Digital Transformation (2021)

Introduction

Achieving high efficiency, quality, and viability of products and services is crucial to staying relevant in the era of digital transformation. Technology advancement or digital transformation is important in improving ROI and the potential of the business scenario.

MarketsandMarkets predicts the digital transformation market to heighten from USD 290.00 Billion in 2018 to USD 665.00 Billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.1% during the forecast period. There's a glorious future lies ahead of leading digital transformation services around the world.

Although the importance of digital transformation varies from sector to sector. In this article, we explain why adopting digital transformation will be beneficial to your company.

Healthcare

Digitalization applies in every facet of the healthcare industry, in every specialization, and at every level. Here are some examples of what digital transformation we can see in the coming future :

• Digitalization of people’s health records.
• Development of a unified patient database for all countries all over the globe.
• Collection and analysis of data recorded from health-related tech devices.
• Research of newer security solutions like block-chain for digital records and transmittable health data.
• Evolution of IoT in hospitals and its expansion to home-based and wearable devices.

Covid-19 risk is making global urgency to monitor, control, and track people’s movements and relocation. The global healthcare system will continue to work on the execution of a single database of electronic health records. Blockchain technology will help to cope with providing security and ease of access to databases. However, since the technology is still not broadly accepted and recognized, it is estimated that such an alliance of healthcare with the IT world will only advance in 2021.

A more agile lifestyle, even in times of pandemic, led to an increase in on-demand healthcare. Patients now care more about mobility and the possibility to get everything done quickly, which is why on-demand and telemedicine will continue to flourish. New technology solutions in the growing market will include the development of new apps, platforms, and software for connecting patients with their doctors.

VR technology is now being used to treat pain and anxiety to stroke and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is just a fraction of VR’s proven capabilities in the field of medicine. Other uses of VR include doctors and residents using virtual reality simulations to sharpen their skills or to plan complex surgeries. VR headsets could also influence wearers to exercise and help children with autism to understand how to navigate the world. So far, several manufacturers have already launched the production of cheaper headsets to bring VR to the mass market, we can see the closer connection of VR and healthcare hugely in 2021.

Chatbots and virtual health assistants are other AI-based technology that patients are becoming familiar with. Chatbots can fulfill a multitude of roles, from customer service representatives to diagnostic tools and even therapists. But the actual power of AI can be best observed in areas like precision medicine, medical imaging, drug discovery, and genomics.

Digital transformation in healthcare can predict which illnesses and diseases will become serious problems in the coming year. Big Data and other marketing channels can collect information and help healthcare companies to develop healthy lifestyle practices for their patients. For example, you could hire an analyst to analyze keywords getting searched over social media channels and on major search engines to determine the most common searches for a medical condition, illness, and general health. The analyst could then develop a predictive model from the data gathered that would predict where and when the next big health scare will occur and how your organization can be ready for that event.

Computer programs powered by AI can examine hundreds of pathology images of various cancers to provide precise diagnoses and predict the best possible combinations of cancer drugs. In medical imaging, this technology assists radiologists in locating hard-to-find details with human eyes.

Leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies rely on machine learning algorithms to shorten the drug development cycle. In fact, recent results show that artificial intelligence can reduce drug discovery lead times by four years from the industry average, and generate cost savings of 60 percent.

As a whole, AI is expected to generate $150 billion in annual savings to the U.S. health care economy by 2026. Start-ups are already jumping on this opportunity, the number of start-ups active in AI has increased 14 times since 2000.

Banking & Finance

The increasing demand for digital transformation in the banking and financial services sectors can be attributed to several factors. The clearest answer to this is to satisfy consumer needs. COVID-19 has speeded up the use of technology and slowed down the operation of the traditional branch network, creating the need to excel or be devastated. The year ahead will bring the next evolution of financial marketing, leveraging advanced data and analytics to deliver predictive customization. The implementation of AI and machine learning will cause real-time financial suggestions, customized websites, and a level of test and learn capacities far beyond what was imagined. The future of finance will be more digitally-driven and much more automated.

Finder.com estimates that 25% of UK branches have closed since 2012. The number of bank branches declined from 11,355 in the UK in 2012 to 8,525 at the end of 2020. According to a survey conducted by Deloitte among over 17,000 consumers in the banking sector, 22% use online channels and mobile applications more than 10 times a month to meet their banking needs. As digital is the channel most often used by consumers, financial institutions would need to invest more in digital.

A BCG Corporate Banking Executive Survey held in 2017, results are as follows:

• 86% of respondents indicated that digitalization is the right strategy to invest in to gain a competitive advantage,
• 43% of respondents believe their organization’s digital capabilities are far from market leaders,
• 86% of respondents reported that technology infrastructure is complicated and it may prevent digital interactions with consumers.

