chief technology officer at Porcupine Union

‘Digital transformation’ has become one of the biggest buzzwords in business over the past few years. But amidst the hype and consultant-speak, we often lose sight of what it is, and why it’s important.

Basically, digital transformation is about using technology to operate more effectively in today’s digital economy. Most companies are doing this to some extent. But what we’re seeing right now is that a range of existing technologies is maturing and converging – and it’s not only driving a step-change in our daily personal and business activities, it’s also making businesses really engage with what it means to transform digitally.

We’re seeing mobile connectivity and bandwidth increasing at a rapid pace, with projects like Starlink (satellite internet) leapfrogging us into the future. The adoption of cloud computing is becoming mainstream, which allows businesses to standardize services and drive down costs. Progress made in quantum computing means we’ll be able to process vast numbers of transactions at a fraction of traditional speeds, which allows businesses to deal with ever-increasing amounts of data, and in turn to transform this data into AI-driven solutions to business challenges.

  The biggest outcome of any digital transformation has to be giving organisations the ability to deliver better client experiences and earn lasting loyalty in a world of change.

The result of these trends is clear in our everyday lives. We all carry mobile devices that use massive amounts of bandwidth to connect to a range of services and solutions. Without realizing it, we use complex AI services that have been derived from vast amounts of historical data to help optimize our daily activities.

But transformation isn’t about technology. It’s about what technology can do for the business. The biggest outcome of any digital transformation has to be giving organizations the ability to deliver better client experiences and earn lasting loyalty in a world of change.

And as my fellow CTOs know all too well, when an organization starts digitally transforming to put customers first, it’s not just a matter of plugging in some new tech. True transformation means rebuilding the business from the inside to ensure that its people, processes and technology all work together to serve the customer.

In the past few months, we’ve read a lot about ChatGPT, Midjourney, and D-ID (among others) and how they’re going to revolutionize everything from the way students write essays to how businesses do strategic planning, and how these essays and presentations are presented. Let’s be clear: These revolutionary technologies aren’t trends. The trend is how AI is becoming part of our everyday lives.

We’ve always expected AI’s magic to lie in its ability to do the heavy lifting for humans. It can automate repetitive manual tasks, or retrieve relevant information at a moment’s notice, which frees up our people to do high-value work. But as of recently we’re now also seeing how AI can replicate various creative roles traditionally performed by humans.

At King Price, we’ve been experimenting with AI and machine learning from the start, including proprietary intelligent services like chatbots, text, and voice and image processing. For example, our pay-as-you-drive product uses car odometer photo uploads which we push through image recognition algorithms to confirm the kilometers travelled, as well as the authenticity of the photos.

Another massive trend right now is the cloud. For us, what the cloud does is create the ability for an organization to scale rapidly across audiences and geographies without needing large supporting teams. But it’s early days yet. Our transformation project is ongoing and will be that way for the foreseeable future. We’ve already seen several benefits, but the best is yet to come. The key is to remember why you’re doing it.