7 Tech Trends for 2022 that are Changing both IT and Business

As a business owner, you’ve seen a lot of development over the last few decades in technology. With the advent of widespread internet usage, prevalent use of cellular phones, social media, and rapid, large-scale data storage and exchange, our world has undergone significant changes that have redefined the way we work, live, play, purchase, and interact with one another. 

Over the past few years, we’ve moved even more rapidly toward greater numbers of us working from home and shopping from our living rooms. Remote workers and companies are solving the problems of dislocation and distance with superior tools for video conferencing, better networks, increased security, and more dynamic user experience. Let’s look at 7 tech trends changing the way we handle IT and run our businesses. 

Cybersecurity Mesh

Excellent security will forever be a top priority for us, even more so as we continue to increase remote work and home-based consumer services. A newer approach to network security, cybersecurity mesh presents businesses and organizations with a holistic and dynamic solution for protecting their most important data, communications and digital assets. 

Instead of the usual tactic of applying a top-down single wrap-around approach, with firewalls and all other security measures enclosing all systems and applications, cybersecurity mesh is about creating a unique set of security measures and gates for each area of your network. You have absolute control over the entire system, but the greater specificity affords security measures that match better with each area. With mesh, you can manage it all from a centralized point. This method is not only robust but flexible, with each node possessing its own perimeter. It all makes for greater control for an IT manager, better customer experience, and better security for every vital area of your organization. 

Artificial Intelligence

We’ve already watched as Ai has been integrated into several aspects of our professional and private lives. In truth, it’s more involved than we already think, with Ai now an important part of user experience and customer support, and in the smart automation of several functions that once had to be managed individually and watched continually. 

The use of artificial intelligence will grow even more this year and in those to follow. This isn’t simply within the tech industry, but everywhere we look. Our refinement of AI functionality and independence will allow us greater freedom as business owners to automate even more functions, predict consumer choices, solve network and user concerns, deal with security issues, and take care of basic actions, giving us back more time to focus on the core of our business and the things that matter to us.

Expect to see these changes within every sector, from the restaurant industry, to the financial services industry, and throughout healthcare, hospitality, production, and everywhere you can imagine. 

Big Data Analytics

Predictive analytics are being used in ever-increasing ways to forecast consumer, informational, and economic trends. It’s not merely about greater quantities of information, but the ways in which superior analytical systems and programs interpret this data more rapidly and accurately. This enables businesses to make strategic decisions sooner, spot problems before they get out of control, and prepare their offering of products and services based upon these trends. 

Privacy-Enhancing Computation

This practice secures the processing of personal data in untrusted areas. This is incredibly important, given the ever-changing environment of data and privacy protection laws, along with increasing consumer concern with data and identity protection. 

Privacy-enhancing computation uses multiple techniques to enable information-based value to be extracted from pieces of data while continuing to meet security requirements and consumer protection standards. 

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is an innovative form of distributed ledger, allowing companies to track transactions and conduct business with unverified parties without the assistance of traditional financial institutions. This technology has the ability to decrease conflict and increase security and transparency while promoting decentralization and access. 

According to the International Data Corporation, companies will spend almost $6.6 billion on blockchain solutions in 2021. This represents a 50 percent increase over the previous year. And this number is expected to grow more than $15 billion in 2024. Blockchain continues to disrupt several industries, from gaming and entertainment, to finance, consumer goods and services, and governance. Expect the widespread adoption of blockchain technology to grow even more in 2022. 

Autonomic Systems

These incredible solutions are innovative self-managed or physical software systems that continually learn from their environments and modify their own algorithms in real time. This enables your system to navigate and make intelligent changes dynamically, shifting its behavior to thrive in complex environments. 

These are agile technologies, equipping users with evolving systems that optimize performance, support new requirements, and defend against attacks without direct, human intervention. 

The Metaverse

Sounds like something from a superhero movie, doesn’t it? Thankfully, you don’t have to have any special powers to enjoy this growing interconnected realm. The metaverse refers to our digital reality combining social media, augmented reality, gaming, cryptocurrencies, and virtual reality, to open new pathways toward virtual user interaction. 

Technically, anything on the internet can be ascribed to the metaverse. But more specifically, it refers to the increasing way in which the multiple aspects of our life and interconnectivity are growing exponentially. This expanding system of links is allowing us to build more and better connections with people from all over the world, and to play, share, create, communicate, and innovate together. This web of connection will continue to change the way we do business, find consumer solutions, and build a more dynamic world. 

Maximizing on this reality takes dedication to new and specific technologies. Few companies have fully invested in their metaverse-enabling infrastructure. But we can expect more and more of them to adopt the resources they need to become a vital part of this growing environment. 

Conclusion

There are so many more technology trends we could dive into, enough to fill an entire book. But this should inspire you and your IT team to research new and exciting options that make your business smarter, faster, safer, and ready to meet the constantly shifting demands of our connected world. 

Tech Masters is your all-inclusive small business IT problem solver. We manage networks, fix complex breakdowns, protect you with robust security measures, and give you the tools you need to harness your data and make powerful business decisions. Contact us today to find out how good life and business can be with a dedicated IT partner. 

For answers to tech trend questions, check out our FAQs below. 

FAQ

What kinds of technologies can we expect to see grow in 2022?

That’s a long answer, too long to completely do it justice. But be on the lookout for increased security solutions, better analytics, and a greater adoption of blockchain technology, and dynamic artificial intelligence, which will help us predict behavior, manage networks, streamline consumer actions, and automate several tasks. 

How do I know what technologies are best for my business?

Every business has different needs. The individual nature of our companies means that solutions need to be tailored uniquely to each organization. Besides doing a great deal of your own research, it’s a good idea to have some detailed conversations with your IT department or your outsourced IT expert about cutting-edge solutions that might better equip and prepare you for our changing economic and data-driven climate. 

How do I stay informed about new technologies?

Subscribing to great tech magazines and trade journals like WIRED, Popular Mechanics, PC Mag, Scientific American, Forbes, Fortune, Consumer Reports, Harvard Business Review, and Entrepreneur is a good start. Additionally, keep in contact with industry experts in IT, computer science, consumer trends, and business management, and hold regular meetings with your IT professional to discuss new technologies for your business.