How to define an appropriate budget for digital transformation - one that’s realistic yet takes into consideration the aspirations of and opportunities available to your organization

This a difficult balancing act, and never more so than for digital transformation projects. Here, we share some tips to deliver you a budget that effectively serves your transformation aims, helping you maximize the impact of your initiatives.

With so many different moving parts, digital transformation projects require a rock-solid foundation from which to build - including a budget that accurately reflects the scale and complexity of the initiative, while remaining achievable and realistic.

However defining such a budget - not to mention getting it signed off - can be challenging. We’ve all heard the horror stories of projects going over budget, stalling, or even being abandoned altogether.

If you’re currently in the early stages of your digital transformation journey and want to avoid a similar fate, this post shares practical tips to put you on the right path from the start, covering some of the key considerations you’ll need to address to ensure your budget truly supports your organizational requirements and strategic goals.

8 tips for your digital transformation budget:

1. Involve everyone

You can’t involve everyone from across your organization in your budgeting process, and nor would you want to. However, where digital transformation is concerned it’s important to consider alternatives to those traditional budgeting approaches that have typically been managed on a departmental basis, with the financial director approving a high-level budget that is then distributed across the team.

These models simply aren’t viable today, when digital stretches across different departments, roles, and locations to touch all parts of the enterprise. Instead, the ubiquitous nature of digital calls for a collaborative approach that facilitates an overarching understanding of core business processes, to ensure that every element of these is factored into your budget. Without this holistic picture, you run the risk of creating bottlenecks that will draw investment down and away from the revenue-generating activities that matter.

2. Consider potential ‘hidden’ costs

Alongside the disparate requirements of the different business functions within your organization, there are almost certainly going to be additional areas that will need to be accommodated in your digital transformation budget. These can be easily overlooked, so be sure to undertake rigorous requirements gathering activities to uncover any supplementary demands.

For example, consider the following:

Infrastructure. How will your digital solutions be supported?

• Do you have any vital information/content that needs to be migrated from your existing systems?
• Is the investment required to meet relevant compliance and security standards?
• What skills and knowledge are needed to ensure your team can perform effectively?
• Change management. If your transformation is going to impact your processes, how will any necessary changes be rolled out?

… and not forgetting the costs associated with your requirements gathering activities themselves!

3. Create a shared vision

As mentioned in the introduction to this post, defining your budget is only part of the battle. You’ll also have to secure sign-off, meaning that those individuals in control of the purse strings need to be bought into your vision. It’s crucial therefore that you raise awareness of the need for - and benefits of - digital transformation at an early stage.

Even if you think this is already understood across your organization, it often isn’t the case. Indeed, as budgets are typically agreed in advance without any understanding of the complexity or dependencies involved it’s easy to assume a shared vision at the outset, only to find out further down the line that you don’t have the resources you need to move as quickly as you’d like, or achieve your desired results.

A dedicated ‘discovery’ phase can help you more clearly articulate your vision, and so communicate this to stakeholders - particularly if it includes the creation of low-fidelity deliverables such as prototypes and proofs of concept, which allow you demonstrate your ideas and objectives in a highly visual way, and provide increased confidence to help secure buy-in.

4. Demonstrate value

The key driver behind any digital transformation project should be to deliver value. If you focus solely on the features you want to be delivered without thinking about how they serve your overall vision, the project is unlikely to deliver the results you’re after. As you define your budget, then, think about the precise reasons why you want to undertake the work you’re planning.

This will not only help you justify your budget by providing specific examples of the benefits you aim to realize that you can reference - for example, streamlined processes, higher revenues, or a larger user base - but will provide a valuable baseline against which you can measure the success of your initiatives, and so inform any future programs of work and their associated budgets.

5. Facilitate agility

If you’re undertaking a digital transformation project, you’re no doubt very aware of the rapid rate of change being driven by technological advances and changing user behaviors. But is your budget also flexible and fluid enough to allow you to capitalize on new trends and market conditions in a timely fashion?

While many organizations have embraced more agile ways of working in their operational processes, the commercial elements of a project typically still follow more traditional approaches and areas such often focused on fixed cost, defined requirements, annual cycles, and allocated spend. It’s clear that a change in mindset is required to deliver the greatest possible value from your digital transformation initiatives - and the following tips explore in more detail some of the ways that this can be achieved.

6. Support change where required

While strict budget plans may offer high levels of predictability, they can seriously impact your ability to respond to change, and so leave you at risk of being overtaken in your digital transformation efforts by nimbler and leaner competitors. However, when introducing increased flexibility you’ll still need to provide the governance required by those allocating budget, who will be unlikely to want to relinquish control altogether.

One way to achieve a balance between these competing demands is to adopt a model that budgets for ‘epics’ (large, overarching projects) while moving the responsibility of more granular decisions away from budget holders towards those with a closer working knowledge of individual initiatives.

The very structure of your budgets can also be adapted, to give you a closer steer to reality. As the rate of change in the digital landscape continues to outpace traditional annual budget cycles, some organizations are choosing to plan two six-month budgets instead - increasing the frequency with which they can assess project deliverables and monitor the market for potential opportunities. This allows the budget to be more quickly reinvested in productive areas, and be halted where value isn’t being realized, to minimize waste and accelerate the rate of returns.

7. Allow for innovation

Another way of supporting change while still keeping budgets under control is to invest in dedicated ‘innovation’ projects. Offering the opportunity to try out new ideas on specific parts of the wider transformation piece, this kind of initiative allow you to prove the business case in a low-risk environment, and get a feel for the challenges and benefits associated with a project before committing significant resource.

You might also want to include a dedicated Research and Development (R&D) line in your budget, using this to explore various opportunities for innovation and disruption outside of the stricter frameworks and processes you may have in place elsewhere. By removing unnecessary overhead you can reap the rewards of increased velocity, and the first-mover status that often comes with this.

