Bill McDermott, Chairman & CEO ServiceNow, in his recent interview with Jim Cramer talked about how even though the economy seems to be struggling, digital transformation is booming.
“Yes the environment’s tough; but we’re built for all weather conditions. The macro crosswinds are not as strong as the digital transformation tailwinds”
Even in recessionary economies, the future is unstoppable for modern technologies like AI, ML, security-as-a-service, Cloud/Edge and sustainable consumption and production; did you know that According to a report from McKinsey, out of 20 global industry sectors, 16 are impacted significantly by Advanced Connectivity, Applied AI, ML, Cloud and Edge Computing – what’s more, the world is now shifting focus to what truly matters but was paid little or no attention to in the past. The rate of environmental degradation is alarming and all businesses must take note if they haven’t already. Eco-friendly solutions and environmental sustainability are now also an unstoppable trend.
The demand for these technologies has been unstoppable. Technologies like AI, Security Software and myriads of Digital Transformation technologies are continuing to proliferate no matter what shape the economy is in. Because of the fact that people have become more mindful of the environment and also the gas prices are skyrocketing, people are making more sustainable and efficient choices like switching to electric cars, for example. These choices however come with new challenges; did you know that Electric vehicles and the new generation of autonomous vehicles can generate data on the order of several hundreds of gigabytes to thousands of gigabytes per car – that is massive, this data needs to be stored, analyzed, and manipulated somewhere; the requirements are massive. Storage spaces, maintenance, power and support; old systems can simply not support all these new and booming inputs and complexities.
These segments continue to explode today.
The need for integrating different technologies has increased with all these constant changes, complexities and different consumption models, to help people build complex solution types. Thankfully, we’re living in a fast paced world and so, organizations that are supporting, selling and building solutions for such complexities are also present.
Some other unstoppable trends that we’re seeing include :
Digital Transformation – An unstoppable trend: forecast to reach 1.5 trillion by 2027
Digital transformation is another global trend that is unstoppable. We’ve been talking about it for the longest time and nothing has changed except that now, there’s another catalyst pushing businesses across the globe to now consider aggressively investing in digital transformation – all the talk about a potentially upcoming recession. Business all over the globe are embracing the new normal with open arms and are looking to automate processes with the intent to boost revenue and profitability, productivity, performance, revenue and employee as well as customer satisfaction.
According to Forbes, as of 2019, 70% of companies either had a digital transformation strategy in place or were working on one. Additionally, 21% of companies believed they’d already completed digital transformation. Forbes also added that the top industries for digital-first business strategies are services (95%), financial services (93%) and healthcare (92%).
Digital transformation, experts all agree, is the answer to the many challenges that businesses across all industries are facing in the current economy.
According to Gartner, accelerating key digital and technology initiatives is imperative to not only surviving, but thriving during what might be another recession.
- Customer and employee vision. Reimagine your customer and employee value propositions to accelerate the requisite digital investments.
- Predictive and autonomous. Invest in predictive and autonomous digital projects that make your organization faster and leaner, including in its decision making.
- Digital metrics. Narrow the metrics you use to measure digital initiatives and monitor their progress to ensure you focus on the few that align to outcomes.
Example: Sixty-two percent of boards say improved customer loyalty is the top expected outcome of becoming more digital. To build a clear digital roadmap today, you need a hypothesis of customer needs in 2-4 years time. Once you have that, prepare to leverage emerging technologies to meet known and projected customer needs. This applies equally to employee needs.
Codeless software – An unstoppable trend: forecast to reach 159 billion by 2030
“We’re seeing 750 million net new applications being built on low code platforms in the next 2 years – the innovation cycle for DT has just begun.” – Bill McDermott
Buying and selling has become more complex than ever but automated tools that embrace all of the complexity can help make it easier.
Specialized codeless sales enablement platforms like servicePath CPQ+ enable complex configurations and make the creation of configured products, and selling them, easy for Managed and Technology Service Providers – and that is a gamechanger. Bill McDermott of ServiceNow also talked about the impact. He talked about how the tech industry has evolved from operating systems, databases, applications and that we’re now in era of platforms. There’s a great reprioritization that’s going on with smart people running companies around which platform is going to give them the most efficient speed, execution and results and that too fast; in days and weeks – not months and years. Tools and platforms that go in and reinvent the way these businesses and companies run is what is needed. Obviously, the faster people are able to drive value from the platform, the better.
RAN-SOM-WARE : Cyberattacks are inevitable and on the rise – so is the demand for security software
Some interesting stats from https://purplesec.us/ validate the fact that cyberattacks are as pervasive as they were in the past. As preventative technology or security software evolved, creators of malicious malware too followed suit.
