Top Transformation Champions: Enabling unmatched digital experiences

With so many countries in the Middle East embracing digital transformation and including it in their vision documents and strategies, there has been impressive progress across all industries. Both public and private sectors have made substantial gains in establishing robust digital infrastructures to support economic diversification and innovation.

Tech companies have responded with significant investment to support companies in making the transition to the cloud as quick and painless as possible.

Cloud-based enterprise resource planning tools are being implemented to address the biggest problems facing businesses today like supply chain issues and finding more sustainable ways to carry out their operations.

Businesses must remember that the customer is at the front and centre of all transformation decisions in the government and public sector, banking and finance, telecommunications, energy, and tourism and hospitality sectors. Besides, marketing technology and content personalisation are at the heart of digital transformation.

One potential significant error a business could make is to lose sight of customer needs while focusing on its digital transformation initiative. Sitecore encourages businesses to focus on their customers in everything they do. Marketing technology enables businesses across all industries and sectors to connect with their citizens or customers and enhance customer experiences and e-commerce.

The second significant error would be to implement a digital transformation that is not designed to be adaptable and flexible. The sudden changes brought by the pandemic and geopolitical tensions over the past two-and-a-half years have demonstrated the importance of flexibility and agility.

The Sitecore digital experience platform DXP is headless, cloud-based and composable so that businesses have the flexibility to pick and choose the parts they need and seamlessly integrate these into their existing systems. Hence, it is essentially ready for whatever the future brings. Moreover, the company’s development team is always working with new technologies to ensure that they can be used on behalf of the customers.

Governments across the region have done an excellent job in encouraging companies to embrace digital transformation. In short, the world has changed, and businesses realise that adopting new technologies is not an option but a necessity. The pandemic has also had a substantial and irreversible impact on how people work and live, how they use technology and what they expect from businesses.

This is likely to have a positive impact on the readiness of both employees and customers to embrace change and realise the benefits that new technologies have to offer.

With the pressure on companies to undergo digital transformations rapidly, technology companies have been focusing on solutions to ease digital transformation.

Sitecore believes businesses must adopt the customer-first approach to create new digital touchpoints. Whether these touchpoints are in augmented reality, virtual reality, Web 3.0 or the metaverse, the focus should be on implementing new technologies to best meet customer needs.

Customers have increasingly higher expectations from digital interactions with companies and they are looking for rewarding experiences rather than just buying a product. There needs to be a seamless transition between physical, digital and virtual worlds.

The world is also moving away from cookies towards first-party data, which is owned information a company collects directly from its customers. This creates challenges, but also opportunities as companies plan for a future with increased customer insight and more sophisticated personalisation.

New customer channels could be created through new technologies and the metaverse. In addition, just as businesses are focusing on personalised interactions with customers, tech companies will be focusing on solutions personalised for businesses.  Sitecore collaborates and innovates with customers, enabling them to tailor their digital experience to their audiences.

Companies should plan how they want to interact with their customers in the metaverse. New metaverse revenue streams are being established and new opportunities will arise as companies and stores buy or rent space in metaverse cities and worlds.

The metaverse has great potential, but as it will serve as another touchpoint with customers, the approach needs to be consistent with other touchpoints, and effective analysis of customer data will be needed to proceed with it.

Key takeaways

• Businesses may lose sight of customer needs while focusing on their digital transformation initiative.
• Companies may also err by rolling out a digital transformation plan that is not adaptable and flexible.
• Customers expect rewarding digital experiences from companies rather than just buying a product.
• Organisations should plan how they want to interact with customers in the metaverse.
• Sitecore digital experience platform DXP is headless, cloud-based and composable.