Digital is resonating in every client conversations; its becoming a business imperative for transformation and value accretion . Here's a snapshot of 2017 Digital trends emanating from multiple client conversations across industries and provide a go forward view for what's coming up in 2017 for enterprises keen on being digital.

1. DIGITAL TRENDS 2017
SAMEER DHANRAJANI
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com

2. DIGITAL PLATFORM VIEW
OF BUSINESS A platform provides the business with a foundation where resources can come
together — sometimes quickly and temporarily, sometimes in a relatively fixed way
— to create value. The value comes largely from connecting the resources, and the
network effects between them. As digitalization moves from an innovative trend to
a core competency, enterprises will understand and exploit platform effects
throughout all aspects of their businesses.
• The deepening of digital means that lines are becoming increasingly blurred, and
boundaries semi porous — both inside and outside the enterprise — as multiple
networks of stakeholders bring value to each other by exploiting and exploring
platform dynamics
• CIOs are clearly being given the opportunity to lead a digital transformation that
exploits platform effects majorly in managing delivery, talent and executing
leadership.
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/sameer-dhanrajani-key-win-
themes-to-master-in-digital-business/

3. THE ADVENT OF
IMMERSIVE CONTENT:
AUGMENTED REALITY
AND VIRTUAL REALITY
The booming success of the Pokémon GO AR app is a wakeup call to any
business that hasn’t evaluated the potential of AR and VR. These technologies
were once limited to the gaming realm, but they’re now easier to implement
than ever before. The mainstream shift toward AR and VR provides new ways to
connect with customers and offer unique, memorable interactions.
• The AR and VR resurgence will open up the gates for workplace gamification
in a big way into a core business strategy
• 2017 is also going to mark a turning point in the way audiences interact with
and consume video content through the releases of the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift,
PSVR etc.
• Significant improvements in immersive devices as well as software is
anticipated
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/sameer-dhanrajani-retail-
industry-redefined-through-data-sciences/

4. SMART MACHINES AND
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ARE TAKING OFF IN A BIG
WAY.
Our relationships to technology continue to evolve. Soon machines will be able
to learn and adapt to their environments. While advanced learning machines
may replace low-skill jobs, AIs will be able to work collaboratively with human
professionals to solve intensely complex problems.
• Data complexity is the top challenge standing in the way of digital
transformation
• AI tools will evolve to read, review and analyze vast quantities of disparate
data, providing insight into how customers feel about a company’s products
or services and why they feel the way they do
• using AI to expedite knowledge-based activities to improve efficiency and
performance will spread from reducing costs through automation, to
transforming customer experience
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/sameer-dhanrajani-how-machine-learning-
and-ai-will-drive-digital-transformation/
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/sameer-dhanrajani-banking-evolution-using-ai/

5. CONVERSATIONAL
EXPERIENCES: CHATBOTS
AND SMART MESSAGING
PLATFORMS Messaging apps are becoming the new second home screen. There's a chatbot
revolution going on, and it's primarily being fueled by the adoption of chatbots
by major social and messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Google,
Microsoft Skype, Salesforce, Slack, Twitter DM, WeChat, Kik and Line.
• Now that there are billions of daily users of messaging platforms, the
platforms hope they will enable marketers with the ability to scale creative 1-
to-1 engagement opportunities
• The conversational experiences will bring together past revolutions in
ecommerce and text services while highlighting the potential of artificial
intelligence
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/sameer-dhanrajani-
chatbots-the-protege-of-ai-data-sciences/
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/sameer-dhanrajani-
how-machine-learning-and-ai-will-drive-digital-transformation/

6. GROWING IMPORTANCE
OF THE USER
EXPERIENCE
The customer experience (including employees) is the ultimate goal of any
digital transformation. Customers are more cautious than ever; they’ll turn away
from brands that don’t align with their values and needs. A top-notch user
experience is a fantastic way to keep customers involved and engaged with your
brand.
• Every touch point matters, and those leading the transformation will strive to
constantly ask how they are removing friction and enhancing the experience
for every customer regardless of where they are in the journey
• Understanding digital consumers’ biases, behaviors and expectations at each
point along the customer journey will be at the heart of every successful
digital transformation
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/sameer-dhanrajani-how-to-
bring-about-a-customer-experience-focused-digital-transformation/
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/sameer-dhanrajani-key-win-
themes-to-master-in-digital-business/

7. BLOCKCHAIN’S
DISRUPTIVE GROWTH
What Uber did for on-demand auto transformation, Blockchain will to do for
financial transactions. And with $1.4 billion in venture-capital money in the past
three years, 24 countries investing in Blockchain technology for government
services, 90-plus central banks engaged in related discussions, and 10 percent of
global GDP to be traded via Blockchain technology by 2025-2027, it is important
that marketers understand the potential implications for their business.
• Blockchain technology will majorly be a part of the next great flattening and
removal of middle-layer institutions
• The semi-public nature of some types of Blockchain paves the way for an
enhanced level of security and privacy for sensitive data – a new kind of
database where the information ‘header’ is public but the data inside is
‘private’
• Data analytics using Blockchain, distributed ledger transactions and smart
contracts will become critical in future, creating new challenges and
opportunities in the world of data science
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/sameer-dhanrajani-data-
sciences-fintech-companies-for-competitive-disruption-advantage/

8. DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
DRIVEN BY THE
INTERNET OF THINGS
(IOT).
Speaking of how invaluable big data is to marketers, the IoT offers
immeasurable insight into customer’s mind. Businesses and customers alike will
continue to benefit from the IoT. With an estimated 50 billion IoT Sensors by
2020 and more than 200 billion “Things” on the Internet by 2030, it is no
question that IoT will be not only transformative, but disruptive to business
models.
• IoT will change how daily life operates by helping create more efficient cities
and leaner enterprises
• The staple tech for autonomous systems would be the Internet of Things (IoT)
which would be the infrastructure, as well as the customers, since they work,
interact, negotiate and decide with zero human intervention
• Real-time streaming analytics will collection, integration, analysis, and
visualization of IoT data in real-time without disrupting the working of
existing sources, storage, and enterprise systems
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/sameer-dhanrajani-real-time-
streaming-analytics/
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/making-sense-of-the-iot-
phenomenon-extracting-value-transforming-business/

9. API ECONOMY
REFERENCE LINKS
https://sameerdhanrajani.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/mr-algorithms-the-new-
member-in-the-board-room-to-discuss-algorithm-economy/
http://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/welcome-to-the-api-economy/
We live in an API economy, a set of business models and channels based on
secure access of functionality and exchange of data. APIs will continue to make it
easier to integrate and connect people, places, systems, data, things and
algorithms, create new user experiences, share data and information,
authenticate people and things, enable transactions and algorithms, leverage
third-party algorithms, and create new product/services and business models.
• An industry vision seeks using APIs to turn a business into a platform
involving digital business models
• As the Internet of Things (IoT) gets smarter, things using an application
programming interface (API) to communicate, transact and even negotiate
with one another will become the norm

10. THANK YOU
- SAMEER DHANRAJANI