- Enterprises experienced 130 security breaches per year, per organization, on average.
- Enterprises saw the annual cost of cyber security increase 22.7% in 2021.
- The annual number of security breaches on enterprise organizations increased by 27.4%.
- Ransomware is 57x more destructive in 2021 than it was in 2015.
There seem to be various contributing factors to this rise in cybercrime;
- Blame it on the pandemic: According to Purplesec, cybercrime increased by 600% during COVID-19
- Lack of privacy online: The top five most targeted platforms are popular social media sites, with Facebook coming first at more than 1 billion records breached.
- Technological advancements: Technologies like IoT are making us more vulnerable than ever due to the limited security protocols attached to these devices. Hackers are expected to use AI and IoT to disrupt organizations’ computer systems, take control over other users’ devices, and steal sensitive data from their servers.
According to Forbes, the unstoppable trend of Cybercrime is a strategic threat that requires new thinking, institutions and coordination.
“Everything is directly connected to the internet, making the world a digital world. Our cyber assets are at risk because everything is connected to the internet. Everything and everyone, from nations and cyber gangs to college students with technological know-how, is targeting our digital assets.”
But you know what? Like John McDonald said, there must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe in order to complete a circuit or circle. This rise in Cybercrime has concurrently caused a surge in the demand for security software.
According to research:
- The size of the global application security software market was estimated at USD 5,973.00 million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.7% to reach USD 15,941.00 million by 2030. Read more
- The global cyber security market is projected to grow from USD 155.83 billion in 2022 to USD 376.32 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.4% during the forecast period. The global pandemic has been unprecedented and staggering with security solution experiencing higher-than-anticipated demand across all regions compared to pre-pandemic levels. Based on our analysis, the global market had exhibited a rise of 7.7% in 2020 as compared to 2019. Read more
- Security Software Market size was valued at US$ 18.17 Bn. in 2021 and the total Security Software revenue is expected to grow at 13.9 % from 2022 to 2029, reaching nearly US$ 51.47 Bn. Read more
An upward trend therefore can be seen and its safe to say that this trend, or like Forbes said it, threat, is one that is unstoppable – recession or not. Even if times seem difficult, organizations will always prioritize security.
Artificial Intelligence and IoT – An unstoppable trend: forecast to reach 1394.30 billion in 2029
Only a few years ago, “smart” simply meant “connected”; smart phones, smart watches and smart TVs, for example – all “toys” connected to the internet. The term “smart” today however means “powered by AI” and using ML algorithms.
According to an article on Forbes “This broad trend encompasses AI, the internet of things (IoT), and newly emerging super-fast networks like 5G, all of which are coming together to augment us with capabilities we didn’t have just a few years ago.”
Even while there are talks about a (possible) recession underway, businesses are still investing in AI – maybe even more so than ever! We’ve got numbers to prove it! According to CompTIA:
- 86% of CEOs report that AI is considered mainstream technology in their office as of 2021.
- 91.5% of leading businesses invest in AI on an ongoing basis.
- Gartner also tells us that customer satisfaction is expected to grow by 25% by 2023 in organization that use AI.
- Forbes reports that 50% of enterprises plan to spend more on AI and machine learning in 2021 and 20% report significant increases to their budgets.
Companies are using AI to automate processes, enhance customer service and personalization, increase output, and analyze data. Overall, businesses are trying to obtain a competitive advantage.
As stated in this article from Forbes, “As belts are tightening, business leaders still need to consider continued investment in areas that can improve business operations. As they evaluate how to optimize under financial pressure, businesses must weigh where their investment dollars will give them the best and quickest ROI. And when it comes to bang for their buck, leaders are coming back time and time again to investments in technology. Tech leaders aren’t pulling back from technological investments at all, even in the face of a possible recession. Wisely, these leaders understand more than ever before that technology isn’t a cost center—it’s a business driver.” It is then evident that the numerous benefits of AI disruption in the current economy are inviting many businesses instead of scaring them away and therefore, as AI’s business transformation capabilities are being realized, the technology is seeing more demand than ever. According to Forbes,
- Automated business workflows and processes help speed up business
- AI enables easy data management
- AI and ML can enable efficient supply chain management
- AI for maintenance and safety
- AI can also help in employee management
- AI can help ensure security and protect the organization from fraud
While we’re hoping for the best, these technologies will continue to accelerate process improvement – and ultimately that is what all businesses strive to achieve.
The Chinese character chaos is two characters: danger and opportunity combined. Even in these recessionary times there are some risks, however if you leverage the opportunity of the unstoppable trends in your favor, your organization will come out thriving and stronger than before the recession.
