What can the tech industry hope for in 2022

24 Jan 2022 , 09:40 AM

If one word could describe 2021, it would be disruption. While the pandemic upended economies, technology transformed businesses.  Leaders had to rethink operations and supply chain models, find out ways to process data faster, manage hybrid work models and meet fast evolving customer needs. What became clear in 2021 is that the future won’t wait for businesses to evolve. The time to adapt, evolve and reconfigure processes and systems is now.

International Data Corporation’s (IDC) worldwide semi-annual services tracker reported that the Indian IT services market grew by 7.3 per cent in the first half of 2021, compared to the 5.7 per cent growth in the same period last year. But what does 2022 hold for the industry?

The same report said that The IT and business services market is projected to reach $19.93 billion by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 8.2% between 2020-2025.

How will we get there? Well, here are a few anticipated trends.

Businesses will have to be future centric 

I recently read a Statista report which stated that global spending on digital transformation is predicted to jump by 20 per cent annually to over $1.8 trillion next year. This means that technology architecture cannot be entrenched in tradition but will have to be flexible and responsive to security threats, will need to customise responses for clients and invest in AI, cloud foundation, Robotic Process Automation, Natural Language Processing and a lot more. Innovation will become normative and technology-driven solutions will replace tedious manual work. Organisational and technological strategies will become intertwined more than ever. Digital services and cloud computing verticals of IT companies will grow substantially, thanks to the growing demand for online services.

Hybrid work spaces will serve various needs

At no time in history have so many employees in the tech industry transitioned to the WFH model but with time, hybrid work spaces will grow in order to serve diverse needs of clients  and to address security issues connected with data privacy. The pandemic has shown that not all work needs to be done in structured environments. Work environments will increasingly grow seamless and the borderless talent pool will allow companies to source skilled employees from virtually anywhere in the world. Investment in Multiparty Systems (MPS) will also increase to create diverse and reliable ecosystems.

Skilling will become critical

According to 2014 India Skill Report, India needs 700 million skilled workers by 2022 and has a large youth population that if adequately skilled can be a transformative force. This is why through digital outreach, skilling initiatives and vocational, cognitive, interpersonal and technological training, we must make the most of this demographic dividend.  By making digital literacy equitable across economic and social divides, we can prepare our youth to join the global workforce and earn sustainable livelihoods. To achieve this, in 2022, and in the years to come, corporations and institutions will have to synergise to create modules that go beyond rote learning and teach students to apply their knowledge to their chosen fields and become future ready. 

Quantum computing will show the way  

More and more tech giants like Visa, JP Morgan, Volkswagen, Google, Alibaba, IBM and Microsoft are investing in Quantum computers to accelerate the speed of laborious processes, manage cumbersome data, and to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs. Science and medicine, BFSI and renewable energy are only some of the areas that can be potentially transformed by quantum computing. Like hyper automation, quantum computing will also decide how quickly we reach goals that were once considered over a decade away but now seem achievable, thanks to the urgency unleashed by the pandemic. We are living in exciting and challenging times and technology, I have no doubt, technology will prove to be a great resource as it leads us into the future.

The author of this article is Mr. Alok Bansal, MD Visionet Systems India & Global Head BFSI Business

The views and opinions expressed are not of IIFL Capital Services, indiainfoline.com