5 Important Digital Transformation Trends in 2024
The new year has arrived in full swing, and, with it, my predictions for emerging trends in digital transformation and product-led companies in the year ahead. What’s on the horizon? This article explores 5 key areas that will shape digital transformation in 2024.
1. AI for Digital Transformation: Enhancing Human Capabilities, Not Replacing Them
Now, I know what you think I will cover here – that transforming companies should integrate AI into their offerings – but that’s a little too obvious and 2023 for my taste.
This prediction is about how digitally-transforming companies and product teams can and should start using AI to augment human capabilities rather than supplant them. I see a significant opportunity in 2024 for AI to empower individuals to excel by alleviating mundane tasks, fostering innovation, and enabling a more focused approach to complex problem-solving.
In my own work, I’ve started using OtterAI to transcribe all my meetings so that I’m not stuck trying to jot down notes and can instead engage in active listening and strategic dialogue. I’ve also observed teams using ChatGPT to support ideation, help break through creative blocks, and give momentum to new ideas.
In the year ahead, AI presents an opportunity for organizations to help people work smarter and more efficiently.
2. Cybersecurity Vigilance: Coming Soon to Everyone’s Digital Strategy
In 2024, it will be essential for digitally-transforming companies to implement more robust cybersecurity measures, especially with the advancements in AI, and as we head into an election year (I can already imagine the shenanigans we’re in for on that front).
Companies must take a more conservative stance on cybersecurity and bring new energy to safeguarding digital assets. I think we’ll see this impact at the personal level as well, with individuals fortifying their privacy measures and challenging the assumption that more vulnerability online needs to be part of digital strategy.
In other words, brand trust, digital trust, data trust, and company trust will all be a big deal this year.
3. Optimizing the Hybrid Workforce for Collaboration and Cooperation
Return-to-office was a massive topic in 2023, and we watched many companies publicly fumble through the best (and worst) ways to approach it. It’s more evident now than ever that most people want to be able to work remotely at least in some capacity.
To that end, in the year ahead organizations will need to refine their stance on how and where teams meet to nurture a cohesive culture among a dispersed workforce. And this will require utilizing tech for seamless collaboration and productivity among those who are both remote and in the office.
I love using a digital whiteboard to run sessions with teams even when some folks are remote and others attend in person. Doing this creates a more equitable and effective model for ideation, collaboration, and beyond (my friend Jackie is a facilitation pro and has some good ideas about this, here).
These digital tools are also incredible because they give everyone access to the same information, the writing is easy to read, and the output can get shipped out to teams right away. There are certainly some retention and longevity benefits for sustaining the collaboration beyond the immediate meeting, especially in product management and digital transformation where we’re constantly ideating about the future state.
To win in 2024, transforming companies must figure out the approach and tools that will support collaboration and productivity for their dispersed workforces – because an engaged and empowered culture is critical to a lasting transformation.
4. Continued Market Volatility, but With an Upward Trajectory
I believe that there’s still going to be volatility in our financial markets in the year ahead but that we’ll see an upward trajectory overall. At the end of 2023, I saw positive signs among key decision-makers to invest in digital transformation.
Maybe this makes me a Pollyanna, or maybe the undercurrents I’ve observed thus far indicate a broader market shift where more organizations understand the necessity of making transformation strides.
5. Another Year of, “Are We There Yet?”
If there’s one thing I’m 100% sure of, 2024 will bring instance after instance of the age-old question: “Is our transformation done yet?” It’s inevitable, and it happens every year when you work in digital transformation.
But here’s the core truth: digital transformation has no finite destination. The evolving nature of technology and business landscapes constantly brings forth new challenges and opportunities, and the only way to meet them head-on is with the attitude that digital transformation is ongoing.
So, no, we aren’t done yet because there’s no such thing.
Want to discuss this list, share your predictions, or talk about how these trends might impact your business? Send me a note and we’ll chat!
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