Maven Wave’s Top 4 Trends Leading Digital Transformation in 2020

As we step into 2020, there’s a lot of discussion around business possibilities for this new year and new decade. In the world of technology, the future holds a myriad of possibilities. It’s an exciting time for us here at Maven Wave because, by nature, we operate in the technological trends space; we trade in innovation-driven digital transformation. From the beginning, our company has sought out the latest technology and tactics for deploying it. One of the phrases we often use to describe the company encompasses our forward-thinking approach: “Maven Wave helps leading companies make the shift to digital with solutions that are agile, rooted in analytics, and built in the cloud.”

Gartner’s “Top Strategic Predictions for 2020 and Beyond” does a great job of explaining how much tech trends matter right now. “Technologies from AI to cryptocurrency and online shopping are changing how we live and what it means to be human,” the blog states. “Technology is changing the definition of what it means to be human, and IT leaders must be prepared to adapt in a changing environment.” We agree with this sense of relevance, ubiquity – and urgency! Here are a few of the trends that are increasingly important for leading companies to leverage along their digital transformation journeys.

1. Artificial Intelligence 

This one is perhaps the most obvious and agreeable; it seems to have found its way onto everyone’s 2020 predictions list. Of course, AI is nothing brand new, but it’ll continue to mature and ripple across various business types and sizes in 2020. AI is already an integral part of innovative change in every vertical: healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing and more.

As Brian Ray, Maven Wave’s Managing Director of Machine Learning, stated in this Disruptor Daily roundup, “AI has reached a pivotal point where, when managed and coordinated correctly, problems are being solved at all levels throughout an organization. AI will become a core underlying technology more closely integrated with business process and consumers’ day-to-day life.”

This section from another Gartner blog explains the dynamic well, and it’s applicable beyond retail: “Ever-changing consumer expectations and the addition of new business models mean retailers must operate more efficiently, preemptively and at scale. Through the application of AI across a retailer’s ecosystem, retailers are applying data analytics into every touchpoint of their business.”

Retailers are using AI to boost the in-store experience, predict sales and master consumer personalization, among other things. AI is also streamlining supply chain management, transforming pharmaceutical research and development, enhancing fraud detection, exponentially bolstering sales and marketing efforts, helping businesses handle customer service through chatbots and voicebots, and much more.

AI is near and dear to Maven Wave in part because the cloud has been an incredible driver for the phenomenon. The combination of (1) scalable cloud managed services; (2) inexpensive, on-demand data processing; and (3) next-generation orchestration is enabling remarkably low operational cost, plus scalability and enhanced AI functionalities.

To read more about Maven Wave’s AI and machine learning capabilities in action, check out our Rush University Medical Center customer story.

2. Consumer Personalization 

That brings us to our second point. AI and big data are helping to power the most intricate customer personalization machine the business world has seen to date. At a time when effortless customer experience is king (especially in B2C industries such as retail), companies need to know their clients more than ever: which products and services would be appropriate to offer them at what time, how they prefer to be contacted, how satisfied they are with the experience, and more. EY had it right when reporting that healthcare “will also be disrupted by technologies and business models that are making health predictive, personalized, proactive and participatory.”

In the retail banking industry, providing personalized customer experiences has become more important than ever before as consumer expectations rise. Read our white paper to learn how data and the cloud can provide a competitive advantage and enable transformation in financial services.

3. Employee Experience 

Gartner estimates that “by 2023, 40% of professional workers will orchestrate their business application experiences and capabilities like they do their music streaming services.” With talent acquisition and employee retention being an increasingly critical component of enterprise competitive advantage, it follows that companies need to spend more time thinking about the technology that can streamline job functions. Our Experience Design team builds apps that connect your enterprise’s vision with an impactful user experience to keep both customers and employees engaged, and we see the importance of this role growing in 2020.

Check out our Sanmina customer story for an example of one way technology can enable employee collaboration.

4. Change Management

Gartner predicts that, for large traditional enterprises, digital transformation projects will require twice as much time and cost twice as much as expected through 2021. The options are endless, the technologies are competitive and increasingly complicated, and the smaller, more agile companies gain more of an advantage every day.

For Fortune 500 enterprises, we believe change management is key to speeding up time to market and lowering costs when taking on these necessary digital transformation initiatives. That’s why we dedicate an entire practice to change management, and weave it into client projects from the beginning. Even if the solution developed for tomorrow is perfect, it will only yield returns if a company can achieve adoption. Adoption requires disciplines that drive desired change in human behaviors. While technology creates opportunity, it’s people who deliver business results.

As Brookley Calvin, Maven Wave’s Change Management Lead, explains, “As a leader, when you make a decision that will fundamentally change how your employees get work done, you are creating a culture shift. Our project leaders take the time to understand the existing ways of working, listen with empathy to those who might be struggling with the change, and direct resources to provide meaningful solutions & workarounds. Empathy is a skill in digital transformation that is not always considered.”

Read our Standard Industries customer story to learn more about how Maven Wave successfully migrated 15,000+ employees across 184 locations spanning 80 countries to G Suite.

Maven Wave’s Take 

Maven Wave isn’t supporting next-gen technologies like AI and building machine learning-powered applications because they’re trendy, but because they drive innovative digital transformation for our clients and real results for their customers. And that’s because they’re changing the way we do everything, from working to communicating, shopping to banking, and so much more. By listening to our clients, leveraging the latest technology, and staying firmly rooted in analytics and built in the cloud, Maven Wave remains on the cutting edge and helps enterprises shape the future. Contact us to learn more about accelerating your digital transformation journey in 2020 and beyond.