8. Keep it going!

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when budgeting for digital transformation is that it isn’t a single, distinct piece of work, but an on-going journey. While you likely won’t (and probably shouldn’t) try to capitalize on each new trend and technology that emerges, you will need to ensure your strategic roadmap aligns with the latest conditions and priorities, and have the necessary resources in place to execute this.

Adopting an iterative approach that encourages continuous improvement can prove extremely beneficial here. By focusing on regular deliveries and short feedback loops, this way of working will provide you with a model that’s ideally suited to the complex and evolutionary nature of digital transformation, which can then be adapted and extended beyond the initial launch to ensure you continue to deliver value at every stage of your journey.

source: smartinsights

COVID-19 sparked an unprecedented global health crisis around the world and ushered us to a ‘new normal’ way of working from home almost overnight. Not all companies were ready to adapt to this unexpected disruption, and business suffered. Many organisations faced massive structural changes and looked at alternative business strategies to sustain themselves through this global pandemic. But there is always an upside to every crisis – innovation leaders such as SAP have introduced innovative solutions specifically designed to help businesses in the post-COVID-19 global economy.

Winning in the new normal

We are a long way from business as usual these days, as many of us juggle work and home responsibilities, having video conferences interrupted by our kids, dogs barking and kitchen appliances whirring in the background. The way we live, work, play and consume has been turned upside down and most changes will not be reverted. According to a new study by Gartner, 74% of CFOs intend to permanently shift employees to remote working after the pandemic. We have been forced to embrace the new ‘future of work’ and we have quickly adapted to this change. But the question remains, how will businesses evolve? Many companies in the Middle East have already embraced the vast potential that a digital world makes possible. CIOs across the region have the vision and the appetite to accelerate digital transformations, tapping into technologies such as Cloud and AI to overcome the crisis we find ourselves in.

Indeed, countries in the Middle East, and particularly the GCC, were early adopters of cloud solutions, which has made it easier for them to quickly embrace the latest innovations. Last year a YouGov survey, conducted by SAP, showed that 88 percent of UAE companies increased their cloud spend in 2019, with 83 percent running partially or entirely on the cloud. It also found that 76 percent of IT decision-makers in the UAE agree that cloud is essential for integrating the benefits from Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, the Internet of Things, and blockchain.

Digitalisation enables new and improved processes and can help companies build resilience to reimagine their business post-COVID-19. In the coming months and years, organisations that can smartly integrate Artificial Intelligence with cloud, the Internet of Things and blockchain will see the biggest business benefit.

Customer experience, revisited

The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought about a renewed focus on enhancing citizen and customer experiences, especially as more services must be delivered remotely. Customer experience is especially important for industries such as banking and finance, retail, supply chain, logistics, and healthcare that need to transform how they engage with customers through digital platforms.

SAP recently held one of the largest technology events in the region, SAP NOW Middle East South, showcasing digital solutions specifically designed to help organisations navigate both the pitfalls and opportunities their business may face during the COVID-19 era and beyond. With over 2,300 registrations, and 600 visitors from the UAE, Oman, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon and Libya, it set a new record for SAP virtual events.

The number of attendees and the level of engagement across different countries and industries were incredible. Executives in the Middle East have always realised the value of digital transformation. The current circumstances have only amplified the need to prioritise it.

SAP’s global flagship conference, SAPPHIRE NOW, was also reimagined to go virtual for the first time. The event usually draws huge crowds every year in Orlando, Florida. Today, technology has transformed this conference into a massive complete digital experience, with over one million views and 200.000 attendees: more than 5 times the reach of the previous on-site version. Attendees could experience innovation through both live and on-demand sessions hosted by SAP leaders, Customers and Partners, as well as guests from some of the world’s leading companies like Porsche and Chobani.

To match customer experience demand and further help companies’ resilience, SAP has opened access to SAP Ariba Discovery for real-time procurement between buyers and sellers to maintain the supply chain. SAP has also opened access to TripIt Pro from Concur to manage safe, easy and changing travel itineraries.

Together with our partners, SAP and Qualtrics continuously collaborate to provide resources to governments around the world as they battle the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic. This includes access to resources such as COVID-19 Pre-Screening and Routing, Dynamic Call Center Script, Healthcare Workforce Pulse, and Critical Care Protocol Solution.

In Germany, in less than 50 days of development, together with Deutsche Telecom, SAP published the Corona Warning App downloaded by 8 million citizens in less than 2 days.

Re-evaluating the future of work

COVID-19 jolted organisations into remote working, also necessitating a re-evaluation of skills relevant to rapidly changing technology. An educated and skilled workforce positively impacts the overall development of the economy, making it critical to assess skills gaps accurately and provide the necessary training to fill them.

There is an immediate need to upskill the existing workforce with digital skills as the region continues to transform digitally. According to a recent report by strategy&, the GCC countries will need to fill more than 3 million digital jobs by 2025. Some employers have been encouraging employees to re-examine their skill set and participate in remote trainings and coaching programs. Post-crisis, organisations will likely continue the reskilling trend to develop a workforce with the capabilities needed to anticipate and manage the unexpected.

In this together

Relationships are built when times are good, but they are put to the test when times are tough. SAP lives by its purpose today more than ever: to help the world run better and improve people’s lives. Customers and members of the community will not forget soon gestures of kindness and solidarity during these challenging times.

Considering the pandemic, for example, SAP recently launched TrackYourBed, a responsive, Web-based solution that indicates hospital bed availability in real-time. The company is currently exploring further investments in this and many other ventures as part of the SAP One Billion Lives initiative, a social intrapreneurship program that allows employees to use their skills to make a difference to their communities.

The COVID-19 outbreak has proven that companies can stand together for a common purpose, providing hope in a time of crisis, and opportunity in a time of change. The customer-first imperative must remain the building block for businesses across the region. Coupled with digitalisation, businesses truly have the power to reimagine the customer experience and capitalise on disruption to thrive in the new normal.

source: networkmiddleeast

Smart cities are expected to boost lucrative business opportunities for the UAE and the region. However, the Internet of Things (IoT), the technology underpinning these complex and interconnected urban networks, offers a considerably expanded attack surface for cyber adversaries of all kinds, according to a report by Digital14, a UAE-based advisor in digital transformation and cyber resilience.

