The top 3 priorities for digital transformation in 2024
In 2024 and beyond, addressing sustainable technology challenges, embracing AI-enhanced development, and leveraging industry cloud platforms may become essential for success rather than just an option.
① Sustainable technology
“By 2027, the contribution that CIOs make to sustainable technology will determine 25% of their compensation.” Gartner
The growing use of digital technologies like AI and cloud computing has raised worries about their energy and environmental effects. Gartner predicts that by 2027, IT leaders will confront power shortages as electricity demand surpasses the production and supply of energy sources, renewable and non-renewable. This emphasizes the need for sustainable IT practices to enhance environmental performance.
success story
Power control tools that work well in data centers are a useful way to deal with this problem. Vodafone is one of the biggest tech and phone companies in Africa and Europe. To be more environmentally friendly, they have converted to DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) software. This change merged four times as many servers into one, cut power use across the whole building by 75 percent, and put off the need for new equipment.
A company in farming technology called AgroScout has made an AI system to help food makers, farm managers, and farmers deal with the effects of climate change. Satellite, multispectral, and farm images are all used together in this method to make a full agricultural databank. It finds strange things happening in the field, backs up what it sees with data, and turns these observations into reports and screens about crop health and supply risks. Customers have cut down on the amount of pesticides they use by up to 85%.
Recommended actions for decision-makers
To make the most of sustainable technology, leaders in information technology should take into consideration the following actions:
- Taking into consideration the materiality evaluations of corporations and gaining a grasp of the significance of social and environmental concerns
- Evaluate the current configuration of your technology and determine whether or not there is a need for extra investment in digital solutions.
- This involves making investments in cloud services, using artificial intelligence technology to lower environmental footprints, and utilizing software that is both sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-oriented, among other things.
②AI-enhanced development
“By 2026, generative AI will transform 70% of new web and mobile app design and development efforts.” Gartner
Enterprise demand for software continues to grow as businesses now rely heavily on applications to improve the customer experience. This increased demand has resulted in software engineering teams being asked to create software faster.
AI, such as AI coding assistants, AI-enhanced testing tools, and design-to-code tools, can reduce time to market by:
- Coding faster
- Better shift-left testing capabilities
- Automatic generation of front-end code from your design platform
success story
Using artificial intelligence-enhanced techniques, McKinsey Digital conducted a poll with its software developers to determine the amount of time they spend on common development jobs. We were able to reduce the amount of time spent developing code by 33–45 percent and the amount of time spent documenting code by 45–50 percent.
According to research conducted by Gartner, the deployment of GitHub Copilot to more than 1,000 engineers resulted in an improvement in productivity of 17% to 20%, with the majority of developers saving between one and two hours per week. In addition, technology makes work more pleasurable since more than fifty percent of developers report feeling less stressed, and more than 75 percent report that their duties are simpler.
The issue that has to be answered right now is not whether or not to take part in the revolution of artificial intelligence, but rather how.
Recommended actions for decision-makers
To take full advantage of AI augmentation tools, IT leaders should consider the following steps:
- Select key personnel for tool implementation.
- Adjust your software engineering team’s workflow and plan to acquire new skills.
- Emphasize that the technology is aimed at increasing productivity and efficiency rather than reducing costs, and establishing value-based productivity metrics.
- Communicate to management the increased demand for software engineering talent due to rapid delivery demands for digital products.
industry cloud platform
“By 2027, more than 70% of enterprises will rely on industry cloud platforms to accelerate business initiatives, a significant increase from less than 15% in 2023.” Gartner
Industry Cloud Platforms (ICP) are specialized cloud computing solutions for specific industry sectors. Unlike general cloud services, they offer customized tools, data models, and integrations tailored to the unique workflows and regulatory requirements of specific industries.
ICP is a trend due to the increasing focus of companies seeking to achieve tangible business outcomes from their cloud investments rather than simply achieving technology or infrastructure improvements.
The market for ICP providers is growing rapidly, serving a growing number of industries. In 2023, Gartner will have identified 330 ICP offerings. This is a notable increase from 180 in 2022. Gartner predicts that the industry cloud platform market will grow 17% annually from 2022 to 2027, reaching a value of $260.9 billion in 2027.
success story
The Japanese cloud computing market is expected to grow by USD 134.921 billion from 2022 to 2027. This is because Japan is the country with the most extensive broadband fiber deployment and the largest number of fiber users in the world. The country’s comprehensive modern laws and privacy legislation also ensure this status.
Minna no Bank is a notable example of using ICP to benefit an organization.
Minna no Bank, in collaboration with Accenture, has launched an all-digital, cloud-based banking platform targeting Millennial and Gen Z customers who demand digital services.
Despite Japan’s strict regulatory requirements, Minna no Bank launched in 18 months and opened 400,000 accounts in its first year. Their “Zero Bank Core Solution” is built on the Google Cloud Platform and includes complementary banking functionality from multiple SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS providers.
Recommended actions for decision-makers
The new challenge for ICP providers and customs is how to align today’s globally leaning ICPs with rapidly emerging democratic cloud requirements, both practically and economically.
Below are suggestions for IT leaders to overcome these challenges and get the most out of ICP:
- Plan when to use ICP for process improvement and innovation.
- Leverage ICP to enhance business offerings without replacing efficient systems.
- Involve technical experts when building ICP reconfigurability for enterprise support.
- Join the ICP marketplace for industry-specific applications.