Top 5 digital transformation trends in 2024

An increasing number of companies are using digital technology to modernize their operations, processes, products, and services. According to forecasts, a total of 3.4 trillion US dollars will be spent on digital transformation worldwide by 2026.

Digital transformation leverages new-age technology to create new business processes and consumer experiences. It zeroes in redesigning business strategies using new technologies to adapt to the digital age and focus on customers.

In this article, let's uncover the top 5 digital transformation trends shaping up 2024. 

So, let's jump right into it:-

Top 5 digital transformation trends that businesses should watch out for in 2024

Digital transformation is a mindset shift that enables organizations to reimagine their business processes to take advantage of the opportunities created by emerging technologies. Although every business has specific needs and its journey to digital transformation is unique, certain aspects of digital transformation remain constant. They include: 

1. Internet of things (IoT)

According to Machina Research's global market forecasts, more than 24.9 billion connections will be made by the end of 2024, generating real-time data about the devices and assets being monitored and the environment in which they are located.

We’ve seen that the growth of IoT adoption is exponential across all industries. Plainly put, IoT can be defined as a continuously growing network of connected devices that can communicate and exchange data with each other. 

Businesses are striving to collect and analyze data quickly and from the devices that power their business to improve and enhance the customer experience. However, the sheer volume of data these devices generate, the variety of data coming in, and the speed at which it is collected present their own challenges in regard to storage, processing power, and analytical capabilities for such companies. 

2. Cloud computing

Migration to the cloud has become an integral part of almost all organizations irrespective of the industry. Gartner predicts that by 2025, more than half of enterprise IT spending will be in the cloud. The growing popularity of cloud computing can largely be attributed to the following benefits it affords: 

i) Efficiency

Cloud computing provides on-demand access to computer system resources and can improve business efficiency in several ways. For instance, it is crucial for improving the efficiency of remote work and reducing hardware, software, and operational costs. 

ii) Accessibility

Adoption of the cloud will allow employees, customers, and stakeholders to access information or applications from anywhere in the world via the Internet. Organizations with a geographically distributed workforce have already adopted cloud computing to streamline their employee communications and collaboration. 

iii) Scalability

Cloud computing allows organizations to scale their IT solutions up or down to meet changing needs, whether in terms of data storage capacity or processing power. 

iv) Security

Enhanced security is a key driver for the rapid adoption of cloud computing as the risk for data breaches has increased multifold in recent times. 

3. Document processing 

As enterprise automation technologies continue to get smarter, the adoption of intelligent document processing (IDP) is the most obvious digital transformation trend in 2024. 

Automated document processing is often an important step in the digital transformation journey. Organizations are looking for IDP solutions that can process documents submitted by clients in a variety of file formats like Excel, JPG, Word, PDF, and more. And equally important is the ability of the document processing platform to ingest, classify, and pre-process any document and save it in the form of structured data for analytics and decision-making. 

Intelligent document processing platforms have pre-trained APIs capable of processing structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents in a wide range of formats. The benefits of using AI-based document processing solutions include faster processing times (of 30-60 seconds), 70% reduced operational costs, over 99% accuracy of data extraction, 10X efficiency, auto-classification of documents, and generating key metrics in less than 60 seconds. 

What’s more, today, every industry needs document processing functionalities, which makes IDP an important digital transformation technology. 

For instance: 

• Commercial real estate: 100% accurate data capture helps automate CRE underwriting. 
• Commercial lending: OCR-based document processing enables faster processing of loan application documents. 
• Insurance: Organizations can process thousands of ACORD forms every day and get accurate insights from hundreds of data points. 
• Logistics: Intelligent document processing can help classify, extract, and analyze unstructured data from a variety of transport documents.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

The AI ​​market is expected to reach $126 billion by 2025 as companies of all sizes have started venturing into the world of AI and ML. AI can help businesses make better decisions by providing insights into customer behavior, demographics, customer affinity, and preferences whereas ML can help companies use data to create personalized experiences for their customers.

AI and ML technologies free up valuable employee time and enhance productivity otherwise wasted in mundane manual tasks and reduce labor costs. Decision makers leverage the insights generated by AI and ML to spot operational weaknesses, predict market trends, and provide real-time information to the concerned stakeholders. The result is data-backed future planning and forecasting. 

5. Cybersecurity

As more and more organizations collect and store sensitive customer data, the need for effective privacy and security measures becomes more important. This includes not only implementing appropriate technical measures but also ensuring that organizations have the necessary policies and procedures in place to protect customer data. According to Gartner, in 2022 alone, the spending on security stood at a staggering $172.5 billion with a potential to reach $267.3 billion in 2026. 

A single breach of cybersecurity is enough to permanently lose customer trust if their confidential information is compromised. Proper handling of customer data and safeguarding sensitive information are the main prerequisites for apt cybersecurity measures. 

Stringent cybersecurity measures to protect customer data help organizations avoid reputational damage, financial loss, even legal action, and hefty penalties. 

Wrapping up

According to a survey conducted by Toptal, a leading provider of technology services, 85% of organizations undergoing digital transformation reported increased operational efficiency, while 76% experienced improved customer satisfaction and 68% saw an increase in revenue growth. It is testimony of that fact that in today’s hyper-connected intelligent business environment, digital transformation in the form of emerging technologies allows employees to work more efficiently.