In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face numerous challenges when it comes to achieving seamless connectivity, optimizing their IT infrastructure, and staying ahead of the competition. Traditional hub-and-spoke or backhaul network architectures often struggle to keep up with the increasing demands placed on them by the adoption of cloud services, growing distributed workforces, and the need for robust disaster recovery capabilities.

Rewind a couple of years and enterprises were heavily focused on acquiring new tech to drive forward their digitization plans. Then, when the pandemic struck, organizations were forced to fix any technology gaps in their environment and digitize services to hastily plug these gaps.

Market pressures and growth opportunities are accelerating digital transformation. According to Gartner, 89 percent of board directors say digital is embedded in all business growth strategies. Meanwhile 99 percent say that digital transformation has had a positive impact on profitability and performance (KPMG). The cloud, connected IoT devices, and remote work capabilities are the cornerstones of digital transformation.

Digital transformation initiatives have pushed software development to the next level. Today's consumers demand an optimum customer experience and expect modern apps to live up to high expectations. So, the average developer in 2023 must keep up with faster delivery, more eye-catching features, and better functionality. This unprecedented growth in the software development industry has led to a massive disparity between development and security teams.

39% of organizations already use low-code and another 27% plan to start doing so in the next year (Forrester). By 2025 more than 70% of all application development will be done using no-code/low-code (LCNC), according to Gartner. LCNC is already everywhere – so what does that mean for your business?

Digital transformation is no longer a new concept – various business functions have already embraced cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of the curve. From IT, sales, and marketing to customer support and even finance, it is evident that most departments understand how integral the transformation is to gain a competitive advantage and continue to win customers. However, when it comes to Governance, Risk management, and Compliance (GRC), most are still stuck with archaic, ad-hoc processes.

Digital transformation in banking began following the creation of the internet in the 1990s as a way for banks to deliver services to their customers more conveniently. Today, it has completely changed how most people interact with their banks. From opening a new account to making transactions and applying for loans, you can access all banking services directly from your computer or smartphone.

Digital transformation has highlighted a shift in value from the traditional, on-prem, legacy IT environment and physical distribution channels to the value being created by the scale of (customer) data and the ability to deliver a personalized service to customers in a trusted, secure, and private way.

Digital transformation is no longer the exclusive domain of forward-thinking companies on the leading edge of technological advancement. It has become a cost of entry into competitive business. Digital transformation was already accelerating into the mainstream prior to the pandemic, but the jarring shift to remote and hybrid work put fuel in the proverbial jetpacks.

I recently had the pleasure of appearing on the Davood for Thought podcast. The host, Davood Ghods, is Vice President of Government Solutions at Direct Technology, so it was both enlightening and enjoyable to share insights with him. We discussed how we as an industry need to pursue innovation to solve real-world problems, as opposed to pursuing innovation for the sake of innovation.