5 Digital Global Trends 2022

Perception about digital trend has taken on a new meaning during the past few years. The interest continues to grow and the reach continues to expand. The authors thoughts on AI, Data, Communications, Networking and Marketing.

There were many predictions by renowned world leaders about the various changes that would place in the digital space and most of them came true. The pandemic was the lint that was required to ignite the ever growing importance of technology. A few things are definitely clear that is bound to hit the world in the next couple of years.

[1.] #telecommunications: Communicating with #5G : This trend is already changing, and we will see it happen even faster in 2022. 5G milli meter wave deployments in urban and densely populated environments, alongside continued roll outs of low-band 5G expansions into rural markets. As an example, currently AT&T 5G mmWave network is only available in 38 cities. Other carriers like T-Mobile and Verizon have been more aggressive expanding their mmWave coverage. One can say is that the superior experience will drive consumers to adopt networks and devices that support it.

Carriers around the world are also following suit deploying mmWave, especially throughout large parts of Asia. The Beijing Winter #Olympics a massive test for 5G mmWave this winter with many supported devices and networks being stood up just to make sure the best connectivity is available. However, some companies, even notably innovative ones are being slow to completely buy in to mmWave. Apple, for instance, adopted it in the U.S. for its iPhones but made a decision to not support mmWave for iPhone 13 devices outside of the U.S. I believe this was a foolish bet, whereas most other big device makers like Samsung are putting mmWave in all of their flagship devices.

[2.] #WFH : The mega shift of work environment and how tech has changed the culture of working, With some employees working from the office and others still working from home, organisations are going to need technologies that seamlessly enable collaboration regardless of location. Only 8% of conference rooms around the globe are equipped to handle video conferencing. The good news? Collaboration companies are taking note.

September 2021 was a huge month of announcements from #Zoom, Poly, Cisco, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. We can expect to see software and hardware tools that will improve meeting equity and enable a level of unmatched collaboration. Intelligent cameras and collaboration systems equipped with AI will make it easier to identify which speaker is talking. Companion modes will offer a unified device experience for all participants.

Hybrid work advancements will happen outside of the conference room too with cloud PC offerings, improved VDI experiences and more tools that will make it easier to work from anywhere.

The work shift is also leading to a change in how we interact and function with our software to enable us to be more productive. This is leading the tech industry to build new operating systems for work where instead of living in our inbox, ERP, CRM, digital marketing or productivity tools, we are employing platforms enterprise wide where the epicenter is collaboration.

[3.] #evcar , #smartcars, #smartcity : infrastructure development in smart cities are in hyperdrive and while some may feel like Tesla is leading the charge, there are a plethora of players making this happen and it’s going to be good for sustainability and for the future of automotive. Companies like Plus, Mobileye, NVIDIA, Luminar, and Qualcomm (including Arriver) have spent the last year (or more) furthering the software-defined vehicle, but the thing that I really see improving in the coming year is advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Currently we’ve seen a lot of success with Level 2+ ADAS testing and demos. That’s when the vehicle controls steering and acceleration, but all tasks are still monitored by a human and a human can take over at any time. IAA 2021 was full of organisations with announcements in this area, but all trends still point to eyes being on breakthroughs for Level 4 ADAS or fully autonomous operation where a human does not need to intervene. Who doesn’t want to break out the laptop and enjoy a cup of coffee while our vehicle takes us to wherever we are trying to go?

[4.] #AI and #Automation : 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is created every day around the world, But that data is only as good as the AI systems we use to manage, regulate, and mine it for insights. The work that many organizations continued in 2021 with new use cases for AI will continue to expand as organizations realize the power that AI can hold for solving problems better, faster, and at scale.

In 2021, we saw Amazon launch its Astro in-home robot that uses powerful processing and inference to deliver ambient intelligence and continue to push the envelop of how AI and Automation can be part of our personal lives. We have become familiarised with this in our everyday interactions with Alexa or Siri or Google. This will continue to become more useful in 2022. NVIDIA has been pushing the boundaries of conversational AI with Jarvis, and this has further democratised conversational AI for app developers around the world. We will see more of this in the coming year.

[5.] #privacy : The privacy rule will take on the world by its neck, rules are going to get tighter and privacy begins to get more importance. Apple has been incredibly vocal in its advertising about its all-in approach to user privacy. Their ad campaign from earlier this year emphasised the fact that they view themselves—or would like customers to view them—as a privacy company, the secure alternative that cares about who has access to your data. But that’s not where the conversation ends.

With the massive volume of data that we volunteer to apps, e-commerce, and other social media sites, we have created a world where tech companies have to balance best of breed experiences with more robust and thoughtful data management practices. To give the best experiences, data is required. However, are we being thoughtful about all of the data that we need to collect and how often we collect it? What we monitor, and why?

The next wave of big tech regulation that I mentioned above, will almost certainly have a significant privacy bend. The confluence of the data big tech companies have and algorithms that are used to serve our experiences has the opportunity to provide us a world class experience tailored to our every need, or to drive us down a rabbit hole of emotionally charged content that can drive us into the bowels of humanity. AI, layered with almost unfettered data growth, access, and collection will need a closer to look to balance how we opt-in and opt-out. How companies are managed if data breaches occur, and how to help businesses and consumers protect themselves from the misuse of data that may have been accessed from an app or infrastructure product that we trust to protect our data.

In 2022, organizations that relied on data collected through apps and other third-parties will need to augment their data collection policies. CDP’s from a laundry list of top software vendors like Twilio, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, Adobe Experience Platform, Salesforce, Treasure Data, and Oracle to lead this category with each taking a slightly different approach to making the customer view more extensible. Customers are used to amazing customer experiences that require data to happen. Orgs will need to find new sources of data and determine how to collect and manage all of it in an open and honest manner that will enable the same level of customer experience. It won’t be an easy undertaking, but it will be critical for success.