The Emergence Of Digital 2.0: What To Get Ready For In 2018

EVP at Virtusa’s Global Digital Business, responsible for technology practices in UX, mobility, social, cloud, analytics, big data and IoT.

Frank Palermo , Forbes Councils

Every year, new technologies and innovations basically reinvent how business gets done.

The term “digital” has pretty much become passé and is losing most of its muster. Yet many companies are still struggling to fully embrace the digital shift. Digital 2.0 technologies — machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, Internet of Things, cloud robotics, robotic process automation — are here to stay. Here are some of the trends that you should be prepared for in the new year.

A New Approach To Digital Transformation

The narrative around digital transformation will begin to change significantly in 2018 with companies finally taking a more holistic approach.

Digital transformation was never about executing a few random projects such as updating a website or launching a new mobile app. It requires a complete overhaul of your entire business — how you interact with your customers, how you drive operational excellence and how you approach innovation. It requires cultural change, new skills and the courage to shed legacy business models.

GE is a great example. The company has made hard decisions about what businesses are most important. It divested many of its financial services businesses, doubled investment in R&D, re-established itself as a technology company and went global with its presence in 180 countries. GE essentially became a 125-year-old startup and digital company by focusing on the industrial internet with solutions like Predix, a cloud-based platform that connects people and machines with big data and analytics. This resulted in generating $7 billion in new software sales in 2016.

As 2017 comes to a close, expect to see the following digital transformation stories begin to emerge.

Close To The Edge