The globe appears quite different at the start of 2022 than it did at the start of 2020. Even though a new, presumably less tumultuous year has begun, the pandemic’s effect on the previous year’s events will continue to affect the near future. Technology has played a critical role in the response to this epidemic and will continue to play an important one as we strive toward a future free of COVID.
As we go towards 2022, we’ll keep the lessons we’ve learned in mind as we aim to return to a path of the invention rather than adaptation. COVID-19 does not stop at the end of 2021, and trends like remote work aren’t going away, while others like contactless shipping are only getting started.
New possibilities, new pain spots, and new routes forward are all part of these new trends. What will our new reality mean for the next year, and how will it affect our long-term goals? Let’s take a look at some of the rising tech trends that we believe will have a huge influence on your company in 2022 as we assess our strategy for the year ahead.
Remote Connection
Even when individuals progressively return to public areas, many businesses continue to perceive the advantages and disadvantages of remote employment. Yes, workers have reported being happy after they’ve settled into their home offices, but working from home hasn’t always been a great experience for their bosses. The majority of businesses were not prepared for their workers to work from home on a broad scale.
However, as the popularity of working from home expanded, so did the desire for assistance. At the onset of the epidemic, Zoom and Microsoft Teams were slugging it out for dominance of the collaborative-hub industry, while newcomers like Eloops, Tandem, and Bluescape also joined the fray.
One of the first problems of working from home was obtaining gear and defending against cyberattacks, among other things. Some businesses have opted to enable employees to connect to their work networks using their personal devices, allowing thieves to get access to company data.
Remote access has become vital for businesses, as it has developed a “zero-trust” cybersecurity infrastructure. Businesses may remove the “trust” that can lead to serious security risks by constantly validating the identity of anyone attempting to log in to their systems. As a result, organizations should continue to invest in their remote working environments and guarantee that their employees can collaborate and produce at their highest levels. Of course, improving your company’s cybersecurity by fine-tuning authentication processes is part of that investment.
Anywhere Contactless Shipping and Operations
A business that became digital due to COVID-19 is projected to continue moving toward being done from almost anywhere as the workforce gets more dispersed. Physical storefronts will not vanish as a result of the epidemic, but they should be altered to function as an extension of a company’s digital arm, rather than the other way around.
Scaling a firm online will need significant infrastructure expenditures. Upgrades in 5G technology and computing, or the practice of bringing cloud servers closer to customers to speed up data transmission, are examples of this.
Robotic deliveries should begin their complete implementation in 2022, bringing shipping to a logical, digital end. In recent years, corporations all around the globe have put money into acquiring automated shipping firms, while more robotics startups have tried to satisfy the demand. Because key procedures, such as self-driving car brakes, must be performed promptly and reliably, these services rely largely on the instant data stream provided by 5G for safety.
Smaller businesses that may not be able to buy self-driving vehicles might nevertheless benefit from anyplace operations to become more location independent. Managers can oversee how corporate devices are set up and the rules that govern them using Microsoft cloud’s Endpoint Manager, regardless of where they are deployed.
Decision-makers may focus on recruiting the most qualified people, not only those in their region when geographical dependencies on personnel are removed. They may also start to expand their service offerings outside their immediate geographic area.
Furthermore, faster data transport rates and capabilities imply that organizations will be able to alter their judgments based on real-time data. Edge computing eliminates transmission latency, allowing decision-makers to create strategies in real-time, no matter where they are.
Bringing business to the consumer will be one of the keys to success in 2022. This might be accomplished with a self-driving vehicle, but it’s more likely to be accomplished by expanding into areas where your clientele dwell.
Anything that can be automated, according to the best brains in the business, should be automated. Business owners will have greater possibilities in 2022 to use the resources available to them to eliminate unnecessary procedures.
The key to keeping up with corporations for smaller enterprises is to optimize staff. Because hiring staff is costly, you must ensure that your crew is doing the necessary responsibilities. Although small businesses may not be able to afford automated delivery, they may automate numerous marketing, sales, and customer care processes.
When used in conjunction with Microsoft Endpoint Manager, services like Windows Autopilot can automate the full device configuration journey from the manufacturer to your employees’ hands. That means your company’s settings and permissions are automatically set up on each device, saving your IT staff time and effort.
This isn’t to imply that everything in the world should be mechanized. The ultimate aim is not to reduce headcount. Instead, have workers take care of what machines shouldn’t, and leave the remainder to the machines.
Selecting the right jobs to automate is critical for streamlining corporate operations and lowering labor expenses and human error. Businesses should strive to automate where they can to increase productivity in areas where it would be more beneficial.
