January 3, 2017

7 Predictions to Inform Your 2017 Digital Business Strategy

by Jim Sinur

The new year promises opportunities for organizations that are aimed at better business outcomes which leverage digital technologies. 2016 was characterized by significant digital experimentation with intense customer focus and increased operational efficiency. These themes will continue and be amplified in 2017 along with better security, better business adaptation, and more convergence of digital technologies while seeking a bigger set of digital benefits.

Here are my top 7 predictions for 2017:

1. Digital Moves Upstream from Experimentation

While experimentation will not disappear, organizations will be focusing their lessons learned to easy on-ramps to additional digital benefits. Here is a list of areas of activity that are within reach that can deliver accelerated benefit streams while making organizations more digital.

Journey Mapping (Customer, Employee or Partner)
Better User Experience (UX, Mobile, or Workbench)
Eliminate Paper (Electronic First Mile Process)
Better Visualization (Real Time Dash Boards/Alerts, SLAs )
Better Exception Management (Process & Rule Adjustments)
Decision & Knowledge Assists (Predictive & Cognitive)
Real Time Pattern Recognition (IoT, Big Data & Rules)
Scenario Planning (Simulation & Planned Responses)

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Gets Legs

Because of the last artificial AI winter, which lasted from 1990 to 2015, organizations have been reluctant to embrace AI. With recent advances in ease of training and utilization, however, organizations are now willing to try AI. Recent case studies prove that AI and machine learning can make an organization’s processes, applications, and resources smarter. There is too much proof of success to not take a risk on AI in 2017.

3. Crypto Crime & Warfare Focus

While not in the critical path of delivering digital, large leaps in digital will require better security that is both easy and intuitive to use. In 2017, security will be front and center. Block Chain will offer help as its performance increases. Bio-metrics seem to be gathering steam, but they are not consistent or ubiquitous.

4. Universal Digital Identity Gets a Start

Today, Identity is a technical mechanism for registration, but in 2017 there will be movement in a direction towards a business mechanism. Not only will there be a unique identity for each person and thing (IoT), there will be preferences and guidance in how to interact and service each entity. Preferred journeys will also be recorded by identity. These digital identities will be local at first, but will eventually be global in nature and shared.

5. Increased Recognition Gets a Boost

New combinations of technologies can alert managers and workers of emerging signals or patterns in traditional big data sources at faster and faster speeds. Added to the mix in 2017 will be the understanding unstructured data, content, voice, images, and video. AI and complex event management will certainly aid this new and untapped source of patterns. There will be great new strides in visualization to help detect important triggers that would cause further analysis.

6. Deciding and Acting Properly Gets Assistance

Analytics has always been great for helping professionals make decisions. In 2017, poly-analytics combined with AI assists and magnified through advanced 3D visualization will help assist better informed decisions. These decisions should guide better actions and should help anticipate and intercept future or emerging situations.

7. Digital Business Platforms (DBP) Become a Destination

Today, organizations have had to test each emerging technology and apply them in useful combinations on their own. Open platform vendors will provide environments that will act as a cloud based mesh platform that has tested combinations of digital technologies. They will support advanced development environments including model driven, component assembly and robotic programming automation(RPA). These platforms will support digital twin behavior that allows for the trial of proposed changes in a parallel like environment.

Bottom Line

2017 is a year of traction for digital transformations and the start of some major trends.