There are an estimated 22 billion networked devices worldwide. The interconnected nature of smart cities means that by 2025, that number is forecast to rise to 38.6 billion.

Each of these devices serves as an entry point for malicious actors, with everyday gadgets such as IP cameras and digital video recorders (DVRs) likely to be at the greatest risk.

In fact, more than 25 percent of attacks against enterprises this year will involve IoT devices. The GCC is increasingly prone to IoT attacks, with 18.45 percent of public-facing hosts in the UAE alone potentially vulnerable to such attacks, according to the report.

Key highlights of the report showed that the UAE is hit by an average of 304 attacks per day, the highest in the GCC. Over 42,500 IP cameras are potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks in the GCC while nearly 8,000 digital video recorders (DVRs) in the region are openly exposed to an outside network.

With the UAE embracing smart city technologies and taking a leadership role in this field, it is no surprise that the country takes the regional top spot in the Global Connectivity Index.

Expecting the growth of this sector to continue, the report proposes six actionable takeaways for organisations to defend themselves against new and evolving threats, including validating IoT devices before deployment, continuously monitoring all devices on the IoT network, and isolating IoT devices away from crucial and sensitive networks.

With the vast opportunities that smart cities bring, both in terms of improved business productivity and consumer experience, operators and device owners must be conscious of the potential vulnerabilities within their networks.

Only by safeguarding their networks, can smart cities truly realise their promised potential.

source: sme10x

Experts caution that the region is facing a talent shortage, which could delay the process of digital transformation.

Organisations in the Middle East and Africa are expected to spend $30 billion (Dh110.1bn) on digital transformation this year, driven largely by industries such as banking and energy.

“Total IT [information technology] spend in the MEA will be $90bn in 2020 and one-third of this will directly go towards digital transformation initiatives,” Jyoti Lalchandani, group vice-president and managing director for MEA and Turkey at International Data Corporation, told The National.

The Massachusetts-based research company is expecting significant growth in technology investment in the coming years and projected that spending will grow at a compound annual rate of 18 per cent in the region over the next four years.

With more number of industries, such as banking and energy, leveraging new technologies to transform their operations, “there would be a significant rise in digital transformation spending” said Mr Lalchandani.

The banking and finance industry will spend $13.23bn on technology this year but IDC forecasts this figure will reach $15.4bn by 2023, growing at a compound rate of 4.7 per cent.

Resource industries - including oil and gas mining - will spend $5.33bn on technology this year. This is predicted to grow to $5.79bn over the next three years.

Dubai Internet City, one of the investment zones in the emirates, foresees lack of good talent as a hindrance in the ongoing digital transformation drive.

“Our government is pushing digital transformation in a big way and positive results are before everyone… Dubai Internet City is also playing a crucial role in attracting new talent and technologies,” said Ammar Al Malik, managing director of DIC.

But we still need to do more and the industry is facing a talent shortage,” said Mr Malik.

Currently, more than 25,000 people are working at DIC and the authorities expect this number to reach 40,000 in the next six to seven years.

Korn Ferry, a Los Angeles-based management consulting firm, predicted that there will be a global tech talent shortage of more than 85 million people, which is roughly equivalent to the population of Germany, over the next ten years.

This could result in $8.5tn in unrealised revenues, it added.

A talent shortage will impact the region in two ways, said Mr Lalchandani.

“It will slow down the investment and force the companies to automate more.

I won’t say that with automation there will be job cuts … rather, it will lead to job rationalisation as new kinds of jobs will be created and companies will be required to upskill their current staff,” he said.

Technology firms agree there is a skills gap in the region that is pushing back the speed of digitisation.

“Our regional customers face a lot of skill shortage … especially in the fields of performance-oriented jobs that involve quick trouble-shooting, analysing huge data and predicting future trends,” Charbel Khneisser, Europe, Middle East and Africa director at Riverbed Technology, said.

“This is slowing the pace of digital transformation efforts,” he added.

California-headquartered Riverbed has more than 1,000 clients in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE – the Gulf’s largest economies – its biggest markets.

“To minimise the impact of talent shortage on the companies’ bottom line, we provide them monitoring tools or software to perform various tasks,” added Mr Khneisser.

source: thenational

Is the Middle East lagging behind in digital transformation? To a large degree, it depends on which metrics are used to measure digital transformation, and your perspective on how far along enterprises in the rest of the world are on the path to fundamentally change how they use technology, human resources and business processes to improve their performance and value to customers.

Overall, investment in IT in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is growing, with spending in the region having been projected by Gartner to rise 1.8 percent to reach US$160 billion in 2019. Spending on areas of enterprise IT often associated with digital transformation is rising significantly, with sales of software as a service expected to jump by 25 percent during the course of last year.

Spending is expected to jump by 19 percent to reach nearly US$3 billion for CRM, and to increase by 12 percent to hit $1.2 billion for BI, analytics, and advanced analytics (including AI).

Despite the growth of SaaS in the region, MENA still falls below the global average for cloud spending as a percentage of the total enterprise IT budget. "They are six to seven years behind U.S. spending on cloud – some of that is lack of availability of hyperscale cloud providers, and we are also facing in this region a preference for on-prem," said John Lovelock, a research vice president at Gartner.

Cloud ERP, for example is still in the $300 million range for the region.

"It's a decent growth rate but not what we see in the rest of the world -- at a certain point we're going to need to see 100 percent to 200 percent growth rates to get cloud into the range of the rest of the world," Lovelock said.

Cloud spending is not a direct indicator of digital transformation, but the cloud does form part of the fabric that allows digital transformation to take place.

In the 2019 IMD Digital Competitiveness Ranking, only the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia really featured, with the UAE placing 12^th overall.

Digital transformation is a global struggle

While these statistics paint a picture of more work to be done, they also do not fully represent the global realities.

