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March 31, 2022 - During the last few years, businesses had to adapt to a new way of working, thus leading to a drastic increase in companies adopting digital technologies.

Despite restrictions easing, this technology trend is here to stay this year with more than two-thirds of businesses maintaining or even increasing their budget for digital transformation. In this article, we will explore the digital transformation trends that will be dominating this year and for the foreseeable future.

The rise of 'distributed enterprises'

Working remotely was a measure that many companies had not put in place prior to lockdown restrictions. Stay-at-home orders in most states forced businesses into remote working, with those who hadn't yet put measures in place to allow for it struggling to adapt.

Hybrid home and office working policies have been adopted by many businesses across the USA. These organizations have been dubbed "distributed enterprises" by Gartner, who identified this as a key technology trend for 2022.

Gartner has predicted that these distributed enterprises will be more profitable than their office-based counterparts, becoming the norm in 2022. Because of the technologies and logistics required to make hybrid working a success, Gartner has predicted that three-quarters of distributed enterprises may see 25% higher profits than their competitors by 2023.

The success of prioritizing digital

Customers have been forced to find alternative ways to connect with businesses since the beginning of the pandemic, as physical visits were prohibited for several months. Online shopping skyrocketed, and over two-thirds of consumers are continuing to shop primarily online post-lockdown. This has led 56% of businesses to predict that the majority of their revenue will come from digital channels within three years.

It's no doubt that we are transitioning to a digital-first world, although businesses shouldn't fully eliminate traditional channels such as face-to-face and the telephone. Most customers will interact with your business online before they call or come into your store – if they ever do that.

Research reflects that 55% of businesses that use chatbots generate more high-quality leads and are predicted to save businesses as much as 30% on support costs, highlighting one of the many ways technologies can benefit a company.

Transitioning to new consumption habits

As times are changing, we are discovering new ways to absorb information. Video is becoming a popular form of consumption, with 81% of US consumers using YouTube and TikTok becoming the fastest-growing social media platform. Research by Activate further shows that our daily technology and media consumption is heavily dominated by video, beating out audio, messaging, and gaming media.

Video marketing is becoming a priority in the budget of many businesses due to the growing consumption of video. A huge 96% of people have watched an explainer video from a business on their company, products or services, so it's clearly the place to be. Marketers need to invest in video across multiple platforms in order to reach audiences in the way they want – 73% of people want to find out more about your products and services via videos.

This is impacting businesses internally, as well as it being an important trend for customer and prospect engagement. If your customers are engaging with video more, so are your people. Use this to your advantage by delivering important business updates via video. Enterprise video streaming solutions that allow you to stream video to multiple end-points without compromising network performance will be essential.

The use of technology may have accelerated during the pandemic, and demand is still growing in 2022. Adaptation within businesses is a necessity for the economy, communication channels, and consumer habits, which will be essential areas for companies aiming to improve digital adoption this year.

Sources

https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/articles/s/what-is-digital-transformation-and-the-key-trends-in-2022/

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/survey-covid-19-continues-to-impact-digital-transformation-plans/

https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-18-gartner-identifies-the-top-strategic-technology-trends-for-2022

https://www.salesforce.com/ap/blog/2021/09/digital-trends-report.html

https://startupbonsai.com/chatbot-statistics/

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/

https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/work-form-home-hybrid-working-covid-pandemic-us-office/