As pandemic restrictions took hold in 2020, enterprises around the world accelerated digital transformation, compressing projects into months that would otherwise have taken years. A McKinsey survey found that companies accelerated the digitisation of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of internal operations by three to four years. The share of digital or digitally enabled products in their portfolios accelerated by seven years.

Yet even as we learn to live with the virus, now is not the time to slow down digital transformation efforts. Indeed, one of the major lessons of the pandemic is that companies at the cutting edge of digital transformation and cloud migration were able to innovate faster in response to the new world. The foundations they have put in place will enable them to roll out smarter ways of operating in the months to come.

This is no longer only about enabling work-from-anywhere or digital commerce—it is an opportunity to simplify IT, innovate via new business models or digitalised products, drive cost optimisation, and reinvent experiences for customers, employees and others that engage with the company. Here are some of the digital transformation priorities companies should be thinking about beyond the pandemic:

Everything to the cloud

Even after the robust growth of 2020 and 2021, Gartner forecasts that global cloud revenue will leap from $408 billion in 2021 to $474 billion in 2022. Furthermore, the analyst firm expects over 95% of new digital workloads to be deployed on cloud-native platforms, up from 30% in 2021. Cloud-native architectures and technologies are key to accelerating digital transformation. They give organisations the flexibility and scalability they need to respond quickly to changing circumstances in today’s volatile market.

Advanced automation and cost optimisation

Cost optimisation is emerging as a key focus area as companies seek to tame cloud costs and accelerate return on investment. This is not about cost reduction – it’s about using smarter FinOps tools to simplify and automate operational processes, in turn driving better business outcomes from IT. Pick n Pay in South Africa is one example of an enterprise unlocking efficiencies from cutting-edge automation solutions.

The retailer is using the 1Nebule OneView software to streamline the cost allocation and recovery process in its IT function. Whereas in the past it would take up to two hours to produce a single monthly IT billing report, the company's accounts team can now generate it in less than 45 minutes, while generating smaller reports has dropped from one hour per report down to 10 minutes.

Smarter decision-making

As organisations step up cloud migration and digital transformation, they unlock opportunities to become smarter and more data-driven in their decision-making. The power of cloud, along with maturing artificial intelligence technologies, equips them to glean rich business insights from big data to guide their decision-making. Actionable intelligence and predictive analytics, based on real-time visibility into business performance, is essential for navigating these turbulent times.

Exceeding the expectations of the digital employee and customer

Customers and employees have become used to the benchmarks companies set for virtual experiences during the pandemic. Leading organisations will want to invest in enriching their digital experiences and products to meet the needs of a consumer who expects more than ever from them. Research shows that the global market for ecommerce and non-store retail is forecast to grow from $3.2 Trillion in 2022, to $5.1 trillion by 2026.

Now is a time to accelerate rather than slow down

Tomorrow’s leading companies are not thinking about how they can return to the pre-pandemic normal. They want to accelerate digital transformation, adopt smarter ways of working and innovate. While the challenges of the pandemic were unwanted, it has given enterprises a golden opportunity to fast-track transformation and position for future leadership.