Improvise, adapt, and overcome… 3 terms that many organisations have had to adopt due to the changing landscapes of business over the past 2 years. In 2021, we saw growth in home-working and E-learning as a result of multiple lockdowns, however individuals adapted to these changes efficiently and businesses benefited in a multitude of ways. With that in mind, below we have listed 3 key business technology trends we expect to see continued growth in 2022.

The metaverse is a digital reality combining social media, online gaming, augmented reality, virtual reality, and cryptocurrencies to allow virtual user interaction. The term was first used in US author, Neal Stephenson’s, 1992 cyberpunk novel ‘Snow Crash’. In the book, the main character is a hacker who is able to jump between a dystopian Los Angeles and the so-called ‘Metaverse’ – a virtual world where avatars interact.

In many ways, it looks like Stephenson’s concept has already become a reality and will continue to grow in 2022. We have already seen such technology advances relating to the metaverse through AR, VR, and consumer tech products such as smart speakers. We can expect the Metaverse to offer an entire ecosystem for developers, apps, ads, and new digital innovations in years to come.

In the last 2 years, people have had to adapt to changing environments in both their personal and work life. Hybrid working has taken lead with the preferred way of working across many organisations worldwide. However, those who are set to work remote full time can feel somewhat isolated from their colleagues and miss the ‘old norm’. This is where the metaverse will improve quality of working relationships and convenience for businesses. With the aid of VR and AR, you will be able to join a business meeting with your boss at 11am and have lunch with a family member halfway around the world at 1pm; all thanks to the power of the metaverse. Research commissioned by Lenovo reveals close to 1/2 of employees are willing to embrace a metaverse workplace, presenting an opportunity for businesses to usher in the future of work. Ken Wong, President, Lenovo Solutions and Services Group: “The pandemic challenged us all to adapt to new ways of work – forcing organisations of all sizes to evolve at an exponential pace. The metaverse presents businesses with new opportunities but also more complex technological challenges, such as the need for more computing power, better integrated hardware, and simpler and more flexible IT solutions.”

AI has become an integral part of our lives, whether that be from a personal or business perspective, artificial intelligence has shown a vast improvement in efficiency worldwide. In 2015, an algorithm was built that could recognise faces with an accuracy comparable to humans. For example, Facebook’s DeepFace is 97.4% accurate, just shy of the 97.5% human performance. In comparison to the FBI’s well known recognition algorithm which only reaches 85% accuracy. Facebook was able to achieve this as it figured out how to get two essential components of a human-level AI in place; architecture that could learn facial features and high-quality data labelled by millions of users who had tagged their friends in shared photos. In 2022, we should expect to see more strategic AI thinking, particularly from industry players.

Language is humanities most vital invention. It connects us all, in one way or another, and defines our human intelligence. The ability for computers to effectively understand all human language will completely transform and open up virtually limitless opportunities for brands, businesses, and creations across the world. Natural language processing (NLP) is a branch of AI within computer science that focuses on helping computers to understand the way that humans write and speak. This can prove difficult as it involves a multitude of unstructured data i.e., tone of voice is unique to individuals and is constantly evolving. Google’s Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil predicts that AIs will “achieve human levels of intelligence” by 2029.

Additionally, we should expect to see growth in AI Engineering. AI Engineers are in high demand this year and for good reason. These particular engineers have an impressive understanding of software engineering, programming, and data science. AI Engineers can build machine learning algorithms that can be used by businesses to make effective decisions, affecting the entire organisation, therefore increasing business value.

Cloud computing infrastructure is the backbone of the delivery pipeline of almost every digital service, from social media and streaming entertainment to the autonomous internet of things (IoT).

A study by IBM found that 2 in 3 businesses (64%) shifted to more cloud-based activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cloud computing (74%) and artificial intelligence (53%) are the top technologies expected to deliver the highest business results this new year.

Governments, organisations, and individuals that adopt sustainable technology in 2022 will allow better protection of natural resources, biodiversity and peoples health and well-being. According to Forrester, there are three key technologies that will affect sustainability; edge, IoT and networking. There will be an increase in demand for sustainability-related services powered by edge and IoT that will grow for energy efficiency and include resource management, supply chain processes and environmental monitoring.

Edge – edge computing, in its simplest form, moves portions of storage and compute resources out of the central data centre and closer to the source of the data itself. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created outside of centralised data centres. One benefit of Edge technology is it can be used to keep data close to its source and within the bounds of prevailing data sovereignty laws, such as the EU’s GDPR, which defines how data should be stored, processed, and exposed.

IoT – the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a system of interlinked, internet-connected objects that are able to collect and transfer data over a wireless network without human intervention. Examples we all know are Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home devices known as conversational artificial intelligence (AI) which are affordable and efficient for home use.

Networking – network technology uses data systems to handle and deliver digital resources through a computer network. In its simplest terms, network technology is used to exchange and transmit data between large and small information systems and are utilised mainly by institutions and companies. There are two types of network technology; based on transmission and based on scale.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 40% more green energy was generated and used in 2020; IEA expects continued growth in 2022. Additionally, we should expect to see massive growth in the production and usage of solar and wind technology, creating more value in the renewable energy technology sector. Most tech giants will spend 2022 implementing measures aimed at helping them achieve their net-zero carbon goals.

Unfortunately, the chip shortage will hinder overall IoT market growth by 10% to 15%. The world is suffering from a systemic shortage of chips. When you do a Zoom call, cloud data centres full of chips are working away to make that happen. Demand for cloud computing services from providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure is growing rapidly, but supply is struggling to keep up. Additionally, the automotive industry was hit hard by the microchip shortage.  The average car in 2010 contained US$300 worth of microchips. As cars become increasingly digital, that figure will likely rise to more than US$500 in 2022. One company that has managed to overcome this shortage is Elon Musk’s Tesla. Tesla sold 936,000 cars globally in 2021, an 87% increase for the year. When Tesla couldn’t get the chips it had counted on, it took the ones that were available and rewrote the software that operated them to suit its needs. Now companies such as Mercedes and Ford are hiring engineers and programmers to design their own chips and write their own software. Some analysts predicted that it could sell 2 million cars this year. However, Forrester predicts that this shortage won’t be resolved until mid-2023 so it will be long before supply reaches demand.

Written by Lucid Support

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