Digital transformation in today's shape-shifting, technology-driven climate is a business need. It is a key enabler and critical part of an organization’s success, big or small. It’s ever-evolving; the only viable response businesses can think of is getting along with the trend.
What does that mean? It simply means processes and tools which would have been at the heart of your organizational strategy have lost sheen today. It’s time to replace them with digital ones. Consider the invisibility of products and services if marketing efforts lack a digital edge. Businesses that aren’t hopping onto the digital bandwagon will lag.
Digital marketing agencies worldwide play a pivotal role in making it happen for businesses of all kinds.
Right from web development, app development, structural changes, data management, or building a loyal
customer base, these companies are ensuring the transition is timely and smooth.
A Generic Definition
It means employing different avenues offered by digital technology and its integration across business areas to work effectively in a digital-driven economy. It’s a business imperative rather than a need in an age of disruptive technologies, a journey most enterprises are embarking on.
Brace Up For Impact
What would it look like for an organization undergoing this transformation? As with all transformative journeys, transition defines transformation. This transition may not be a guaranteed smooth one, but one that must be proactively undertaken.
Over time as processes get redefined with a new set of tools, these initial hiccups die down, and businesses adjust and perform better. Businesses that shy from embracing changes even run the risk of becoming obsolete.
Take the example of Walmart, which sensed competition from giants like Amazon, and upped its game by dovetailing its business strategy with digital convenience to offer a refined customer experience. Among other measures, its mobile app offers a visual search where customers can type in the item they are looking for and arrive at just the right shelf.
The Many Benefits
Businesses that choose to invest in digital transformation have put forward just the right kind of response to ever-changing customer needs. Customer-centric focus triggers a transition to an ecosystem where digital approaches influence people, processes, and revenue.
Digitized workflows bring in automation, allowing businesses to shed redundant, repetitive tasks and divert precious resources toward innovation and efficiency. Cost optimization, bringing new customers into the business fold, and a competitive edge through enhanced digital adoption are unmissable opportunities!
Naturally, today's business landscape needs to be seen through the reorienting potential of COVID. The shift from legacy processes has been as much as 40%.
Technology Triggering Transformation
Opting for digitalization over non-digital options is the new defining convention when we think about facets of business products, services, channels, customer/employee experiences, or operational processes that will define coming years.
With enterprises becoming mobile and customers gravitating to online space massively, digitalization is rising. Ramping up investments in AI, AR/VR, IoT, and other emerging technologies signal confidence in a digital future.
Digital Predictions
World Economic Forum reports that digital transformation will add $100 trillion to the world economy by 2025. The global “digital advertising and marketing” market is projected to reach $786.2 billion by 2026.
The UAE Case
Economies around the world have accelerated the pace of digital adoption. IMD’s 2022 ranking of countries on the “digital competitive index” list UAE at an impressive 13 among 63 nations, ahead of advanced economies like the UK, France, and Germany.
UAE is leading the digital in the MEA region. The UAE also finds a coveted place among the world's best countries ranked on the pace of digital adoption, the only Arab nation to do so, according to the World Bank's GovTech Maturity Index 2021 among 198 states.
Dubai, the hub of technological advancements, is leading the efforts, which revealed its Dubai Metaverse Strategy aimed at creating 40,000 jobs and adding $4 billion to the emirate's economy over the next 5 years. Digital transformation in Dubai has taken an altogether different dimension, with several strategies chalked out for each digital demand.
GCC countries are increasingly looking to invest in
digital. Saudi Arabia has created its Saudi Vision 2030 program, and the United
Arab Emirates is driving initiatives through its UAE Digital Government
Strategy 2025.
Dubai’s Digital Foresightedness And Future Trends
UAE is on the road to leveraging digital transformation massively. The impetus is on the digital economy, raising its contribution to the country’s GDP from 9.7% to 19.4 over 10 years. Talking about the region, the year 2023 will see a spurt in digital spending as ambitious projects like Saudi’s Neom or the Giga project in Ad Diriyah will exploit disruptive technologies – AI/ML, IoT, edge, and 5G as innovation takes center stage.
As the year 2023 ages, Metaverse will be one exciting area to watch out for. GITEX Dubai showcased the latest cybersecurity concepts. The use of artificial intelligence and predictive technology plugs gaps in areas of security to build resilient systems. The industry needs 2.5 million professionals urgently.
Embracing “zero-trust” cybersecurity frameworks to define policy and handle identity and management issues will drive enterprises. Cloud has become the de facto operating platform for digital business. From Initial cloud adoption, organizations are moving steadily to implementing business apps in the cloud. Hybrid clouds will see an uptick in 2023.
Forrester Consulting's study suggests that 83 percent of companies will have implemented multi-cloud by 2023. Consumers are going for data management via cloud infrastructure to make their businesses efficient. Also, organizations will use a flexible mix of cloud options.
UAE is leading in fintech too. As digital payments soar, fintech strengthens as SMBs modify themselves to weather COIVD introduced uncertainties. The number of people going for digital payment modes will increase to 7.90 million by 2027. As mobile app development companies expand their operations in UAE to support burgeoning demands, e-commerce has expanded to absorb changing customer buying preferences.
Blockchain technology is expected to power this sector further. Add to it the potential of quantum computing which till recently was synonymous with prominent research institutes and government enterprises. The other area where its force will be felt is healthcare. Automation will sit at the heart of this process, helping reduce IT operations costs, address labor shortages, and bring agility.
What Does It Mean For Dubai-Based Businesses?
The need to have mature digital ecosystems at the core of businesses, to extract more significant returns has accelerated digital adoption across the spectrum-process automation, re-engineering, people management, and productivity. Digital insight is increasingly relied on for enterprise intelligence for improved sales.
The burst in digital aspirations and favorable business environment in UAE provides excellent opportunities for small and medium businesses to prosper. The digital economy will require components supplied by these enterprises to sustain itself.
What needs to be kept in mind here is that as sophisticated as it may sound, it isn’t a million-dollar project. Under the guidance of a digital transformation company, that understands your unique business needs, it can be accomplished smoothly.
If you are thinking of taking the digital leap, there has never been a better time than now! And we at Proquantic would be happy to lend our expertise. Get in touch with our team today.
