Businesses need to gear up for the adoption of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and customer-centric strategies as well as IT architecture plans in order to survive and thrive in the era of digital disruption and the pandemic impact, says research and tech training provider IMC Institute.
By 2025, at least 85 million jobs in the world are expected to be replaced by automation and 97 million jobs demand new skills, IMC Institute executive director Thanachart Numnonda said in a virtual conference.
"2020 is the year of double disruption where businesses face both digital disruption and the pandemic, which led to change of user behaviour and economic recession," said Mr Thanachart.
A customer-centric strategy must be the first priority, he said, adding businesses need to embrace digital tech for customer services, which must be provided anywhere and anytime via devices.
Mr Thanachart said businesses need to adopt the distributed IT architecture plan, including the use of public and distributed cloud services.
Businesses need to think about application and infrastructure security from the start, which is called DevSecOps, and approaches to developing a single application as a suite of small services, called micro-service.
In terms of big data strategy, businesses need to think about collecting customer data from any touchpoint so as to gain a better understanding of customer insight and behaviour, he said.
Based on AI strategy, focus must be on automation in the working process and AI must be embedded in products and services, he said.
Citing global research firm Gartner, Mr Thanachart said nine strategic technology trends could gather pace next year.
The first concerns the Internet of Behaviours, which focus on tracking individuals, such as their location and facial recognition.
The second involves total experience strategy, meant to boost the experiences of users and employees for a better business outcome. The third concerns privacy-enhancing computation where various technologies are used to ensure data protection.
The fourth is linked to distributed cloud services.
The fifth involves a business format where customers can be served anywhere and employees can work anywhere via digital technology.
The sixth concerns cybersecurity mesh, which is a distributed architectural approach to scalable, flexible and reliable cybersecurity control.
The seventh involves intelligent composable business, which means business capability to adjust to change. The eighth concerns AI engineering, where AI is adopted through the working process.
The last concerns hyper-automation, where all the work process must be as automated as possible.
"Food, travel, media, retail and financial services are among the priority sectors that require digital transformation and urgent upskilling and reskilling of workforce," said Mr Thanachart.
He said 50% of employees need to be reskilled and 40% need upskilling to cope with new working styles.