The financial sector is heavily hampered by the entrance of new players into the market. The rise of Fintech companies has threatened Banking and Finance Institutions to adapt to the digital transformation of their organizations. Non-traditional competitors such as Google, Apple, and Amazon have also escalated things up. Giant Tech and Retail companies' involvement in banking are threatening for banks because these companies can be considered as an expert about digital transformation and data analytics.

Blockchain is a developing trend for financial institutions because it assists to prevent counterfeit actions, offers clarity, lessens costs, and improves the speed of transactions to reduce the number of mediator banks. The shift of banks from the traditional approach to blockchain will amplify bank’s reach to small and medium ventures.

An AI-based solution can empower real-time monitoring capacities for financial processes such as budgeting, forecasting, and working capital management — and automatically create insights-driven warning signs.

It will help financial institutions to enable smarter lending, move past credit scores based on credit repayment history and harness the power of data instead.

Financial institutions gather transaction data of consumers and reserve them for years because of regulatory and insurance requirements. Performing analysis of data can reveal insights about customer behavior so that organizations can improve the experience they provide for customers. Any banking product first needs to be marketed to the right users.

Banking and finance organizations need to evolve and harness the power of technologies such as machine learning, automation, and blockchain.

Manufacturing

Because of Global Pandemic, manufacturing activities have been badly affected. With COVID-19, manufacturers have faced new realities that vary from the old standard.

Trends in digital transformation in manufacturing for 2021 will come from a similar location, although convenience may not be exactly the word. Finished products from manufacturing will not change significantly, but how they are prepared will continue to evolve. This will ultimately become unrecognizable in relation to the practices that were used 30 years ago.

If we think about the most deteriorating problem for manufacturing operations, then it’s equipment failure. They’re costly and create enormous safety hazards. Now, with the rise of smart machines, internal sensors can self inspect and alert workers when maintenance is needed, catching mechanical failures before they happen.

By 2021, digital connectivity will be a dominant trend in manufacturing. Companies will begin to rely heavily on the Internet of Things to digitize and connect as many aspects of the manufacturing process as possible to stay ahead of other disruptions.

This will be achieved through the adoption of tools that link::

• Operations
• Inventory
• Employees
• Equipment
• Customers

The Internet of Things is booming. According to reports, more than 75 billion manufacturing devices will be connected to IoT by 2025. If the figures are right, smart manufacturing will increasingly take advantage of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) in several ways to improve industrial processes. According to reports, IIoT platforms will be used by more than 50% of industrial enterprises.

IIoT will be a critical priority as manufacturers move from linear transactions that prioritize cost and efficiency to efficiency and value for customers. IIoT will be the cornerstone of the journey to modernize organizations, as it will enable a more holistic and sustainable approach to delivering new experiences to customers. It will also enable industrial organizations to expand and improve their IoT usage cases and facilitate transparent IT-OT convergence, which is seen as the next big wave in manufacturing.

The fusion of various Machine Learning (ML) tools, embedded software, and automation allows the job to run. Another step of intelligence is integrated into the available automation strategies for connecting humans in the process. Hyper — automation takes us further than our typical automation technology. Thanks to robotic process automation (RPA), the execution of the task can be duplicated, while hyper-automation, RPA will be only the first step in the world of AI technologies.

A strong AI engineering strategy will support the scalability, reliability, performance, and intelligibility of AI models while delivering the full value of AI investments. It can increase or automate human-made decisions and tasks, making it crucial to the digital transformation. With AI, businesses can reduce labor costs, improve customer service or processes, and create a unique business model. AI engineering provides an itinerary, making AI a part of the mainstream DevOps process instead of a collection of isolated and specialized projects. It brings together a range of disciplines to subdue the hype of AI while providing a clearer path of value when operationalizing the arrangement of different AI tactics.

Manufacturing’s future will depend on high-speed connectivity to power industry operations.

5G technology can speed up:

• AI integration
• Real-time communication for a large, dispersed workforce
• Data sharing
• IoT connectivity

By 2021, 5G will finally make its way into manufacturing and processing. Given that the post-pandemic workforce remains more dispersed than previously, 5G will allow real-time connectivity for an entire organization. The rapid and efficient flow of information within a factory will increase productivity and create a safer work environment.

Conclusion

When you introduce your organization into the digital age, it opens the door to agility. Eliminating outdated processes and replacing them with exciting technologies eases pressure and improves efficiency. If an organization is to keep pace with the new players, the journey towards its digital transformation must unfold rapidly.