It’s been more than a year since the pandemic began, and we still live in a world of uncertainty, ever-evolving consumer expectations, and a recovering economy. Consumer behaviors have changed a lot, and many companies are still looking to understand how to provide the best experience to their customers despite the various challenges posed by Covid-19.
As a result, digital transformation has become increasingly critical for success, with businesses struggling to better understand each customer better, their desires, particularities, and challenges they’re facing. Companies need to invest in their digital infrastructure to have a more a holistic view of the entire customer journey, to facilitate better decision-making, and to enable them to respond quickly to customer needs in order to offer customized solutions. Companies that do not adapt quickly enough run the risk of being left behind as we emerge into the ‘New Normal’. In fact, according to Gartner, more than a third of large organizations will have analysts specializing in “decision intelligence – including decision modeling,” by 2023.
What is a Platform and How Can it Help?
To understand which tools can truly help companies in the process of digital transformation, it is essential to understand the concept of a platform. For example, we can consider mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 as a platform. After a massive analysis of information, mRNA uses its insights to create a blueprint or set of instructions that help our body fight against or prevent a disease.
Decisioning platforms operate with the same logic. Using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze large volumes of data allows us to make any type of decision - granting credit, optimizing operations, authorizing card transactions, communicating with customers. The decision-making platform provides the directions companies need to react quickly and make the necessary choices to continue growing.
In other words, just as the vaccine provides guidelines for preventing or fighting off Covid-19, the software platform helps companies to anticipate needs and make the best decisions.
Having the ability to react in advanced and more assertively to market demands will instantly change how a consumer interacts with a company. Often, people do not have the access to the complex systems that are able to analyze information in seconds to identify signs of fraud in their transactions, evaluate their credit history, or choose opportune times and channels for customer contact. It is the decision-making platforms that guarantee the effectiveness of these processes and contributes to the loyalty and enchantment of the end customer.
How Does a Platform Continue to Stay Ahead?
In one of its most recent reports, Gartner cited that hyper automation will be one of the biggest trends of the year. This concept is defined as “the idea that everything that can be automated in an organization must be automated,” which can be the key to organizations' digital operational excellence. Decision platforms are completely inserted into this reality, optimizing operations, facilitating adaptation to adverse scenarios and elevating the technological capabilities of companies.
Indirectly, Covid-19 accelerated the digital transformation of companies by causing an unprecedented, and near immediate, change in consumer behavior. In this new scenario, decision platforms have gained wide prominence due to their flexibility and ability to optimize operations, helping organizations to examine immense volumes of data and cross information in a matter of seconds.
While the last year presented many challenges, it strengthened our infrastructures and enabled us to innovate faster than before – providing businesses and customers with more decisions than ever before.