There is an assumption that enterprises in the rest of the world are well on the road to digital transformation, said Ahmed Hasan, global head of Customer Engagement Marketing at Spark44, a provider of content and community management, CRM, data planning and marketing services for businesses. "But in our experience, this is very much not the case.

Many other regions are struggling with synthesising digital transformation into meaningful valuable customer experiences or even into an operational efficiency."

Hasan adds that it is therefore in some respects an advantage to be a laggard in the area of digital transformation. He believes that "slow to adopt" regions can actually benefit from the experiences and realities faced elsewhere to identify transformation projects that are more likely to have a greater chance of sustained success.

The Middle East is better positioned for digital transformation than many other regions because it is not over-encumbered with complex legacy IT systems that have been heavily customised over time, according to Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of research and analysis consultancy Deep Analysis and author of bestseller "Practical Artificial Intelligence - An Enterprise Playbook."

"It is easier to leapfrog innovation when you have a fairly basic starting point tech-wise. Clearly Dubai is leading the charge in the Middle East; its Smart Dubai initiative, though very ambitious, has set the tone for others to follow."

Smart Dubai, the government entity entrusted with driving Dubai's digital transformation projects, already has for example a mature blockchain strategy, launched in early 2016, which has made the city a global leader in blockchain in government, with some signature projects such as DubaiPay, an online payment portal.

The Middle East is at various stages of the digital transformation journey, said Shady Fathalla, business Development Manager at Ciklum, a custom software development company headquartered in London with an office in Dubai. Fathalla explains that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, are under pressure to diversify their oil-based economies and have announced several initiatives and directives to transform the societies and the governments.

Governments help drive digital transformation

Digital transformation is at the heart of many of the forward-looking initiatives put in place by the governments of the region, such as the Saudi Vision 2030, the New Kuwait 2035 Vision, the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the UAE's 2021 vision.

Fathalla believes that countries like the UAE and Bahrain are leading in terms of digital transformation, especially in the e-government and financial sectors, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Egypt are also taking remarkable steps forward.

"The Dubai Government – which is a pioneer in Government digitalisation – has announced its last paper transaction to be in 2021. What's more, the citizens themselves are also playing a big part of the Middle East's digitisation journey," Fathalla said.  "As measured by digital consumer adoption, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain are among the top countries in the world when it comes to digital readiness, with more than 100 percent smartphone penetration and more than 70 percent social media adoption," Fathallla said.

Fathalla adds that the oil and gas industry in the GCC is looking at digital transformation as a priority to increase efficiency and create competitive advantage in the oil and gas market. The CEO of Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company (ADNOC), Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber announced last year that "Industry 4.0" will be at the heart of ADNOC business.

"For us Industry 4.0 is utilising data and technology to really transform our business, to make it more efficient, and to empower our people," explained Abdul Nasser Al Mughairbi, senior vice president, digital function, at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), in an interview with CIO Middle East.

The Middle East, though, is still at a stage where it needs to import the skills required to make digital transformation possible from other places, with countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar being the major investors in digital transformation infrastructure and expertise, according to Bernado Jun, managing director of Spark44 Middle East and North Africa.

Culture can hold back transformation

"The Middle East is a diverse and geopolitically volatile region, with some markets lacking the infrastructure for digital transformation and other markets with the infrastructure but without the stability to have digital transformation at speed and at scale," Jun said.

"So, the region as a whole is lagging behind, although some countries are investing heavily with the ambition to be leading countries in digital transformation in the near future," he added.

One challenge holding back digital transformation is the way trust and honour function as cultural concepts in the Middle East, said Annalisa Nash Fernandez, an intercultural strategist at BecauseCulture, a consultancy focusing on cultural elements in technology and business strategy.  "Trust is deeply rooted in long-term social relationships, like in Asian cultures, which is why influencer marketing has proven so successful in the region," Fernandez said. "Influencers have replicated values of trust and personal relationships in a digital context" in the Middle East, Fernandez said, adding that once enterprise leaders do the same, digital transformation in the Middle East will catch up to, and likely surpass other regions.

Deep Analysis' Pelz-Sharpe also believes that the biggest factors impacting the region are cultural and people-related, rather than technological.

"The Middle East has access to the same technology as the rest of the world, however there are skills shortages that impact the rate of change that is possible."

Interest in digital transformation grows

Interest in digital transformation in the region, though, has encouraged Ciklum to extend its services to the Middle East, bringing its global delivery model for software services to the region. The approach allows clients to select appropriate talent from its large resources pool for software projects, and is being used by Middle Eastern startups as well as regional incubators and accelerators to increase the scale of digital transformation, Ciklum's Gathalla said.

Cikulm's Fathalla says that while the gap between the Middle East's digital transformation and that of the rest of the world is shrinking -- mainly due to government investments -- the story is a little different when it comes to the private sector.

He explains that investment in digital transformation is not at the required level, and contribution to the overall countries' GDP by digital business is lower compared to those in countries considered as leaders in digitisation and digital economies. "But this will improve over the coming years," he said.

Spark44's Jun cautions that companies in the Middle East needs to find the right balance between importing expertise and growing it internally. He says it is easier to import expertise to show short-term results and to showcase your "transformation credentials" by proudly communicating that one is working with a world-class consultancy. "However, for companies to be competitive in the long term, they need to invest in also nurturing and growing the talent at a local level," he said.

"Transformation by definition is a continuous process and one cannot expect to find the best answer for one's company only from the outside," Jun added, saying that that CIOs needs to be more invested in the company's human capital growth plan, working closely with the HR department to fine-tune recruitment policies and learning and development plans, based on the key skills that the company will need in the longer term.

Digital transformation is being tackled at a governmental and structural level, but more needs to be done to encourage the private sector to embrace this change and to take advantage of the opportunity to leapfrog in terms of innovation through learning from other countries.

source: cio

The thing about digital transformation trends is that sometimes they move like molasses, and other times they skyrocket in new and unexpected directions.

