the next few years.
5. Blockchain will be used for more than just cryptocurrencies 2020
Blockchain has been hyped long enough. But there are still many issues regarding its usability. Most notably, the combination of everyone wanting to use it, but there’s no standard way to do so. The result? Blockchain is more or less a mess. 2020, however, might be the year when this technology becomes more than just a buzzword.
Blockchain, for many people synonymous with cryptocurrency and bitcoins, is one of the most innovative digital transformation trends in financial services. It’s a fantastic technology for cryptocurrency, but more use cases are surfacing. These include areas such as asset or real estate management, intellectual property, and food safety. We don’t know the next big service based on blockchain technology, but in 2020 activity will shift from unfocused exploration to focused strategic projects.
Interesting findings within this prediction is how Amazon Web Services is democratizing blockchain technology with their subscription-based blockchain-as-a-service platform. Many other global leaders are also playing in this space, including Samsung, Microsoft, IBM, and Alibaba.
6. The 2020 return of privacy, data protection, and trust
Cybersecurity continues to be the leading external concern for businesses in all industries and individuals worldwide. Every year, the number of cybercriminals attempting to break into computers increases. And for the past years, there have been several terrifying data breaches.
The government imposed new data security laws within the past few years, such as the well-known GDPR. So, businesses should be more mindful of how they collect, use, and store their data. Thanks to the implementation of these laws, in 2020, we will see more businesses finally taking data security issues more seriously.
In 2020, privacy concerns will extend far beyond politics, but the security field is not sitting idle. New forensic technologies will emerge, including those for facial recognition and in other areas of biometrics to help verify individuals' identities and keep them secure and safe.
We believe there will be a significant opportunity for brands to offer greater levels of data usage transparency to deliver best of breed experiences while also providing consumers a better understanding of how data is being used.
To sum it up:
If you’re following the past few years' digital transformation trends, you might see repetitive contenders. Cloud, AI, IoT, RPA, and others are always there, either during their development or first implementation phases. After all, these technologies are reshaping the digital landscape. From minor trends to potentially disruptive innovation, you should know what lies ahead of you in 2020.
Whether these predictions come true or not, the world is rapidly changing, and all indications point to something changing in each of these areas. Prepare in advance so that when the new technologies hit the market, you’re ready for innovation, not afraid of it.
