DTX Europe is one of the globe's leading events dedicated to digital transformation. Showcasing everything from the newest tech breakthroughs to the latest collaborative strategies, the event is a must for those looking to stay on top of the transformation and change space's trends and challenges.

To make sure we didn't miss out on the opportunity to get up to speed on the latest transformations and the people leading them, we headed down to ExCel London to get the complete picture on tech advancements and trends that are set to shape the future. From communication software integrations to holographic NHS receptionists, there's a lot for us to unpack.

Collaboration and co-innovation in the digital and technological space

One of DTX's most prominent themes this year was collaboration, especially within digital and technological settings. A great example of this was the NHS's attempt to solve the staffing crisis, which is currently affecting UK public healthcare.

The NHS Trust's Jeffrey Wood revealed that the NHS has collaborated with GigXR, Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education to create holographic receptionists.

These holograms are able to communicate in any spoken language while also having the capability to utilise sign language for those who are hard of hearing or deaf. Their implementation would drastically improve the experience of many NHS patients while also alleviating the need for front-desk receptionists.

The trend of collaboration was also covered by AstraZeneca's Dinesh Krishnan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than keeping their research and progress to themselves, AstraZeneca worked in tandem with Pfizer, a leading competitor, to create the vaccines that the world was clamouring for.

While these two organisations exist in the same space, they realised that by combining their efforts, they were able to quickly roll out COVID-19 vaccines, which the world was clamouring for.

Both of these situations showcased two things: one, how tech can help to solve challenges across sectors and spaces, and two, how collaborative and transparent endeavours to co-innovate lead to world-changing innovations and inventions.

These exact lessons can be utilised and replicated across multiple industries. Looking to implement and utilise new technologies while being able to rely on transparent and flexible partnerships allows all parties involved to benefit from each other's expertise and resources. These collaborations also help to further societal progression and cooperation, even between direct competitors in some instances.

Consolidation and integration of software for smoother work processes

While technology is a key factor in driving business development, it can also become a hindrance if new tools and programmes aren't implemented within considered and measured projects and programmes.

Communication platform, Bandwidth, Director and Head of Solutions Mehmet Hussein delved into the most common way that this challenge is currently rearing its head. Teams and businesses across the world are currently struggling to navigate a world overpopulated with so many communication and organisation software applications.

With a plethora of options from Zoom, Teams, Skype and Google, leadership teams can be tempted to pick one for their entire organisation to use. This decision is often taken without cross-team discussions, which leads to unperceived technical difficulties as well as internal conflict.

On the other end of the spectrum, some organisations have too many applications across their teams. This can result in communication dropouts as well as out-of-sync programmes and projects. Being able to find a middle ground between these two situations can be difficult at the best of times.

According to Mehmet, Bandwidth can help by creating and implementing integrations which bring all of these different tools together in one self-contained space. This allows teams to utilise the tools and applications that they are comfortable with while also increasing collaboration and communication.

These integrations are also benefitting from new AI software, especially when it comes to filtering out spam calls. Improvements to voice recognition software and advancements in machine learning allow for Bandwidth's systems to flag and prevent any scam callers from getting through.

This development promises to save front desks and communication teams a significant amount of time that they'd be otherwise using to tackle spam.

This trend of integrations and software consolidation is helping businesses streamline their processes and channels, saving countless hours of work and headaches. Having the structure and people in place to be able to effectively utilise technologies is just as crucial as having the latest tools.

Immediately adopting the latest in tech developments and trends is only worthwhile if you carry out the appropriate scoping and analysis beforehand. Too many teams are looking for immediate wins when the reality is that implementing new technologies is a gradual process.

Making interactions less transactional in the retail sector and beyond

The retail world is currently undergoing a customer experience transformation, with companies moving away from outdated transactional approaches and adopting personable and complimentary query management.

Sales Director Chris Ward and CEO Haj Muntz, from the software company Conversity Limited, highlighted how businesses in the retail space should be trying to steer away from outdated communication approaches and looking to develop long-lasting customer relationships.

Presenting customers with tedious and intrusive questions and tasks that make them feel like a means to an end often leads to short customer life spans and can result in poor brand reputation. Taking the time to foster relationships and a sense of familiarity not only leads to better sales performances in the retail space but also drives higher satisfaction rates for both customers and team members.

This was highlighted by Conversity's survey interactions with customers across multiple sectors and spaces, with many becoming frustrated with organisations that don't offer a satisfactory support line or chatbot when submitting complaints.

While this approach isn't exclusive to the retail space, it is something that's quickly dominating the sector, especially when it comes to digital customer experiences. Improved chatbots and query services are helping companies of all sizes retain customers and remedy complaints.

Improving customer experiences in the retail sector is just as much about processes as it is about products. The same approach can also be applied in other industries, especially recruitment.

We'd expect these trends to continue to grow and spread to industries across the professional world. More and more companies will be looking to take advantage of software integrations and digital customer transformations to drive cleaner processes and more rewarding customer relationships. As a result, the war for talent is likely to heat up in the remainder of the year and into 2024.

Experienced and passionate change and transformation professionals are already in high demand, especially in the IT space, so getting ahead of the curve and looking for candidates now rather than later will be crucial in getting the right people to drive your transformations and projects.

If you're interested in keeping up to date with the latest trends from the worlds of IT, transformation and change, follow our LinkedIn here.