FEATURE: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
The steady rise in leveraging application,
business telemetry and data analytics
enables organisations to scale digitally.
Adopting an agile development
methodology to quickly iterate modifications
has shortened the lifecycle of ‘code to users’.
In digital enterprises, the ‘code’ embodies
the business flow and the speed of change in
‘code to users’ represents business agility. In
this new era of digital economy, applications
have become the lifeblood of the global
economy. Every business is becoming an
application business and every industry is
becoming an application-centric industry.
As IT infrastructure automation and
application-driven DevOps processes have
been largely established across the industry,
we envision that a layer of distributed
application services that unifies application
infrastructure, telemetry and analytics
services is emerging.
The scale, agility and complexity of digital
enterprises demands their applications
to have self-awareness and the ability to
automatically adjust to operating and
business conditions. This will breed a new
generation of application services to collect,
analyse and act on the telemetry generated
by apps and their infrastructure.
These capabilities create new business uses.
End-to-end instrumentation from code to
customer will enable application services
to emit that telemetry and act on insights
produced through AI-driven analytics. These
distributed application services will help
application owners to improve application
performance, security, operability
and adaptability without significant
development effort. n
APPLICATIONS
HAVE BECOME
THE LIFEBLOOD
OF THE GLOBAL
ECONOMY.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
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Driving Digital
Transformation in
the retail sector
For retailers who are yet to embark on
their Digital Transformation journey, going
omnichannel is a great temptation. However,
Vikram Bhat, Chief Product Officer, Capillary
Technologies, tells us there are other factors
that retailers need to be aware of if they are
to make a success of Digital Transformation.
T
he ecommerce momentum
is becoming unstoppable as
brands are cashing in on a
number of factors such as spike in
mobile applications, a new generation
of high-spending shoppers, and the
availability of faster Internet speeds to
enable them to offer their customers
a shopping experience whenever and
wherever they choose.
In addition, an omnichannel approach
has clearly shaped the retail industry in
2019, a sector largely driving ecommerce
sales in the region.
Going omnichannel is tempting for many
retailers who have not yet embarked
on their Digital Transformation journey.
However, implementing an omnichannel
strategy isn’t only about being present
on all channels and platforms available.
It is about providing a seamless and
unified brand experience to customers
across channels to enable them to
connect with a brand and simplify their
shopping experience.
A Google report further proves this
is the right approach after the study
found that 85% of shoppers start
their shopping journey on one device,
like a laptop for example, and end it
on another, say a smartphone or even a
physical store.
While technology is the key enabler
for brands wanting to enhance their
omnichannel strategy, Artificial Intelligence
is another crucial component that is driving
its success. But AI is only a tool and not
a standalone solution, so organisations
need to understand that while it can be
immensely beneficial in providing customer
insights, it cannot compensate for a modest
or non-existent omnichannel strategy. In
short, AI needs to be a supporting element
of a wider omnichannel strategy and not
being implemented for the sake of being a
hot technology.
When organisations take this approach, the
power of AI can truly be unleashed to boost
sales and customer engagement. Let’s take
a look at how AI can be applied online as
well in brick-and-mortar stores.
• Unlocking data potential: Imagine the
amount of data brands have access to
via multiple platforms. AI can help brands
to process this data to identify consumer
spending patterns, buying preferences,
customer demographics, personal
preferences and so on.
• Personalisation: The best way AI
can help brands is with the power of
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