Digital : 0...1...TWO (Bang!!)

[Shabarish_Nair]

“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” ― Charles Darwin

Evolution is not just about life in general. Evolution is the fundamental premise of everything that seeks to be relevant. May it be life on earth, businesses. concepts or models; to continuously evolve means to exist.

Having explored Digital Transformation (DX) in past articles, having understood how DX works and how to make it work, it is also important to keep track of the evolution of Digital. Today, we are looking to discuss Digital Transformation 2.0. Some organisations have already started to walk the talk. So, What is 2.0 all about?

2.0 is about what some still term as 'emerging technologies', that has now, from incubation within a concept phase, moved into the realize phase. Artificial intelligence, Blockchain, Augmented reality and the intelligent edge, all operational on a multi-cloud landscape, is that which will drive 2.0 of Digital Transformation.

The philosophy of starting small, with usecases identified with tangible business outcomes and then building further from, which was the success criteria for 1.0 remains true for 2.0.

AI initiatives for example, relies heavily on the sanctity of data. Small but relevant usecases validated against concrete business outcomes should be the test bed for incubating a successful AI initiative. Blockchain on the other hand, can tend to be abused by IT by pushing inapt usecases in the name of secure, incorruptibility and traceability of business processes. It is important both IT and business clearly understand the usecase fitment of blockchain. Blockchain is best used for scenarios than involve strict regulatory norms or compliance, and a vital need for transparency in a reliable and secure manner.

Augmented reality is another area which will drive a significant shift in several sectors like Retail, Medical sciences, Repair and maintenance etc. Intelligent Edge will power the next phase of connected devices and networks by providing consumers with elevated experiences thru contextually aware and highly responsive applications.

With organizations now wanting the ability to be multi-cloud, IT will need to look at a paradigm shift of providing the developers the frameworks to become truly agile. Technologies like Kubernetes, will be evaluated and adopted to enable container-orchestration systems for automating application deployment, scalability, and overall application management.

With this, I go back to Charles Darwin, the father of evolution who thru his extensive research has proved to us the undeniable truth of the survival of the fittest. In business terms, it just means, to transform, to evolve is the only way to be relevant. Digital transformation initiatives thus are not a hype but a need for survival.

The truth is, the world has already evolved to 2.0. Question is where do you stand in the DX evolutionary chart?

 

Note: The original article can be found on LinkedIn