MuleSoft has conducted a survey to identify the main trends which are bound to drive the digital transformation next year. After interviewing 850 IT global  leaders, 9000 consumers and collecting several third parties’ data, the study entitled “Connectivity Benchmark” has identified 7 new trends. Here they are.

The consumer experience is online and customized

The Digital Transformation focuses mainly on the so-called customer experience which is expected to be personalized and, more importantly, connected. The reason is easy to understand: multi-channel customers  spend 10% more than mono-channel customers. That is why they shall be enabled to connect everywhere and at any time to mobile service portals, chats, message systems, virtual storefronts.

It is worth considering that 64% of the interviewees think businesses should be able to understand their exigencies and, consequently, to offer them a selection of products/services which could satisfy their needs. Thus, 93% of e-leaders claim that offering a good customer experience is going to be crucial for business performance in the next two years.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Nothing new: AI has been making its way inside businesses and expectations are high with regard to its application to processes aimed at increasing productivity and managing automated processes and the MRC. According to the forecast, next year 25% of customer service operations will be carried out by chatbots.  37% of the interviewees claimed that adopting it had become a priority, 42% of them are already using it and 40% are going to adopt it in the next couple of years. All in all, AI is going to record an increase of 95%.

Be careful, though: for such innovation to work, data and a good  data analysis process are needed. Should data be wrong, incoherent or misunderstood, they will not bring about the desired outcome.  

Data are key to the Digital Transformation

83% of IT managers believe data to lead to new business opportunities and 55% claim their companies are going to invest in Big data collection and analysis. Moreover, 68% of them also believe data analysis to be key to the digital transformation. Everything revolves around data and, obviously, without them nothing can be done.

The Multi-cloud

Most businesses, i.e. 84% of those with over 1000 employees, use multi-cloud environments which are, however, difficult to manage, since companies are finding it hard to move the workload of the different applications from one cloud to another.

MuleSoft research has identified a possible solution, though: investing in APIs and adopting containerized applications. In a nutshell, a container is a software which packs up the code and all its dependencies so that applications can be run rapidly and without losing data. The report estimated a growth of 165% over the next 18 months for companies using “containerized applications” (Top 7 digital transformation trends shaping 2020).

Enhancing the IT

Empowering your business means enhancing your IT. However, apparently, the IT departments of most companies seem to be collapsing due to increasing pressure.  Seven departments out of ten, among the interviewees, will not be able to complete the projects assigned by the end of 2019 and only 36% of them is going to meet the designed targets. Therefore, the time has come for companies to invest on their IT offices to reinforce them, make them faster and more efficient and help them keep up.

Creating value through partnerships

If selected and developed in a clever way, partnerships with third parties can boost the creation of a profitable digital eco-system for all the players.

Investing in APIs

We are not talking about bees but Application Programming Interfaces (API). APIs represent a strategic element of the Digital Transformation applied to business (What APIs are and which impact they may have on business ). Indeed, through them all parties involved in a strategic partnership can create new value, innovating faster and increasing sales.

The report revealed that 99% of businesses which make a proper use of public and private APIs, achieve much better result than competitors who are not relying on them.

In conclusione, the Digital Transformation brings about great benefits, but to obtain them you need to be committed, to invest in it and to have a long-term vision, possible the vision of those e-leaders who are expected to manage it.

In your opinion, how is the Digital Transformation of Italian companies going? Is it suitable? Is it satisfactory? Tweet @agostinellialdo.

To find out more about the digital world you may read my latest book entitled: “People Are Media” 

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