Info-Tech releases 2022 tech trends
Info-Tech Research Group has released its annual tech trends and insights for the coming year
LONDON-BASED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY and research advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has released its annual tech trend insights for the coming year.
Info-Tech offers research, diagnostics and workshops to systematically improve IT departments, with the annual Tech Trends Report becoming the organization’s most highly anticipated release for technology trends and recommendations.
Info-Tech’s 2022 Tech Trends Report, based on insights from 475 IT professionals who participated in an industry survey, explores how ripple effects from the pandemic will impact the evolving digital economy in 2022.
“It’s clear that we’re not going to rebound to what business was like before the pandemic. Deterred from gathering in physical spaces, people have shifted much of their spending and activities to an online context. That’s why we’ve seen digital transformation accelerated over the last 20 months as companies either scramble to adapt to shifting customer expectations or get left behind” ―Brian Jackson
Info-Tech’s survey was fielded from August 2021 to September 2021 and included similar questions asked in previous reports for a holistic, year-over-year analysis. The underlying metrics for the 2022 report are diverse, with representation from 14 countries and regions and 16 Industries, including government, manufacturing, education, healthcare, financial services, construction and retail.
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“It’s clear that we’re not going to rebound to what business was like before the pandemic,” says Brian Jackson, research director for the CIO space at Info-Tech and one of the principal research leads for the 2022 Tech Trends Report. “Deterred from gathering in physical spaces, people have shifted much of their spending and activities to an online context. That’s why we’ve seen digital transformation accelerated over the last 20 months as companies either scramble to adapt to shifting customer expectations or get left behind.
“For leaders of IT departments, the opportunity is to help businesses grow revenue by enabling that digital transformation,” continues Jackson. “Info-Tech’s 2022 Tech Trends Report focuses on the IT capabilities that will have the most impact in that regard, demonstrating use cases for new technologies that will help advance the maturity of IT in the coming year.”
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The findings, coupled with exclusive analyst research and expert perspectives, indicate what technology strategies will be the highest priority for technology teams.
Five tech trends have been identified for 2022:
Hybrid collaboration: IT leaders will have an opportunity to lead hybrid work by facilitating collaboration between virtual and onsite employees for a digital employee experience that is flexible, contextual, and free from the friction of current hybrid operating models.
Battle against ransomware: Security strategies will need to adapt to the new calibre of ransomware threats to avoid operational disruption and reputational damage.
Carbon metrics in Energy 4.0: IT is well-positioned to support conscious decisions about how technology choices impact carbon emissions and implement effective tracking of emissions across the entire enterprise.
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Intangible value creation: Blockchain technology poses a new technological frontier that enables peer-to-peer exchange. Decentralized technologies will propel the digital economy and redefine how central banks distribute currency, and how platforms track provenance for scarce digital assets.
Automation as a Service (AaaS): Application programming interfaces (APIs) will accelerate innovation by unlocking marketplaces of ready-to-use solutions to solve business problems and automating manual tasks to make more time for creativity.
Info-Tech research director, CIO space, Brian Jackson
In addition to the top tech trends, the 2022 Tech Trends Report also lists the top research takeaways:
• Survey respondents revealed that only 18 per cent of employees want to return to the office while 70 per cent of employers want their staff back onsite. In 2022, it is believed that 79 per cent of organizations will have a mix of employees in the office and remote, with 35 per cent indicating that role type will be a determining factor in the feasibility of a hybrid model.
• 62 per cent of IT professionals say they are more concerned about being a victim of ransomware than they were one year ago, and 42 per cent feel employees must do much more to help defend against ransomware.
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• 2022 will see new laws from governments influencing an organization’s decision to reduce emissions. 68 per cent of organizations say they have a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The most popular approaches cited included retiring older IT equipment or using renewable energy sources.
• With the shift to remote work and the success of digital services due to Covid-19, 69 per cent of IT practitioners say digital transformation has been a high priority for their organization during the pandemic and indicate that it will remain a priority moving forward, with one-third of IT respondents saying their organizations were “extremely focused” on this shift.
The 2022 Tech Trends report also includes insights in the form of exclusive podcast audio, quotes, and case studies from technology experts at Microsoft, Intel, Zoho, and Farmers Edge, who spoke to Info-Tech about their experiences. There are also perspectives from leaders at Clio, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and S!NG, including Raine Maida, singer from Our Lady Peace and the chief product officer of S!NG.
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“We’ve collected case studies from the cutting-edge leaders to demonstrate how organizations can move from exploration of these external factors into the implementation of new technologies and processes to harness opportunities and negate threats in the coming year,” says Jackson. “By including excerpts from our Tech Insights podcast series, IT professionals can hear directly from the source. This annual report will enable technology leaders to position their teams to successfully support business growth in 2022, no matter the industry.”
To access the full report, click here. 