(SPONSORED ARTICLE) Across the globe, businesses have been in a nonstop digital transformation since 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, organizations of all sizes, locations, and industries had to shift into survival mode.

Processes were overhauled, paper was halted, and employees quickly shifted to working from home. While 2020 and 2021 were years of upheaval, 2022 will have to be a year of digital implementation if businesses want to meet customer and client expectations. Here are some digital trends that will help keep you ahead of the curve.

No-Code Will Rule

Have you heard about no-code tools? If not, you’re not alone: Our 2021 No-Code Economy Survey revealed 82% of people are unfamiliar with the term no-code.

No-code tools are any type of software, system, or product that allows the user to build a solution without needing to know any code. From building websites and apps to creating digital workflows and paperless processes, no-code tools make it extremely quick and easy to develop your own solutions.

No-code empowers employees to build what they need, from new processes and workflows to full-on apps, without needing to know a single line of code. With this technology, you can craft forms and documents using drag-and-drop capabilities -- meaning you can collect data and information, automate adding that info to existing templates, and send those out for eSignature collection. Plus, many no-code solutions integrate with third-party software to create a tech stack that improves workflows and data sharing across your organization.

So not only do no-code solutions allow you to respond faster with more precise customizations, but they often come at a lower cost. And experts agree that no-code tools are the way of the future due to their accessibility and ease of use. If your organization has yet to investigate the power of no-code, you need to put it high on your 2022 priorities list.

Learn More: What no-code tools should you add to your tech stack in 2022? Check out this list of the 41 most popular no-code tools to get inspired.

Data Must be Consolidated

Data has become easily available, but it’s also become increasingly chaotic. With so many different tools running across departments and teams, it’s no surprise that organizations are becoming overwhelmed with data.

When there’s no structure to the flow of data or one centralized data depository, teams are unable to see the complete picture. This can lead to dangerous data silos that can poorly impact productivity, innovation, and accuracy. Oftentimes, manual data entry is needed to compile data together, which wastes time and creates errors.

Organizations need to find a way to better consolidate data in 2022 because when they instill a single source of truth for their data, teams can work much more effectively. It also ensures data is clean and free of manual errors.

Digital Front Doors Are Necessary

Now more than ever, customers expect your business to be digital. If consumers run into issues when trying to engage with your business online, they’re likely to bolt and never return.

Consumers have rapidly adopted a digital-first lifestyle that requires businesses to keep up. They are no longer willing to settle for paper processes, outdated communications, and complicated systems.

Instead, they’re looking for:

Digitization is the way to achieve all of the above. Organizations that choose to prioritize creating a digital front door will win more customers, while those who lag behind will begin to see their customers walk away.

Processes Need to be Overhauled

Digitization cannot fix a process that is broken at its core. If the basic building blocks of a system, process, or workflow are fundamentally flawed, then digitizing the process won’t be much help.

Oftentimes, adding technology to a process acts more like a bandage to a problem versus an actual fix. This has been quite a common issue coming off 2020 and 2021, when many organizations had to rapidly deploy digital tools and solutions without much preparation. So now is the time to reimagine how you get work done.

Welcoming Digitization in 2022

Digitization can be incredibly powerful, and the takeaways above can help you use digitization in great ways during 2022 and beyond. They will enable you to better serve your clientele and cement you as a forward-thinking organization.

Chris Byers is the CEO of Formstack, a tech company offering a no-code workplace productivity platform that empowers anyone to digitize what matters, automate workflows, and fix processes. His goal is to deliver on Formstack's mission to improve people’s lives with practical solutions to their everyday work.