This is what we have to look forward to in 2020. Regardless of technological advancement, however, the most important thing I want you to take away is that culture and customer experience (CX) will be pivotal to any company’s success in 2020. Yes, I’ve been saying it for a while.

No, most companies still aren’t heeding the advice, and as a customer, I’m sure you’ve noticed. (We’re talking to you, Sprint… Spectrum… Charter… you get the picture.)

That said, the underpinnings of digital transformation remain the innovation and technology that allow companies to compete, differentiate, and outperform. When it comes to the tech side of digital transformation trends for 2020, some things on the list you’ll recognize from a few years past. Others may take you by surprise—or perhaps, you’ll finally start to take them seriously. Regardless, these are my picks for the digital transformation trends for 2020.

1. 5G for You and Me First things first, yes, we will actually start to use 5G in 2020. For real. Like—seriously. All the big guns like Qualcomm, ATT, Verizon, Nokia, Ericssonare doing their part to make sure this is true. You don’t have to take my word for it. This is going to work exponentially in favor of things like smart car development and other situations where real-time data sensors and connections to the IoT are essential. Thus, the big news here isn’t just for 5G. It’s for the development of other industries that have been waiting on it with bated breath.

On this note, I want to make a short mention of WiFi6. Not to be confused with 5G, WiFi 6 is the next gen of WiFi connectivity, but 5G is the next gen of wireless. They’re not the same, but both will explode next year. On the WiFi 6 side, this means faster connectivity and processing in the workplace, home, and via your entertainment center, rather than remotely connected IoT devices. Merely a point of clarification.

2. Analytics are the Competitive Advantage.

I’ll say it once: companies that still aren’t investing in analytics by 2020 probably won’t be in business in 2021. There is simply far too much customer insightto be had (and far too much customer experience to improve) from data collection and processing in digital transformation for a company to remain competitive without it. And, the tech industry knows it. That’s why we’re seeing things like Salesforce acquiring Tableau and Microsoft creating its Power Platform. The heavy hitter tech companies are figuring out that the future is in data—most specifically, the real-time processing of it. So regardless of what industry you’re in, make use of data and analytics in 2020.

3. AI and Machine Learning Powering #2

Just like 5G is of no value in and of itself, neither is data. If you’re going to invest in analytics, you need to invest in AI and machine learning to be able to process the complex and sophisticated amounts of information and data sets you are collecting. Put it this way: you wouldn’t fill your house with food if you didn’t have the people there to cook it and eat it. The same is true with data and AI. Do not bother investing in data if you won’t also simultaneously invest in AI and machine learning to make it meaningful. As noted above, some of the biggest minds in tech are working to make it easy to do.

4. Privacy Renaissance

Thanks in part to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, we’ll be seeing more companies actually paying attention to privacy and security issues in 2020. In fact, many will smartly use privacy and transparencyas a brand differentiator, allowing users to opt in or out with greater ease and awareness of the types of information being collected about them. That said, just because it’s smart to jump onboard the privacy train, that doesn’t mean all companies will. Amazon will likely remain mum about the info it’s gaining from Alexa, for instance. Facebook will likely keep stealing everything it can from users—and selling it to the highest bidder. But in all of that, there is tremendous opportunity for companies like Dell, Cisco, HPE to create some real and meaningful structure around privacy to usher us through the ‘20s.

5. Blockchain beyond Crypto

I called it last year. Blockchain was a bust for 2019. But coming into 2020, I do believe we’ll finally start to see some meaningful use cases for blockchain beyond cryptocurrency.

6. We know Amazon Web Servicesis already working hard, as are tons of other global leaders including China’s Alibaba.

7. What’s more, they’re actually putting together real use cases to go along with the technology, especially in terms of intellectual property, royalties, etc. I believe those things will actually take off this coming year.

8. XaaS

Everything as a service will gain even more momentum in even the most hardware-driven industries/sectors of technology.

9. As we continue to see the evolution of onsite, off-side, cloud, hybrid, etc., we’ll see “big IT” moving on-premises as-a-Service, as well as big data, analytics, blockchain and more.

10. Yes, basically EVERYTHING will really be available as a service in 2020, and easier than ever before, in whatever form your company requires.

11. RPA Craze

I hesitate to list this as an advancement because it’s the simplest form of AI a company can muster. But Robotic Process Automation, as the lowest hanging fruit of AI, will continue to grow. Attended RPA leads the way but as the craze continues and RPA proves itself trustworthy we’ll see unattended pick up steam. Companies like Cisco are also using RPA to help create wiggle room to upskill and augment the skills of their existing workforce. (Smart companies: take note.)

12. Conversational AII know, Siri still sucks, and it’s still impossible to use voice-to-text to write a chat message. However, I do believe we’ll see at least some form of conversational AI become useful in 2020.

Microsoft Conversational AI is working incredibly hard to build a platform that can not just hear correctly, but follow complex conversations and understand the nuances of emotion all while continuing to improve over time.

13. Will we see it in everyday tech in 2020? Likely no—but I think the foundations of it will be solidified in the coming year.

14. ACPC Heats Up We’re always connected, so we need PCs that are always connected as well. We’ll see an expansion of ACPCs this year with embedded 5G and LTE, and of course we’ll see some smart business partnerships follow suit (Lenovo and Qualcomm comes to mind, but I anticipate more will come out of the woodwork.)

15. Driverless Cars, Drones and Smart Cities Hear me out. I know we’ve been talking about them for years, literally. But I think with edge computing rowing and 5G finally about to burst, we’ll see some developing (finally) in driverless cars, drones, and smart(-ish/-er) cities in digital transformation trends for 2020.

16. Companies like Intel/Nvidia and BMW/Volvo are partnering up (do you sense another theme here?) to bring these new technologies to reality FOR REAL.

Could these digital transformation trends for 2020 change? Absolutely, in the blink of an eye. But I think we’re finally starting to see value shake out from a number of technologies that have been stalling in the past few years. And I’m excited to see where it takes us.

source: fowmedia

Technology is driving digital transformation across industry verticals, according to a new KPMG 2019 Customer Experience Excellence Report,  which ranks US companies on their customer experience delivery.

