It’s undeniable: the future will continue to become more technologically dependent, with major implications for healthcare and businesses around the world.
In the last two years, a lot has changed. The world has recovered from the worst of a deadly epidemic, and while Covid-19 remains a major source of concern on a global scale, it has also impacted the course of technological innovation.
Life went from distant to remote almost overnight. Quarantined people would use video calls to interact with their loved ones. Slack, Zoom, and Google would be used more by colleagues to collaborate and continue working than before. The volume of content consumed around the world has increased dramatically. For many people, shopping online – from casual purchases to grocery shopping and even restaurant deliveries – has become the new normal. Overall purchases, however, rose significantly, leading supply networks to falter and overstretch.
In short, technology became the catalyst for change, filling in the gaps where inefficiencies existed and generating opportunities where big problems existed.
The globe is still riding this wave of technological change in 2022. Without the pandemic stretching the boundaries of what’s possible, the trends for 2022 would not have looked the way they do now—but because the changes are happening so swiftly now, it’s critical to stay ahead of the curve by reviewing—and embracing—the greatest trends of the following year.
1. The Increase of Hybrid Workspaces
One of the most important lessons learned from the Covid-19 outbreak is that companies no longer need to be physically located. Employers have discovered that hybrid workspaces can boost productivity and allow them to explore a larger pool of candidates for a range of roles after almost a year (and more) of remote work.
In this setting, we expect that existing solutions that enable processes across time zones and locales more frictionless will become more widely adopted. Many people, especially parents will find it easy working with kids in hybrid workspaces, where there are convenient employee lounges suited for their needs. There will be more tools to consider in this new, hybrid work setting, beyond standard platforms like Slack and Zoom, in fueling remote communication and guaranteeing a healthy work-life balance as well as high levels of production.
2. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Organizations and researchers are increasingly combining their data and computing capacity to serve the world with improved AI capabilities.
Machine vision is one of the most important trends in AI. Computers can now perceive and distinguish items in videos and photographs. Language processing is also progressing rapidly, allowing machines to understand and respond to our voices.
Low-code or no-code development (e.g. Microsoft Power Platform) will also be popular this year. We’ll be able to create AI using drag-and-drop graphical interfaces, allowing us to create incredible apps without having to worry about code.
3. Rise of Social Media’s Influence on Business
In the coming years, the relevance of social media in business marketing and e-commerce plans is set to grow.
According to some analytics expenditure on social media, ads reached $105 billion in 2021, up 15% from 2020. Spending on social media ads has increased by over 70% in the last three years.
The business potential of social media is undeniable: the way businesses locate and engage with their audiences has changed dramatically as a result of social media marketing, especially, Instagram and Facebook marketing.
Prior to the advent of social media tools and SEO, businesses had to attend live events in order to identify a certain group of prospects. Unfortunately, attending even a modest business conference costs roughly $1,000, making it extremely difficult for entrepreneurs to reach their target demographic. Nowadays the rise of social media solves this problem and helps businesses to increase their prevalence throughout the world.
4. The Importance Of Privacy And Security
With the tremendous change toward spending so much time in the digital realm, there is a heightened risk of privacy and security breaches. Data breaches and cyber-attacks not only put organizations in danger but also have a significant detrimental impact on individuals.
The necessity for effective procedures to protect people’s and enterprises’ data will be established in 2022. Artificial intelligence, which was previously described, is one of these answers. In the future, pattern recognition and predictive analytics will be critical in detecting abnormalities early on and preventing large-scale data breaches. It will also be feasible to identify and analyze similar behavioral patterns between attacks, allowing law enforcement to intervene before irreversible damage is caused.
5. Rise of the Entrepreneurship
In 2022, entrepreneurship will be on the rise! The Coronavirus epidemic has caused a huge change in the workforce, culminating in a ‘Great Resignation,’ which has aided in the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs. Thanks to technological advancements people can now easily take first steps towards entrepreneurship, they now have the opportunity to combine their entrepreneurship and work together.
Having a side business on top of a regular job isn’t simple, but it’s growing more common. A side hustle can be a fantastic way to supplement income goals or follow a passion in spare time, whether someone wants to establish a business one day or wants to supplement income or pursue a passion.
Flexible work platforms, which allow you to earn additional money and then utilize it to establish a business, are becoming increasingly popular. People can simply create an online business on work platforms and make money, e.g. starting a Fiverr business.
6. The Metaverse’s Ascension
The metaverse is a word for the literal blending of real-life and digital activity. It’s a term that refers to a world that is both real and virtual, covering anything from games to virtual economies driven by cryptocurrency.
The emergence of the metaverse heralds a move toward a digital world that is comparable to the one in which we are accustomed to interacting. What began in the gaming world (think Roblox and Fortnite) foreshadows a bigger trend toward a future in which social interactions, entertainment, advertising, and even purchasing power in the virtual world will converge with those in the real world.
All of this points to a year filled with more immersive experiences and technologies, collaborative spaces and products, new social networks and multiple social media connectors (like BeApp), and increased adoption of VR and AR.
7. Adoption of Blockchain Technologies
Although blockchain is not a new concept, it is becoming increasingly popular as time goes on. The adoption of the metaverse will continue to climb through 2022, thanks to its rise.
Blockchain technology creates a safe, structured, and decentralized means to trace transactions across devices—a secure “ledger” for data validation and identity protection. According to Statista, spending on blockchain solutions will increase in the next few years, reaching over $19 billion in the United States by 2024.
Given its importance in the metaverse and with the rise of NFTs, businesses should begin learning more about this technology. Internal technology applications, as well as efforts to exploit public technology applications, will be extremely significant in 2022 if they align with company objectives.
These are just a few of the many trends that will make 2022 a year of technological breakthroughs. Many of these changes, sparked by the pandemic, are linked to the pace of the digital transformation and share a few characteristics. However, there is one common denominator: in 2022, each organization should rethink its internal goals and closely connect them with the proper progressive tech solutions that will fuel long-term success․
