5 IT Trends to Come in 2022
After the first quarter of 2020, the year saw a race between a dozen high-profile video conference platforms. Zoom pulled quickly ahead. Getting on a “zoom” meeting didn’t even necessarily mean using the Zoom platform. It had simply become synonymous with video conferencing.
After “zooming” swept in as the new normal in 2020, 2021 was the year of remote work tools. Software solutions from digital whiteboards to shared workspaces were popping up every day to make working together from afar more productive.
Looking to 2022, what will the technology trends be? What should business owners be aware of?
1. Operations from absolutely anywhere
Work has changed forever. The pandemic forced about two thirds of U.S. employees to work remotely. Of those who have returned to the office, many are now in hybrid models where they work from the office certain days but not others.
With many employees still 100% remote and others remote at least a day or two a week, one of the IT buzzwords for 2022 is “anywhere operations.” This business model:
- Enables employees to work from absolutely anywhere
- Speeds up the deployment of internal business practices
- Is mobile-friendly, meaning employees can be more productive from anywhere
2. Security “incidents” will cost businesses less
New industry standards in IT have helped to weed out sub-standard security providers. More information in the cloud has meant greater susceptibility to hacking, so security solutions have been taken up a notch.
Interestingly, new technology like “overarching cybersecurity mesh architecture” (or CSMA) allows businesses to deploy or extend security where it’s needed most, meaning there is no longer a traditional security perimeter.
If that sounds a bit technical, it is. Contact us or talk to your managed IT service provider to learn what this trend could mean for you.
3. Hyperautomation
Automation was already a big deal in recent years. It’s changed everything from marketing to customer service and has helped thousands of businesses scale in extraordinary ways.
In 2022, you can expect even greater adoption and evolution of “hyperautiomation.”
Old-school automation was task-based. Then technology that was process-based came around. Hyperautomation is the newest manifestation and includes smarter technology that automates functions across multiple processes.
4. Hybrid cloud
The cloud isn’t new, but businesses are evolving to use different types of clouds for 2022. The hybrid cloud is a mix of public and private clouds used together as organizations face new challenges of data access on one side and security on the other.
Recent surveys found that businesses using a hybrid cloud were about 160% as likely to meet their performance targets. As more employees continue to work remotely, this trend will continue.
5. AI engineering
The world creates about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day. That number will continue to increase exponentially.
The use of data, however, is still only a tiny fraction of what it could be.
In comes AI engineering.
AI engineering connects data sources and helps businesses visualize the data they already have. This helps those businesses strategize better and make real use of their data.
In 2022, the pandemic will continue to impact the way we all do business. These IT trends, when applied, can unlock superior operations and greater security, resulting in a true transformation of the business ready to adopt them.