Among the companies that saw the biggest jump in ranking from last year are those investing in digitally-enabled technology to support personalization. 

The report asks and answers: how can companies invest in technology to improve customer experience through personalization? KPMG said the answer is the ability to architect and engineer intelligent digital services, technologies, and platforms to deliver on the customer promise in an agile, cost effective and scalable manner. 

It may surprise you to hear which US business clucked its way to the top by addressing the very issues noted in the KPMG survey.

Despite the negative publicity surrounding the company's LGBTQ policies, Chick-fil-A ranked third overall in the Customer Experience Excellence 2019 list and first in the Restaurants and Fast Food Category. Does this prove that boycotts are ineffective? It may be in this case: Chick-fil-A, which opened its first restaurant in 1967 in Atlanta, launched a customer-services driven app which now drives 20% of its sales from digital orders.

And, this summer, the Texas state legislature passed what's dubbed "Save Chick-fil-A," which forbids government entities from taking "adverse actions" against businesses because of those businesses' "religious beliefs and moral convictions, including beliefs and convictions regarding marriage."

The report cites five companies which they describe as "fastest risers" and 10 companies as overall winners in customer experience.

Among the faster risers, UnitedHealthcare tops the list, and it is investing heavily in new technology. "There is a lot more focus on consumer digital, a lot more focus on personalization, and a lot more focus on giving control back to the people that we serve," Phil McKoy, CIO at UnitedHealthcare, said in the report. 

Kate-Lin Dennis, a UnitedHealthcare senior customer care representative, added, also in the report, "With the new technology, if somebody calls in and needs diabetic education, we're able to look up local pharmacies for them that service diabetic supplies, and set them up with home health agencies.

We can set them up with programs that help guide them through those processes."

Coming in second is PNC, a financial services company.

Among other innovations, the company has a digital team for the report asserted, "greater project flexibility and responsiveness."

State Farm insurance company ranked third, and the company, the report concluded, is focused on making its next-gen customer experience across digital and offline channels available throughout the company. "Automated data capture and synchronization into new CRM platforms has enabled State Farm to provide actionable insights to its agents, improving the customer experience and presenting agents with opportunities to grow their book of business," noted the KPMG report.

The movie theater chain AMC Loews was fourth, thanks to theaters featuring the upgrade of premium sight and sound formats and the continuation of its successful Stubs program (a credit-card styled membership for accumulating points and rewards with 15.8 million members), and introducing the subscription program, A-List, for customers who frequent the movies.

Lastly, the membership retail store Sam's Club was ranked fifth among faster risers. Sam's Club "has been investing in new technology to deliver multi-channel customer experiences," the report said. "For example, shoppers at a Sam's Club can open up their Sam's Club app and scan each item's barcode as they fill their shopping carts. The app keeps a running total of everything in the cart, and then, when the shopper is ready to checkout and pay, they can do so inside the app.

As they walk out of the Club, they show their digital receipt to a "greeter" at the exit. The receipt is scanned, and the customer goes on their way."

Online products can be browsed via in-store kiosks, added to the member's online cart, and then shipped to the shopper's home. Store associates are trained to become "problem solvers" for customers, it has boosted Sam's Club e-commerce sales.

If it's not available in the store, the associate will try to find it on samsclub.com. Sam's Club is trying out a new concept store, Sam's Club Now; instead of traditional store associates, the location will feature member hosts, who are digital concierges.

It will also begin the use of electronic shelf labels, which automatically update inventory prices and eliminate traditional signs. The stores will have more than 700 digital cameras to help manage inventory and make it easier to get around each location.

Sam's Club Now will be about one quarter the size of a traditional Sam's Club.

The 10 companies ranked as best in customer experience are, in order, Navy Federal Credit Union, H-E-B, Chick-fil-A, USAA, Edward Jones, Amazon, L.L. Bean, Costco Wholesale, Polo Ralph Lauren, and AAA.

High-performing organizations make connections through significant investments across varied connected enterprise capabilities.

A significant connected enterprise capability is called "digitally-enabled technology architecture," The ability to architect and engineer intelligent digital services, technologies, and platforms to deliver on the customer promise in an agile, cost effective, and scalable manner while maintaining security.

In conclusion, the report cited the importance of a customer-centric approach, and an integrated strategy to connect the layers of a company, to align its brand, products and services, interactions and people to capture business value. The report reiterated the top elements for excellence in customer service:

• Customer experience
• Sales transformation and CRM
• Customer data and analytics
• Marketing transformation and technology
• Customer service transformation and technology
• Connected enterprise

  source: techrepublic

To look cool, everyone talks about digital transformation without actually knowing what it really is. Some businesses are already reaping the benefits of digital transformation while others are still hesitant about investing in digital transformation.

If your organization belongs to the latter category then, this article will change your mind and convince you to say ‘yes’ to  digital transformation.

Enterprise digital transformation is not just about automating processes. There is much more to digital transformation than what most people might think. It also includes changing mindsets, goals and approaches.

Companies undergoing digital transformation knows that it takes time. If you are expecting to change everything overnight then, that is not going to happen.

When done correctly, digital transformation can:

• Streamline processes
• Boost efficiency
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Increase revenue

How can I digital transform my business the right way? To answer this question, here are some examples of successful brands who have not only completed transformation business process and are also reaping rich rewards. Follow in their footsteps to digitally transform your business.

In this article, you will learn about six inspirational examples of digital transformation companies that you can learn from.

6 Digital Transformation Examples

1. Nike

Famous for its sports shoes and clothing, Nike started to lose its luster. To turn things around, Nike decided to transform its brand and supply with the help of digital transformation and become a digital transformation company. Instead of selling their products through vendors, they decided to reach out to customers and sell to them directly. This shorten their development cycle and allowed them to launch new products quickly.

They created a new digital transformation strategy with Amazon. Soon, Nike started opening experience stores and focus on enhancing their app experience.

