Your plans for digital transformation may have been interrupted by the pandemic, but this year will see more businesses getting back on track. In a recent survey, Gartner found1 that 60% of CEOs anticipate economic growth in 2021 and 2022. In addition, 80% of the CEOs surveyed expect long-term changes such as establishing a permanent hybrid work model.

The pandemic caught many companies without a viable business continuity strategy. Gartner experts are seeing that the pandemic has increased most CIOs’ interest in the cloud, which could have made responding to the pandemic more effective. They forecast2 that end- user spending on the cloud will increase from approximately $270 billion in 2020 to over $397 billion in 2022.

Gartner also forecasts that the growth of cloud applications will support digital transformation more than ever before. Rather than putting mundane applications in the cloud, companies will reach for mission-critical digital transformation with applications that combine the cloud with technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and 5G, among others.

Some people think the term is losing meaning because it is used so often to define any initiative that includes technology. However, it’s most meaningful when it describes the process of integrating technology into all areas of your business, and especially those that have not used technology previously. You’re not automating an existing process, you’re using technology to change the nature of the process itself.