Digital Transformation & Automation Trends for 2023

It's that time of the year again. The festive period is fast approaching, and 2023 is just around the corner. In early 2022, we had a surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, then the beginning of a terrible war in Ukraine, grim climate warnings, surging energy prices, the battle to control inflation, investment slowdowns, shrinking workforces, and many notable tech layoffs. It is safe to say that 2022 will be remembered as a year plagued by instability, uncertainty, and a real wake-up call for the world. Nevertheless, the world of digital transformation and automation continues to move forward, allowing companies, users, and customers to develop solutions that compensate for the difficulties presented in 2022. Let's take a look at the digital transformation and automation landscape in 2022, and what trends we might see in 2023 and beyond.

Growth of Digital Transformation

Recent research published by Harvard Business Review discovered that just shy of three-quarters of the existing companies today are investing in digital transformation initiatives. This move toward digital solutions is often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution—a rapid technological change in how we work, live, and interact due to the increasing interconnectivity and smart automation.

Companies big and small have their sights set on achieving digital transformation, which is the process of integrating digital technology into all areas of a business, resulting in fundamental changes to how the business operates and delivers value to customers. This can involve the adoption of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, the development of new digital products and services, and the use of digital tools to improve internal processes and operations. However, this drive to change and accelerate capabilities can cause its own problems. In many instances, these digital transformation objectives are falling well below initial targets.

The drive toward digital transformation is driven by the need for businesses to stay competitive in an increasingly digital marketplace. As technology continues to advance and consumer expectations evolve, companies must adapt and modernize to keep up. This can involve everything from the adoption of new technologies to the development of new business models. However, the pursuit of digital transformation can also create challenges for businesses. For example, companies may struggle to integrate new technologies and processes into their existing operations, or they may face resistance from employees who are uncomfortable with change. Additionally, the rapid pace of technological change can make it difficult for businesses to keep up, and there is always the risk of failure when implementing new digital initiatives.

In order to alleviate concerns, companies will be required to find a balancing act. Thankfully, there are solutions that enable scalable and integrated automation with employee buy-in. Low-code automation can assist in the reskilling of employees allowing for a culture of citizen developers to flourish. Tech Target defines 'citizen development’ as a business process that encourages non-IT-trained employees to become software developers, using IT-sanctioned low-code/no-code (LCNC) platforms to create business applications.

Despite these challenges, the market for digital transformation continues to grow rapidly. According to a report by market research firm Meticulous Research, the global digital transformation market is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 22.7% from 2019 to 2025, reaching a value of $3.2 trillion by 2025. This growth is being driven by a range of factors, including the increasing adoption of digital technologies by businesses, the growing demand for digital products and services, and the need for businesses to stay competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace.

The Era of Hyperautomation

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation remains at the forefront of business strategic goals. To achieve digital transformation objectives, businesses will need to embrace new technologies and approaches. Hyperautomation is a new wave of automation, which has grown over 2022 and into 2023. Hyperautomation is essentially built on top of existing automation augmenting and enhancing with AI/ML and orchestrating multiple devices or technologies seamlessly.

Gartner defines hyperautomation as a business-driven, disciplined approach that organizations use to rapidly identify, vet, and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. Hyperautomation involves the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools, or platforms, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning; event-driven software architecture; robotic process automation (RPA); business process management (BPM) and intelligent business process management suites (iBPMS); integration platform as a service (iPaaS); low-code/no-code tools; packaged software; and other types of decision, process, and task automation tools.

Low-Code and No-Code Adoption

While low-code and no-code solutions are nothing new, a greater level of adoption is likely to take place in 2023. Gartner defines low-code as platforms that provide abstracted, guided development, automation, and governance capabilities enabling professional and citizen developers to rapidly develop digital solutions. In essence, a graphical user interface that allows users to drag and drop elements with the ability to customize code snippets to develop applications and workflows rapidly.

Gartner also predicts that 70 percent of the new applications developed by 2025 will need and use low-code platforms. There are many reasons for this. In 2019, Research and Markets predicted the continued growth of the low code market to reach $187.0 billion in revenue by 2030, with a predicted CARG of 31.1 percent. This strong sectoral growth is allowing companies to embark on more ambitious projects with lower expenditures across the board.

Demand for Top Developer Talent

For most businesses, attracting and keeping tech talent is challenging. Due to a lack of technical skills, there has been a crisis emerging coinciding with soaring pay inflation, skill mismatches, and project failures. Businesses could lose up to $8.5 trillion in sales by 2030 as a result of a skills shortage. More than 85 million jobs could go vacant by 2030 due to a lack of qualified candidates.

In our opinion, we will see a market shift going into 2023 in the way subject matter experts (SMEs) and business domain experts will approach traditionally complex problems. The reason SMEs are in a job is that they are the experts in a given field. Their insight, knowledge, and experience provide a macro-to-micro perspective that is often acknowledged but falls short in the implementation period. The implementation and execution for SMEs is a battle for resources, who and what project gets priority. This truncated priority resource scheduling process can take many months and, as a consequence, momentum and energy for a given project can wane. A scenario where the SME has to beg, borrow, and steal IT and developer resources and time from conflicting departments is not ideal.

So why not empower your experts, let them develop the solution, test and put it into production?

Adopting Low-Code Automation

In essence, it is pretty easy. Just jump in, try it out, and see how it goes! Many companies and platform providers offer free trials or sandbox environments where users can start building in no time. However, in order to get the most out of a new platform, it is always good to start with the basics. Check out a few tutorial videos, read the associated technical documentation, and feel free to reach out to the platform provider for help and guidance.

Remember that every user has different requirements and use cases. Begin with the basics, start with limiting the project scope, and take an everyday example that you are comfortable with and try replicating the work/logic flow. By doing this, you will be up to speed with the functionality and fundamentals of a new platform. Once you have this down to a tee, start adding more complex additions to your use case. A great aspect of low code is the de-risking of a project. Experimenting won't break the bank or eat up your time!

Embracing New Framework

For the most part, 2023 will bring additional uncertainty as new approaches are adopted. An issue with digital transformation, which is a necessity for moving forward, is that it is intrinsically linked with complexity and automation is not a turnkey solution. Other factors need to be taken into account. The predicted trends above can provide organizations with the tools needed to mitigate disruption while enhancing capabilities. At the end of the day, people power organizations. It is not all about automating everything. Embracing a framework that allows for a convergence of the human, advanced hyperautomation, and low-code and the encouragement of citizen development will empower change and accelerate growth for tomorrow.