By harnessing the power of data analytics and connecting with their customers at a personal level, Nike succeeded in knowing their customers preferences and started recommending the right products. Nike’s revenue grew from $33.5 billion to $39.1 billion and its stock price jumped from $53 to $90 in less than two years.

2. Disney

Disney was falling behind the times, but they managed to turn the tables by acquiring few companies. Instead of developing their new streaming services, they purchased BAMTech to acquire streaming technology. Later, Disney invested heavily on marvel comics from 21^st Century Fox, $52.4 billion to be exact. Next, Disney decided to connect directly with their customers. Due to this, they did not have to rely on distributors and advertisers.

They responded brilliantly by adapting to the changing industry dynamics and the positive customer feedback they received is a testament to that.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft enjoys a dominant position in desktop operating system market with 80% market share. Its software division is also doing well but it is dying a slow death in mobile operating system market. As competition from the likes of Apple and Amazon increase, Microsoft changed their strategy.

It all began when Satya Nadella took over the CEO role in 2014.  Microsoft shifted its focus from traditional software to the cloud-based solutions. The company took a U-turn and started forming partnerships with software and technology vendors, a move you did not expect from a company like Microsoft, especially, when you take their history into account.

Their stock prices went from $38 per share in 2014 to $139 in 2019 and their revenue soared from $93.5 billion to $122 billion. In fact, Microsoft became only the third company to join the prestigious $1 trillion market valuation club.

4.General Electric

By far the most interesting example of digital transformation comes from none other than General Electric. With a rich history spanning over 125 years and some of the big names such as Thomas Edison as its founding fathers, General Electric is one of the pioneers and one of the most iconic brands in electrical industry.

Unfortunately, they failed to live up to its name as the time passes and start to lose its touch. Thankfully, they decided to embrace 3D printing technology, which turn their fortunes around. It helped them to drastically cut down on transportation and storage costs General Electric has already produced 19 different airplane turbine parts by using 3D printing. After getting positive results from the 3D printing, they decided to pursue it for long term and planning to invest $3.5 billion.

5. DHL

DHL is well known for its excellent stock management and supply chain but that did not stop them from improving. Their stock management and supply chain systems are easy to use and automated, but they want to take things to the next level. For this they decided to team up with Ricoh and Ubimax to develop application for smart glasses. By pairing smart glasses with these applications, it can be used for reading bar codes, streamline pickup and drop off and reduce the chances of errors. Their stock price doubled from 20 euros in 2016 to 40 euros in 2018.

6. Best Buy

Best Buy was in the midst of a crisis in 2012 and some thought it will die soon. The situation was so bad the Best Buy employees did not believe that they could get out of this crisis and survive against Amazon. A new CEO combined with a new digital perspective proved to be a lifesaver for Best Buy.  In fact, they turned the company’s fortunes by improving the delivery times and enriching the lives of people with technology.

Soon, they launched a price matching program, which advised customers on which products they should buy instead of just selling it to them.

Best Buy also started offering in-home consultation for buyers who are not digitally literate and taught them how to use technology.

By using customer data at their disposal, they started offering customized recommendation and assistance.

All these moves helped them to triple their stock price from $23.70 in 2012 to $77 in 2018.

TaskQue can help you automate task allocation and other business processes through its intelligent task assignment process called Queue.

It follows a Software as a Service model, which can help you digitally transform your business.

For any feedback, please contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

source: taskque

When it comes to digital transformation it’s no longer a question of if you should do it, but when. According to global market intelligence firm IDC, 85% of enterprise decision makers say they have plans to embark on a digital transformation within the next two years, with more than a third (37%) saying they’ve already started executing one and nearly half (45%) saying they’re in the early stages of adopting one.

Investments back this, with funding of digital transformation worldwide topping $1.2 trillion in 2019, up 18% from the previous year. With the ability to increase revenue, reduce operational costs, and provide enhanced experiences for both staff and customers, investing in a digital-first strategy seems like the best course to take. 

Despite this, only 3% of enterprises complete their digital transformation projects, most attributing failure to either a fear of change, lack of cloud resources, or lack of agility. But by looking at the explosive growth in the automation space — 100% YoY for RPA and 72% YoY for iPaaS, for example — it’s clear what role automation will play in the digital enterprise. Investing in a pervasive automation strategy and a related platform that provides end-to-end solutions is crucial to breaking through the noise and succeeding in any transformative efforts.

There will, of course, be a learning curve when implementing such a strategy, but many organizations have no idea how to start – or where to start – and what immediate value (if any) they will receive once they adopt such a platform. Here’s what we see working for enterprises today when it comes to an automation strategy.

Overcoming the Initial Barriers of Digital Transformation

Forward-thinking enterprises recognize that in order to remain competitive, they must continuously evolve their culture, processes, data and technologies – and this won’t be easy.

Though 83% of IT decision makers say workflow automation is essential to digital transformation, a large number of manual processes still remain active in many companies.  

Unfortunately, even the most dedicated IT teams can’t manage the optimization of thousands upon thousands of processes across the business.

Because of this, only certain processes will get prioritized for automation, meaning only a small number of users will reap the benefits.

For example, workflows critical to keeping the lights on will always be prioritized, while processes in lines of business (LOB) including HR, finance and marketing that could drastically improve with automation may sit on the backburner. This results in an increasing number of inefficiencies across business. 

Automation Platforms that can be used by non-coders like Business Systems teams, analysts, and App Admins democratizes the process of integration and automation. This is key to actually achieving Digital Transformation goals: when bottlenecks prevent progress and automation projects are not agile, there is no way an organization can transform at scale.

Is the Platform Flexible and Secure?

The key to enterprise-wide adoption of automation is that it should be something that can be used by both your IT team and other players like business systems, app admins, MarketingOps, and SalesOps teams. Spreading this skill set out across groups is the only way to scale. However, you still need to ensure that the platform has enterprise security and governance capabilities.

The IT team and security team should be able to monitor everyone’s activity on a single platform.

