As the pandemic fog begins to lift, businesses are realizing the only way to survive in a changed world is by accelerating digital transformation and offering their services online.

Although digitizing an entire company might intimidate leaders and chief information officers alike, several businesses reported that their digital transformation was 20 to 25 times faster than expected, according to research by McKinsey.

“We’re seeing rationalization conversations begin to happen. And that starts with the strategy,” said Vinodh Swaminathan (pictured), principal of cloud, data and AI strategy, CIO and Advisory at KPMG LLC. “Tailwind or headwind, irrespective of which side of the equation you fell in that dynamic, we’re seeing clients coming back and saying, ‘We know our strategy needs to be different.’”

Swaminathan spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during IBM Think. They discussed the digital transformation, connected enterprising, AI accessibility and more. (* Disclosure below.)

A connected enterprise

Consumers are quickly adapting to a digital environment as well, becoming increasingly tech-savvy and forgoing brand loyalty for convenience and variety. It’s more important than ever for companies to be customer-facing and focus on what the consumer wants rather than what will generate the most profit, according to Swaminathan.

“At KPMG, we call this the connected enterprise, where you really working effectively across the front, middle and back office in an enterprise to seamlessly address the client,” Swaminathan said.

A connected enterprise is only possible if both customers and clients are able to effectively use the cloud to its fullest potential. Another integral part of establishing a connected enterprise is utilizing artificial intelligence to accurately analyze and organize data. Although AI may have been a pipe dream for smaller businesses years ago, it’s only growing more accessible as technology and AI capabilities expand, according to Swaminathan.

“Companies like IBM have done a phenomenal job of demystifying the technology, making it much more accessible for the business user,” he said. “We’re going to see continued momentum in adopting these kinds of simple technologies to transform business processes, customer interactions and so on.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Think. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Think. Neither IBM, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE