The Emerging Technologies That Will Shape the Work in 2022
I was walking on the street. I saw a woman selling corn cob. I did not have any cash. She said you can pay online. She also had a QR code for easy payment. “The QR code can be easily created using a QR code generator.” Then she told me that I can order online, and home delivery is also available. This is a pandemic after-effect. I would not have even imagined this three years back.
When we were fighting the pandemic, technology turned out to be our best option to remain social while maintaining social distancing. We got so used to technology in the past couple of years that technology has become the way of life.
This has also changed the dynamics of the technology market. Hundreds of companies are investing in solving real-life problems by developing technology solutions to further improve the experience and adoption. The pandemic has already changed the way we work, the way we live, and the way we interact.
However, it does not stop here. Technology is emerging and so are we. Here are the 6 emerging technologies that will share the work in 2022. I will explain them by giving a personal example so that you can relate to it.
Artificial Intelligence
I started receiving an email every morning. The email tells me about the tasks I should finish, the emails I should respond to, and the documents I should read to attend the scheduled meetings. It took me a while to realize that it is an artificial intelligence engine that is scanning my emails, and my calendar and helping me in planning my day.
This is only one aspect of Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence has conveniently started walking in the corridors of our life and work. As it learns and matures, It will add much more value than it is adding right now.
Personalized Embedded Analytics
I went through my YouTube channel. There was a dashboard for me. It showed me the performance of each of my videos. It also educated me on the target audience, sites that refer my videos to the target audience, demographics of my audience, consumption pattern, and the trend of consumption for each of my videos.
The same is happening on the business side where a similar level of personalized analytics is being made available on each business application to each business user.
Smarter Devices
I was sitting in a conference room in the office. Suddenly the lights switched off. I looked up. The sensors sensed a movement and the lights switched on again. Lights have become smarter. In a similar fashion, TVs have become smarter. Phones have become smarter. Voice Assistants have become smarter.
More so, these devices are becoming so smart that they have started sensing the environment and interacting with each other. This year these devices will drastically increase after the availability of 5G connectivity to interact with each other. These smarter devices and 5G data speeds are bound to make the work easier.
Remote Working Tools
I got an invitation to attend an event. It was a phygital event. Despite the desire to hold physical events. People have realized the value of connecting digitally. Hence, things are not the same, the way they were two years back.
Remote work is acceptable now. Remote working tools got embedded in the work. These tools are undergoing a transformation in the area of collaboration, communication, productivity enhancement, and governance.
Cloud and Edge
I was writing this article on my laptop using google docs. The power went off. I switched and started writing on my phone. I did not lose even a single word. I have a history of all the changes. Nothing gets deleted, I do not need to save anything, everything is saved.
This device-agnostic cloud computing gives confidence to organizations that their data is safe and gives flexibility to employees to work from anywhere. A new variant of cloud computing which is popularly known as edge computing, allows processing to happen at the user end even when internet connectivity is not there.
Cyber Security
My laptop browser tells me how many cyber-attacks it deflected and my phone tells me which of my passwords might have been compromised in the data leaks and I need to change those passwords.
The digital age has come with digital threats. When your most valuable asset i.e. your data is under threat then mitigating these threats becomes a full-time job.
Addendum
Apart from these, there are many more emerging technologies like quantum computing, extended reality, augmented reality, virtual reality, robotics, 3D printing, blockchain, and drones which have the potential of shaping the world in 2022. These technologies can impact work in different sectors including education, health, financial services, agriculture, retail, hospitality, and many more sectors.
However, the extent of impact will depend upon macroeconomic factors and the political stability across the globe. Still, one thing is certain, 2022 is a very unusual year that will have a long-lasting impact on the future of work.
