A learning mechanism on an individual, community or organizational level, digital adoption is the process of utilizing technology and successfully carrying out digital processes to usher in the innovation era.
Through digital adoption, people must understand the potential of digital resources, accept and utilize such resources to achieve their goals and leverage technology to its fullest for optimization. The inclination to add new digital tools and platforms to gain an edge in the digital transformation journey is fully evident.
By and large, digital adoption is the key to actually making the transformation happen, as well as enabling greater efficiency, integrating more innovation and delivering a better customer experience.
Based on a recent digital business study, big data/analytics, mobile technologies, multi- and hybrid-cloud and APIs were the top technologies already implemented by business and industrial environments. With the right approach to digital adoption and a solid strategy, you can minimize the growing pains of digital transformation and succeed in raising human performance instead.
Telecommunications
Telecom companies are striving to maintain market leadership in 2023 and beyond. Market trends that were once categorized as “new and emerging” are now “evolving and maturing” across telecom. Because of this, telcos plan to continue investing in infrastructure and cloud enablement, AI and big data, and the modernization of tech architecture, allocating on average about 50% of their total digital enablement spending to these areas.
As we move into 2023, 6G, cloud, NaaS and edge computing will be among the core tenets of the digital experience. And to take exceptional care of the quality of this experience, telcos must also adapt OSS/BSS, migration, integration performance, and cybersecurity testing and automation.
Major regional operators, like etisalat by e& and du, have already started their paths toward becoming digital telcos. Their top focus is on the customer experience and customer journeys. This continued digital adoption advances the operations of digital customer engagement, smart network applications, digital operations and support functions, as well as next-generation sales and marketing.
Without a doubt, the world is living through the peak of telecom digitalization. From a business perspective, there are four pillars that today’s telecom industry must stand on: security, effective monetization, enhanced attention to customers’ needs and corporate social responsibility.
With cloud computing at the heart of digitalization, both small and large CSPs can find productivity benefits and cost savings from digitalization, while the telecom IoT market is also one of the fastest-emerging markets with the growing adoption of intelligent communication systems, wireless payments, 5G technology and integrated networks.
Moreover, for telecom firms, ecosystem partners, including cloud platform providers, device manufacturers and application providers, are among those that could help them spark innovations and co-create a digital ecosystem.
Banking
It has been proven that mobile/digital banking adoption positively correlates with higher incremental adoption of revenue-generating products like credit cards and personal loans. The UAE is one of the world’s biggest adopters of digital banking, and by the end of 2027, digital banking penetration is projected to increase by 41%.
According to the 2021 Global Digital Banking Index — an analysis of surveys and research done with over 47,000 banking customers in 28 markets — nearly 1 in 4 persons already has a digital-only bank account. Almost half (46%) of the survey’s participants are motivated to open one in order to access the simple and convenient user experience, clear and simple communication, competitive pricing and user-friendly features that digital banks offer.
Additionally, the top three countries with the highest share of customers with a digital-only bank account are Saudi Arabia (54%), the UAE (51%) and Brazil (44%), while the countries demonstrating the fastest growth in digital banking adoption in the last two years were Switzerland (82%) and Australia (58%).
The rapid digital adoption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the continued interest in digital banking solutions as a way to access funds, make transactions and manage personal finances conveniently and remotely.
Digital banking transformation results in optimized processes and operations, competitive advantage and increased top-line growth. With more digital adoption anticipated in the banking sector, supporting digital payments, collaborating with fintech, focusing on hyper-personalization and uncovering data and AI opportunities are among the major trends.
To be able to successfully digitize, banks must modernize their data models and legacy technologies; utilize RPA and AI in back offices; upskill their talents; and evolve banking applications from being basic self-service tools to customer relationship management platforms.
In-app or browser-based online purchases as well as in-store checkout using a mobile phone and/or QR code are the most commonly used digital banking methods at present.
Insurance
Leading insurers who manage to get the right mix between CX, AI, data management and process optimization will likely retain their market position. In keeping with this, emerging and existing technologies offer a strategic route for increased market share and improved customer relationships.
A study showed that top players in the Middle East, like ADNIC, Bupa Arabia, Tawuniya and Wafa Assurance, are already innovating across the value chain. They have successfully implemented digital transformation in insurance and moved towards amplifying their digital strategy by deploying new technologies such as AI, IoT and blockchain to generate more value in the market.