On the business side, employees often want to use the tool they prefer for their job function.

While IT/business systems teams will want to ensure the tool fits in well with their infrastructure, LOBs will often drive tech purchases without their oversight. To avoid conflict, it’s best to invest in an automation platform that is agile enough to enable LOB to choose whatever technology and tools they prefer.

This, combined with an emphasis of time-to-value or an ability to build agile integrations quickly, makes a no-code solution the best choice. 

Early-Stage Digital Transformation

Once a tool is selected, there are several steps you must take in the first stage of adoption to ensure your investment doesn’t go dead in the water, according to HubSpot:

• Use cases: The decision makers of your team now must identify what use cases they want to implement first. Consider the processes across your business that could use the most help — is it Order-to-Cash or Employee Onboarding and Offboarding? Could your organization use a virtual helpdesk to answer employee inquiries upon command, led by a bot-based protocol which uses ML to improve based on the feedback it receives? Whatever they decide, the right (and wrong) use cases must be identified at the very beginning, which may take a few trials given the amount you have.
• Change management – Part 1: Automation is going to change the way you work drastically, which is different from the typical business-as-usual (BAU) change management. Therefore, it may be necessary to involve additional planning and implementation tools to ensure a smooth transition. The first step should be examining the extent or degree to which change can occur with said adoption. 
• Operations & IT strategy: When testing the functionality of a tool, it needs to be able to support the load of several use cases (hence the selection of use cases in a previous bullet). This will help gauge what’s necessary for scaling in the future and help build an infrastructure for your platform. 

Mid-Stage Digital Transformation

At this point in your digital-first, automation-driven strategy, at least one use case should be actively in production. Now, the hard work begins.

• Cost-benefit analysis – Part 1: Your initial use case(s) will help determine high level/unnecessary costs in the first year of your program. This analysis will be refined later in an integration “playbook.”
• Gap assessment – Part 1: By using automation to eliminate manual, repetitive work, you’ll quickly see areas of improvement for other processes prior to applying automation. It’s best to consult with your IT/business systems team and designated LOBs to determine how to reengineer these processes before applying automation.
• Integration playbook: Building upon your initial use case(s), you will need to deploy a large-scale integration playbook across LOBs and/or timelines. This will allow projection into your pipeline, and act as a primary input into your second cost-benefit analysis.
• Cost-benefit analysis – Part 2: As you build upon use cases, you will continue to identify unnecessary costs, lessons learned, and value received versus expectations. Continue to apply this knowledge as adoption continues, marking it for any future implementations.

Growth Stage of a Digital Transformation

At this point, you will have several use cases in deployment that lack enterprise cohesiveness. Here’s what to do next:

• Gap assessment – Part 2: If there are any reengineering techniques you’ve found successful at this point, now’s the time to apply them. This would also be the time to identify any other areas of improvement to ensure your automation footprint is sound. 
• Power user program – Part 1: The power users, in this case, will be non-technical staff. Sure, IT and business systems need to be able to use the platform, but it’s the extent to which LOBs and other non-technical staff use the platform that’ll make the case for this clear.
• Identify a few LOB champions and assess how to scale and reduce costs based on their usage.
• Scaling IT: At the Growth stage, you will have learned enough to be able to make informed decisions that significantly impact cost, such as the use of on-prem versus cloud systems. 
• Change management – Part 2: In adopting an automation platform that changes the way you work, you will impact every customer, employee and department in your business. Be prepared to launch any change management plans at this point, preparing your enterprise for transformation.
• Power user program – Part 2: As you begin to transition developers and LOB users, you will start to iron out the kinks of your platform. This is necessary before establishing a center of excellence (CoE) or distributing the platform as an end-user computing (EUC) model for the larger enterprise.

Mature Stage of a Digital Transformation

By now, your platform has completed development and you have a centralized program ready to scale. At this point, you’ll want to implement:

• Portfolio management of best practices: Your integration “playbook” is now mature. You will have experienced enough refinements, shifts, and digital transformation on a scale that requires you to apply business intelligence. We recommend getting ahead of the game and investing in warehouse tools like Snowflake and visualization tools like Tableau and integrating them into your platform.
• Modernize IT: As technology changes, so do the available options for automation support. Your company may have since moved to a cloud platform, leaving on-prem systems in the past. Be sure to integrate (or determine the availability of integration) of any new apps or processes.
• Thought leadership: When your business is ready to perform in a new way both internally and externally, this presents an opportunity to reach out to a matured network to leverage the best practices of others. Implementing a seasoned approach, or using it to validate your own, is a necessary last step in becoming a truly intelligent enterprise.

source: .workato

Completing digital transformation initiatives can place organizations well above others in the industry, according to an Avanade report.

Digital transformation is undoubtedly a priority for business leaders, with 66% of leaders saying they have plans for a digital business transformation, according to a recent Gartner report. However, only 11% of leaders admitted to achieving the transformation at scale, Gartner found. 

While reaching that level of success with a digital transformation is difficult, the payoff is well worth it. Companies that have successful digital transformation initiatives can expect to see a 17% return on investment (ROI) over the next year, according to an Avanade report. 

The report, conducted by Vanson Bourne, surveyed 1,150 global decision-makers to gain insight into the various impacts of digital transformation in the enterprise. 

Almost all respondents (96%) said they have a digital transformation strategy in their companies, the report found. However, 43% of professionals said their organizations are becoming fatigued by the digital transformation efforts, resulting in fewer completed projects. 

This fatigue is a result of many factors, the report found.

Some 46% cited hiring and training people in the skills as the biggest challenge, while 35% said they are struggling to modernize legacy systems. 

Regardless of the obstacles, organizations expect digital transformation projects to reduce costs by 10%, increase productivity by 11%, and increase business growth by 10%, according to the report. 

Some 83% of respondents said employee engagement, and customer experience solutions should have equal priority when planning these initiatives; and 88% agree that integrating innovation into business systems is necessary for agility and continued improvement.

source: techrepublic