Digital Transformation Fast-Tracked

DX trends that are likely to shape the future.

- Michaela Gabriel

If there is one thing we've learnt, it's that the world can be shaken without notice, and the benefits to having the right digital tools in place are obvious. To remain relevant, technological flexibility and adaptability is probably the most important trait any business can have at the moment.

Here are the four important digital transformations we are likely to see in the coming months and years:

Mass adoption of online shopping

The Coronavirus has pushed South African e-commerce forward many years in less than two months. According to a recent article on MyBroadband, South African food retailers have seen a 700% increase in web traffic volumes.

For many South Africans, online shopping has become the new norm during the pandemic. As behavioral patterns we repeat most often become etched into our neural pathways, new habits are formed. Even individuals who might not usually interact online on a daily basis, such as the elderly, have had no choice but to tech up to get their weekly supplies of essential goods.

Looking back to previous far-reaching Black Swan events, it’s safe to say they have been both havoc-wreaking and accelerating. The 2003 SARS epidemic for instance threatened Alibaba’s survival, but was recognised later as the watershed moment for the Internet in China. At the time of the company was a startup with 400 employees. During the health crisis Alibaba’s development team worked from Jack Ma’s apartment to finish a consumer-facing e-commerce platform, which could cater for the increased online demand for those quarantined at home.