With insurance digitization, insurers can fully enable an end-to-end digital advice journey, a digital onboarding process and an omnichannel solution to managing their policy changes online through their mobile or connected devices.
Insurers have also identified big data as one of the most significant developments of the digital age. They are using data from myriad sources, from personalizing marketing messages to more accurately matching risk-premium pricing.
Insurance claim managers at leading companies were also found to have reduced the amount of money spent on processing claims due to digitization. About 83% of participants said that a slow and inefficient insurance claim process leads to high associated costs, making data-driven and cloud-based operations an ideal solution.
Investing in new-age technologies to build intelligent data blocks and cloud platforms to drive data analytics can help develop a focused selling pattern, push cross-selling and upselling based on life stages and have a retention strategy in place.
In a rapidly changing market, digital adoption platforms (DAPs) can provide a huge advantage to insurers. With this instructional no-code software that sits as an additional layer supporting other software applications, such as Claims Management or Policy Administration Systems, DAPs can massively improve the agility and effectiveness of business processes.
Another research also suggests that they should start shifting their focus from basic operational transformation — such as transitioning to cloud — to proactively fulfill distributor and policyholder expectations and prioritize greater levels of cost reduction and risk-taking to drive ongoing innovation, competitive differentiation and profitable growth.
Media & Entertainment
Also impacted by a massive, irreversible shift and transformation to a predominantly remote workforce during and after the pandemic, the media and entertainment industries have increasingly vested interests in cloud technologies to support more resilient, secure IP generation workflows.
Prior to the pandemic, there was already a surge in demand for online content and streaming media; post-pandemic, the consumer appetite for internet-based entertainment has resulted in the continued, accelerated adoption of cloud and hybrid environments.
Over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platforms such as Netflix and Hulu have used ML to predict user preferences and automate the presentation of viewing options. New video-hosting platforms, such as TikTok, are also incorporating AI-driven smart content offerings that give automated, personalized experiences.
According to a research, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and OTT video (including streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video) are projected to surge and reach more than twice as many consumers as the box office in 2024. Unsurprisingly, it’s expected that media industry marketers will allocate over half of their budgets to digital advertising by 2023.
In the MENA region alone, digital revenue is expected to make up 46% of total entertainment and media revenues by 2024. Furthermore, online and downloaded games continue to account for the vast majority of revenue and are set to increase their market share from 83% in 2019 to 91% in 2024.
An essential enabler to support the growth of digital media and entertainment is a robust digital infrastructure that can support watching, playing and listening to online content anytime and anywhere. GCC countries have already made significant investments in this area, which will surely accelerate digital adoption in the region.
Among the biggest revolutions within this industry will be the metaverse. With features and technologies like play-to-earn gaming, digital property, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies, the metaverse is bound to create new opportunities for the media and entertainment businesses.
Utilities
As the digitalization of power distribution and retail companies is expected to continue to accelerate this decade, it was assessed that digital investments are directed toward enhancing customer service, optimizing grid operations and developing interconnected businesses.
In parallel, digital technologies, data and IoT will play a vital role in the digital transformation of utilities, optimizing the use of energy resources and operations at remote facilities, while ensuring reliable, safe and secure infrastructures.
As a matter of fact, during the pandemic, the various utilities’ adoption of certain technologies was above the global average. These included investments in IoT (65%), streaming data (56%), edge computing (54%), bottom-up AI (54%) and trust-based architecture (53%).
Supporting this move, a global Industry 4.0 survey findings state that 95% of energy leaders believe that digital transformation must be a top priority. Among their efforts are preparing their networks to support both Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) applications.
By leveraging various blocks of digitization, including smart meters, application platforms and advanced analytics, utility companies can understand the energy consumption patterns of customers and determine how energy will be produced or consumed.
As an underlying facilitator for all industries, the utility sector has witnessed a spike in the adoption of digital technology, and it is expected to climb as power demand rises to drive economic development. Studies indicate a potential reduction in operating expenses of up to 25%, as well as performance gains of 20–40% in areas such as safety, reliability, customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance, are also achievable.
Alongside this, efficient operations and lower costs mean that utility companies can pass on the savings to consumers. This is especially important given the current challenging landscape of high-energy prices that are affecting the world, especially those in Europe and the US.