Many Fortune 500 companies think that moving everything to the cloud or integrating AI in their workflows can transform their business and get more things done. But this is just one side of the coin.

Even in 2025, many business owners don't realize that poorly implemented digital systems can make their customers frustrated and staff demotivated. Reason? They treat digital transformation as an end goal, not an enabler. And this approach is no longer sustainable.

The takeaway is clear: digital transformation isn't about chasing every shiny new tech trend. It's about aligning the right tools with your business goals and staying ahead of the competition.

Let's see what the future of digital transformation looks like and how it can work for your business.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation sounds like fancy jargon to CEOs and CXOs because they think that adding a nice layer of automation can get their things done in a smarter and easier way.

To understand this better, take a warehouse that runs manually where now you implemented digital solutions such as a warehouse management system to track inventory or automated stock handling so that you can make operations smoother, reduce errors, and boost efficiency. This is a practical example of what digital transformation looks like.

However, no matter what industry you're in or what the size of your company is, digital transformation is beyond the layer of automation. It's more about changing your business processes, more about having the right mindset and doing cross-cultural collaboration with other stakeholders to achieve on result -

Here's a deep dive into what digital transformation is and is not.

9 Digital Transformation Trends Businesses Can’t Ignore

Following are the most popular digital transformation trends in 2025:

1. Rise of Agentic AI

Unlike generative AI tools, agentic AI can work autonomously, interact with external environments and make decisions on behalf of humans. They're like digital brains, which don't follow preprogrammed rules—they learn, adapt and evolve on their own.

The applications of Agentic AI can be felt across different industries from operations to finance to supply chain processes.

Many employees across different organizations are using AI agents to speed up their current workflows like updating records, extracting insights or answering questions. Agents can be simple, and they can be multi-agent models which are designed to solve complex chores.

The manufacturing industry provides a compelling example of this transformation. Manufacturers use AI-powered predictive maintenance to transform their business processes.

Using predictive maintenance, they can monitor the machinery performance in real time.

Here's how this differs from traditional approaches - The traditional old-school maintenance approach just alerts the team about scheduling maintenance or ordering replacement parts, but manufacturing agents will take the action directly.

When production managers had to see if one machine stopped working, they needed to step in manually to redistribute the work and ensure that production flows wouldn't be interrupted.

However, with digitalization, AI agents can make a big difference in the manufacturing sector. When there is a machinery breakdown, the agent will trigger the service request, order spare parts and reroute the production process.

This way, factories will run 24/7 with no stoppages.

2. The era of Generative AI

For a business to succeed in 2025 and beyond, they need to blend their business goals with technology (Generative AI) to achieve a competitive moat in the industry.

Talking about Generative AI, its market is constantly increasing and organizations across different functions are using this game-changing technology for product and service development, marketing and sales, and across other functions of software engineering.

A study from McKinsey states that organizations that have integrated Gen AI technology in business units saw a significant increase in revenue.

This means what used to be a futuristic concept a while ago has become a part of your everyday lives, changing the way businesses operate, create new products/services, deal with their customers and make data-driven decisions.

With Generative AI systems, the future seems more promising than ever as now it becomes easy for organizations to speed up their content creation and software development tasks.

Best part? Models such as GPT 5.0, Gemini or Claude 4 are no longer confined to a single modality.

These LLMs have gained multi-modal capabilities meaning the Gen AI can now generate content in multiple data formats (text, images, videos, audio). But its benefits are far-reaching beyond marketing.

Like in e-commerce, Generative AI can be used for generating personalized product descriptions based on the inventory levels and customer preferences.

McKinsey states that companies that personalize product recommendations are likely to increase the company's revenue by 10-30%.

MasterCard has been using Generative AI for detecting fraudulent transactions.

As fraudsters have become smart these days, so has the Mastercard team. They've integrated Gen AI technology into their fraud detection mechanism which can scan around 1 trillion data points in real time.

Their Decision Intelligence Pro (Gen AI) can -

• Predict transaction risk in less than 50 milliseconds
• Reduce the number of false positives by more than 85%
• Improve fraud detection rates on average by around 200%

How? The Gen AI model can learn to spot what normal transactions look like and thus can predict such fraudulent transactions before they happen.

