The Altered Course Of Digital Revolution In the Coming Year The market will continue to be heavily influenced by how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out and how policymakers and entrepreneurs respond to the subsequent economic challenges
By Ritesh Malik
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The coronavirus pandemic struck a devastating blow to the business world. It is a major understatement that 2020 was not the best year to open a recreational business such as a yoga class or a theme park. However, despite the overwhelming evidence in favor of the belief that the business world was dealt a terrible hand by the pandemic, looking back at the data of the past two years, we see that pent up consumer demand coupled with a digital metamorphosis of both the business world as well as the household has led to a powerful comeback for the industries of the future, with many companies now reporting close to pre-COVID level revenues, even in industries that seemingly suffered due to the incessant lockdowns, including, but not limited to, auto companies and shopping malls are reporting revenues and footfalls close to pre-COVID times, which is nothing short of an unbelievable economic phenomenon.
It's no surprise then that for 2022, the market will continue to be heavily influenced by how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out and how policymakers and entrepreneurs respond to the subsequent economic challenges both globally and locally. The pandemic may have altered the course of the ongoing digital revolution.
Digital technology and the internet of things
The accelerated momentum experienced by the digital industry is unlikely to stop anytime soon. Added to this are signs that the detrimental shortage of semiconductor chips may also begin to ease by the second half of the year. Over the course of the pandemic, the Internet-of-Things (IoT) has desegregated itself into an identity of its own, not just as separate from the physical world, but seamlessly an equal part of it one can access at any moment without any restrictions.
This business transformation will also be aided by the increased availability of 5G. It seeks to maximize bandwidth and minimize latency. This will increase infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) growth.
Since 2020, the pandemic-fueled boom enabled a tech explosion driving growth to cloud, SaaS, collaboration, devices, and basically any technology that enabled commerce, communication, and productivity.
Remote Work
Despite the growing need for unhindered communication for the business world and management, only 8 per cent of conference rooms around the globe are equipped to handle video conferencing. It is, however, fallacious to assume that collaboration companies aren't closing this vacuum. Intelligent cameras that can trace the facial movements of the speakers, companion modes and hybrid work advancements will transform telecommunication faster than anyone can predict, since only few can truly fathom the power of innovating R&D combined with strong manufacturing and distribution channels.
Distributed Enterprises
Even a few years ago, the concept of a remote workforce was unsustainable as far as most businesses could see. Now that the limits of technology are being pushed further and further by both necessity and desire, we have started to refine as well as experiment with the concept of a hybrid force, where working from home or office is a matter of choice.
Healthcare industry and biotech
The global biotechnology industry is valued at $299 billion, and is expected to reach $2.44 trillion by 2028. It is thus critical that biotechnology be used to solve the most complex human challenges.
Machine learning and AI, the rise of bots
Artificial intelligence (AI) has, through the prediction of the greatest minds humanity has ever known, proven to be one of the most transformative and prevalent technologies ever made.
The future of the human workforce is slowly proving to be aiding and maintaining their AI counterparts and fill-in any qualitative gaps in skills they may have before advancing further. As more time passes, we find ourselves performing more and more tasks by systems that require less and less input from its users.
Renewable energy and sustainability
A major highlight with the climatic oddities in 2020 is the urgent need for sustainable models of generating energy. As more and more authorities around the world begin to recognize the war against climate change as genuine and vital, we are witnessing drastic planning around the rise of renewable energy such as biofuels, liquid hydrogen and nuclear fission.
Cryptocurrency and bitcoin
Despite its nature as a highly volatile investment, cryptocurrency has proven to be a vital form of hedging compared to stocks and gold as a form to reduce systemic risk. Amazon, Tesla, and El Salvador have all worked to legitimize cryptocurrency as a legal tender.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a field that is only seeing exponential growth as the cyberworld becomes more expansive and less cautious. As more and more vital operations are conducted over the internet, leakers, hackers and embezzlers tend to target the weakest of these networks and may, in fact, cause irrecoverable damage to these businesses or the industries themselves. As such, there is always a lot of room to develop software within this area.
The current legacy tools are less than adequate for providing complete cybersecurity, and investing here may no longer be a choice, but a necessity for both the government and the corporate world if they wish to maintain their accelerated reliance on the IoT. The CSMA test is, currently, one of the most reliable methods to assess Cybersecurity of a software against conventional breaches.
