Organizations need these 7 tech capabilities in 2024 to be adaptive and become digital-first for their sustainable growth – Bluebik

Bluebik Group Public Company Limited (BBIK), a leading consultancy on end-to-end digital transformation, sees the 7 tech capabilities that all organizations around the globe should possess in 2024 to be able to cope with negative factors and future changes related to 1) the borderless businesses which bring opportunities, risks and fierce competition in digital landscapes; 2) the varied lifestyles and spending behaviors of consumers in different age ranges; and 3) the gig workers whose returns reflect the amounts of their work. Moreover, there are economic problems, ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) pressures and technology risks including the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber threats. These are pressuring organizations to quickly enhance their capabilities by developing and applying innovations to improve operations and upgrading their technologies to increase business opportunities and be ready for the digital-first world driven by technologies and innovations.

Pochara Arayakarnkul, Chief Executive Officer of Bluebik Group Public Company Limited, said the impacts of technologies and innovations are more and more powerful on businesses and people. Evidently technology is vital to everyday life and is being applied to solve environmental problems and reform work processes to increase flexibility and effectiveness and reduce business risks. This is the reason why technology landscapes are dynamic and technology investment is continuing. Gartner predicts that technology investment will reach US$5.1 trillion in 2024, an 8% increase from its level in 2023.

“The influences of technologies and innovations are expanding from businesses to people’s lifestyles. Artificial intelligence is becoming the heart of business operations in the digital-first world. Generative AI is changing work processes. There are new tools to elevate users’ experience and support connection with the digital ecosystems of super apps. Also, there are the cyber threats which are more dangerous and cause greater damage to businesses and the general public. Therefore, the modern organizations that need sustainable growth must increase their capabilities to cope with situations and be highly adaptive to follow new and rapidly emerging trends,” Mr. Pochara said.

Bluebik sees 7 key tech capabilities for 2024. These capabilities are in the four pillars of technology and will enable organizations to cope with rapid changes, take up new business opportunities and pave the way for ESG-based sustainable growth which will be long-term competitiveness.

Pillar No. 1: Augmented intelligence

Crucial to future business, augmented intelligence is the integration of artificial intelligence and human intelligence and they will complement each other. The following technology capabilities support augmented intelligence.

• Democratization of generative AI (Gen AI) – Universal access to technology creates business opportunities. It, for example, accelerates product development, increases efficiency, reduces repetitive tasks and improves ways to reach customers because AI helps create customer insights and thus leads to the production of the content that interests individual customers. As well, Gen AI will disrupt industries because it will create the startups that can impact on traditional businesses. The organizations that do not use Gen AI will be left farther and farther behind their competitors.

Pillar No. 2: Digital ecosystems

This refers to the development of the business ecosystems that accommodate many systems and services to provide customers with convenient and one-stop services. The development of the digital ecosystems such as super apps that can support future growth requires the following tech capabilities.

• Multiexperience (MX) – This means seamless experience for customers while they are using services or buying products through all digital touchpoints and across different platforms including websites, super apps, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and wearables. Digital transformation requires understanding about MX and ability to use it so that customers’ demand in all dimensions will be satisfied and both customers and employees will feel comfortable.
• Event-driven nano architecture (EDNA) – This new architecture consists of independent nanoservices. EDNA is outstanding for its flexibility. Each service can be developed at the nano level. The consumption of resources can be scaled up and down more conveniently than what is done with the microservices of event-driven architecture (EDA). When some service has a problem, other services will not be affected. This new architecture also reduces the duplication of work and costs. EDNA, therefore, is an important capability for the creation of a digital ecosystem that is highly flexible and can fulfill all changing business requirements.

Pillar No. 3: Digital immunity and trust

Organizations must have immunity and reliability. They should be able to deal with increasing cyber threats. The tech capabilities that guarantee cybersecurity for organizations are as follows.

• Generative cybersecurity AI – This technology reduces risks from the use of generative AI. The risks include personal data breaches, data leakages and security loopholes. Autoregressive generative large language models (LLMs) are used to acquire, accumulate and communicate the knowledge that is useful for the creation of security use cases. As well, generative cybersecurity AI can assess risks, detect and monitor anomalies, report findings to users/service providers in natural languages, like generative AI, and find relevant answers.
• AI-enhanced security operations – This AI technology is applied like the backend component of security systems. It enhances capabilities for security analysis and responses to threats. AI-enhanced security operations gather data from various sources to analyze and hunt for malware and computer viruses and recommend solutions. Consequently, organizations can prevent problems or tackle them faster and more precisely.

Pillar No. 4: Sustainability technologies

This refers to the integration of sustainability-oriented technologies which are 1) technologies designed to solve or prevent environmental problems and 2) technologies developed to support ESG policies. Bluebik has found these interesting trends for next year.

• AI for sustainability – AI is used to improve work processes and get rid of those which obstruct the reduction of environmental impacts and carbon emissions. AI models can be applied to monitor, predict and reduce carbon emissions and improve efficiency for the sake of the environment. AI models, for example, support weather forecasts, improve recycling and waste treatment systems, design efficient transport routes and ensure compliance with automation-related regulations.
• ESG management and reporting – This helps organizations cope with environment-related pressures. The software that collects data and does accurate reports help organizations improve their own management and comply with the ESG-related regulations of other organizations and business partners. It can also increase capabilities including modeling and advanced analytics that can improve the ESG performances of organizations.

“People, technologies and businesses are more connected. There can be impacts on all, if any of them changes. This is obvious regarding the influences of generative AI, the new values of people and balance between positive and negative outcomes from technology application by businesses. Therefore, digital transformation must be conducted continuously and more seriously. Bluebik strongly believes that the organizations that are aware of trends and are prepared properly can reduce risks, increase business opportunities and achieve sustainable growth in the digital-first world,” Mr. Pochara concluded.