3. Digital Twins

Digital twin, as the name suggests, is the replica or simulation of a real person, product or process.

While tech leaders think that digital twins are more about flashy visuals, this technology is being used behind the scenes, working in the background to prevent costly downtime, improve product designs or optimize entire supply chains.

Just like digital twins can be deployed across various industries such as supply chain, finance and manufacturing processes.

In the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, for example, companies can create digital twins of patients' medical data, allowing doctors to develop real-life models of organ conditions.

This way, medical professionals can detect whether that treatment will be effective or not before implementation.

Best part? Healthcare staff can learn a lot about patients' physiological and psychological behaviour to design personalized treatment plans.

Beyond healthcare sector, digital twins' technology shows promising results in manufacturing. It helps engineers to quickly test prototypes that used to take several weeks to months.

As product testing can be done in early stages of design, flaws can be detected more quickly leading to significant improvement in product quality and reduced development time.

4. Edge computing

Unlike cloud computing, edge computing moves data processing to the source where data is generated. In traditional cloud computing, voluminous amounts of data generated from IoT devices, sensors, and other systems are sent to remote servers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP for processing.

This approach can work for many applications, but it becomes problematic when real-time decisions are critical.

Consider scenarios like autonomous vehicles making split-second navigation decisions or manufacturing systems needing to predict machinery failures instantly. In these cases, waiting for data to travel to remote servers and back creates dangerous delays.

Edge computing solves this problem by enabling immediate data analysis at the source.

For instance, a self-driving car can process sensor data locally and instantly adjust its speed or route without waiting for instructions from a distant server.

In contrast, cloud computing introduces latency that can range from tens to hundreds of milliseconds—an eternity when immediate response is crucial.

Beyond reducing latency, edge computing unlocks additional benefits including faster response times, real-time inventory updates, and lower cloud storage costs.

For manufacturing businesses, these real-time capabilities are essential for optimizing production processes and identifying potential equipment failures before they occur.

The oil and gas sector got immense benefits from edge computing particularly for autonomous or remote operations.

In harsh environments where skilled workers are scarce, edge computing enables remote expertise to be delivered directly to the location, allowing complex operations to be managed safely and efficiently without requiring human presence on-site.

5. Metaverse for Business

Metaverse is no longer a buzzword; it has become a transformative force for businesses whether it's in terms of collaborating virtually or providing immersive customer experiences.

A study from McKinsey states that Metaverse is likely to generate $5 trillion in value by 2030.

This itself shows that this emerging technology is just too big for companies to ignore as it offers immense potential for them to immerse and get significant improvement in areas of learning, commerce, fitness and gaming.

E-commerce businesses can use Metaverse, changing the way people shop online, walk around stores and try on clothes virtually. This immersive experience not only connects customers with brands, but it also creates revenue opportunities for them.

The combination of Metaverse with the use of AR/VR technologies not only bridges the gap between real and physical worlds but also increases customer engagement as well.

Similarly, in real estate, businesses can develop a virtual world for buying and selling properties. Later, they can use those virtual spaces for revenue generation opportunities from renting out that space.

Microsoft has been using Metaverse technology that's Mesh. They've integrated Mesh into their Teams for letting people from distant locations chat with each other, conduct virtual meetings and share their documents or files together.

Consider Microsoft's Mesh as the virtual ecosystem where digital avatars of real people are available. This virtual meeting platform allows users to customize their avatar and project their real self.

6. 5G will enhance digital transformation

With the adoption of 5G technology, there will be a huge transformation in how businesses process real-time data and scale their operations more effectively.

In the healthcare sector, 5G is a blessing as real-time consultations can happen without any lag, connecting doctors and patients in one place.

This means through 5G, healthcare services become more accessible in remote areas. Surgeons can operate on patients and conduct remote surgeries even if they're 1000 miles away.

In industrial settings, manufacturers use different technologies such as AI, IoT and AR to create smart factories where machines are communicating, sharing data and operating autonomously with no human involvement.

