Over the past few years, enterprises have been sailing the digital transformation voyage at their own pace. But due to the pandemic, they were forced to accelerate their initiatives. Digital became a necessary prerequisite to survive and thrive in this COVID era. Digitally enabled, cloud-based, data-driven, customer-first companies demonstrated strong resilience and innovation throughout the unprecedented level of disruption. This paved the way for other enterprises to reimagine their business and delivery models and accelerate digital investments.
These are emerging trends which are covered in the new ‘Digital Enterprises 2020-2021: A New Order Out of Chaos’ report, published by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Avasant.
The report contains the results of a detailed survey to understand the enterprise outlook of respondents regarding their operational continuity, digital investments, financial health, and workforce strategy.
“The traditional ways of running business operations have become invalid,” said Kevin Parikh, CEO and Chairman at Avasant. “About 60 percent of enterprises are pivoting to new business and delivery models to enhance customer experience and ensure business continuity. To enable a successful transition, this strategy should be backed by robust change management enablers.”
The report finds that about 80 percent of respondents are working on establishing a collaborative human-machine digital workforce. At present, most companies lack clarity in managing digital workers, redesigning jobs to elevate the role of humans, and bringing effective change management. However, the report finds that over the next two or three years, about 80 percent of organizations will be ready to operate in an environment where humans, bots, and AI work side-by-side. Manufacturing, retail and CPG, and telecom will lead this new operating model in areas such as shop-floor automation, process automation, and delivery through robotics and drones, customer service enabled by virtual assistants, and lights-out manufacturing.
The report also finds that 60 percent of enterprises are fast-tracking their digital projects. While most technologies such as AI/ML, cyber security, cloud computing, mobility, and social media witnessed a sharp adoption, other technologies, including additive manufacturing, AR/VR, and blockchain, will witness steady investments. Banking, process manufacturing, retail and CPG, healthcare, and life sciences will be at the forefront of digital innovation.
Other key findings include:
- There has been a 10 percent to 30 percent decrease in implementation timelines for digital projects
- 65 percent of enterprises indicate preparing for a hybrid/blended workforce
- 85 percent of enterprises will introduce new tech-specific roles in 2021
- 80 percent are willing to have a location-agnostic workforce
- 23 percent of enterprises delayed plans for returning to workplace until 2021.
