In this modern day and age, businesses may find it hard to survive in an evolving and competitive economic environment without incorporating technology into their day-to-day practices. Entrepreneurs understand the strategic importance of technology and digitalization as a vital component to conduct business, and not just a means for cost reduction.
Over the recent years, digital transformation has taken a quantum leap as both business and consumers have shifted towards online channels. According to a survey completed by McKinsey & Company (2020), the results showed an average of a 7-year increase in the rate at which companies are developing products and services on the basis of digital platforms across all regions. The same survey also revealed that across all verticals of business, the largest leap in digitalization is the share of offerings that are digital in nature.
The Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI) provides a unique insight into the impact of new technology on businesses and the target audiences, especially since introducing one-of-a-kind technological innovations has become a norm on a global basis. Some recent examples of such innovations include Tesla introducing its first commercial self-driving car and Uber doing the same with driverless cabs. Amazon, Food Panda along with other delivery services have piloted commercial drone deliveries while Google and Meta have both created open-source repositories to accelerate Machine Learning (ML) research through TensorFlow and FAIR initiatives respectively. With all these unique innovations hitting the market on a daily basis, the next anticipated major wave of innovation would be Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) where HoloLens (Microsoft) is consistently breaking new ground.
Mobile, Cloud, Sensors, Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) / Artificial Intelligence (AI) along with other bases of technology that have made these innovations possible, also unleash combinatorial effects that speed up the progress exponentially. In this context, digital innovation is now disrupting businesses and operating models while making profound impacts on the society.
The value-at-stake framework developed by DTI provides evidence base and a common ground for Public – Private collaboration that is focused on ensuring that the benefits of digital transformation are fairly and widely shared. This framework pivots around the concept of digital value to society, which provides helpful metrics for measuring, optimizing and communicating the societal impact of digital investments.
Till date, this framework has shown immense potential of digitalization and an estimate of $100 trillion in value to businesses and society over the coming decade. Naturally with such innovations, there would be barriers to its realization such as unfit regulatory frameworks, infrastructure gaps, lack of trust in technology etc. However, if stakeholders are incentivized accurately, majority of the value is directed towards the society itself.
Technology is an important element of digital transformation but even more so, it is about letting go of the outdated processes and adapting new technology while enabling innovation. Digital transformation is a huge undertaking, regardless if the business is large or small. When done correctly, it will produce a business in line with the customer needs and resilient in the ever-changing digital future.