By using IoT-enabled devices connected through 5G capabilities, companies get real-time insights into machine performance and identify issues in the production line in real time.

7. No-code/low-code platforms

Digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have option, and with low-code/no-code platforms, businesses are improving their workflows.

A study from Gartner states that 70% of new applications that organizations developed in 2025 were possible using low-code/no-code platforms, which was less than 25% in 2020.

This means that using drag-and-drop interfaces and reusable components, even those with basic technical skills can create functional software.

Previously, startups and companies wanted to launch products quickly, but traditional coding made this impossible. It takes too long, and hiring experienced developers is expensive.

On top of that, finding right technical expertise was a major concern. In fact, one study states that in 2021, there was a global talent shortage of 40 million skilled workers, and this number is expected to get doubled by 2030.

Low-code/no-code platforms solve these problems by making it easy for businesses to launch apps or websites as MVPs, even with non-technical staff. The best part? They don't need to write 1000 lines of code, enabling faster development and meeting user needs swiftly.

A study from KPMG states that 81% of companies surveyed said they consider low-code development as a priority task.

Result - A significant improvement in their employee productivity and process efficiency.

8. Blockchain technology

Blockchain technology is not just about cryptocurrencies or digital collectibles. It's more about how you store, value and transfer information. Businesses across different industries (healthcare, supply chain, manufacturing) are adopting it.

Consider blockchain as a digital technology that brings more transparency across business transactions, supply chain processes and ensures that whatever transaction is recorded on that digital ledger cannot be manipulated, especially in the case of the fintech industry.

Take the case of the insurance industry where insurers and policyholders are on the same page. Everything can be verifiable and auditable meaning participants can view the details of insurance policies, claims and payments.

Thus, blockchain reduces the risk of data alteration or modification in insurance-related records.

Beyond that, blockchain technology simplifies the KYC process. Like whenever a customer opens a bank account or buys an insurance policy, they had to go through multiple identity verification checks.

The KYC verification process becomes too lengthy sometimes, wasting time for both banks, financial institutions and customers.

With blockchain technology, customers can submit their KYC details on that decentralized ledger and whenever they want to open a new bank account or buy an insurance policy, they can give access to their KYC profile, saving hours for bankers and insurance companies.

Result—Onboarding of new customers will be done quickly + Quick verification process + less administrative cost.

9. Robotic process automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is where robots are taking over the manual-intensive work done by humans earlier.

Through RPA technology, businesses can outsource their high-volume and more repetitive tasks to robots such as data entry, reporting and managing HR workflows.

Though banks and financial firms first adopted RPA, businesses across other verticals such as healthcare, manufacturing and retail saw benefits such as reduced labor costs and no more manual errors.

Deutsche Bank, one of the largest financial institutions, was doing a lot of paper-intensive and manual tasks such as entering financial records, validating them and reconciling transactions. But it required them to hire more bankers.

Not only does hiring more employees cost them more, but one small mistake in financial data can cause serious compliance issues.

Since the bank understood the importance of digital transformation, they integrated RPA into their banking processes. Their robots provided 24/7 support, processed large volumes of transactions in real time and handled repetitive finance tasks that humans were doing in the past.

Result? Improved operational efficiency and cost savings

How BigOhTech can help you with Digital transformation?

By reading the above guide, you got an idea that if you do not adapt to the digital transformation trends discussed above, you will lose market share.

The secret mantra lies in scaling your business through automation of processes or creating a 1% value in the life of customers. For that, we're here to guide you at every stage of the digital transformation journey, no matter if you're a small startup or a Fortune 100 company.

We've already helped 250+ clients in the past, not just in creating applications but in developing digital resources.

As a digital transformation consulting company, we understand business requirements, map out user needs, analyse your existing tech stack and create a transformation roadmap to scale your business and help you meet your customer needs.

Recently, we helped General Electric by modernizing their legacy applications to a modern tech stack.

Their current app was built on Adobe Flex, which was running on outdated tech infrastructure, and as a result, they were losing sales. Such app modernization projects result in faster demo closures.

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