We are witnessing a raft of technological developments restructuring how we live and work, writes Kevin Akaloo, head of national sales at Iron Mountain South Africa.
The events of the past two years have transformed how we interact with businesses and our expectations of what technology can deliver. The pandemic forced us to be apart but technology brought us together, both from a personal and business perspective as people spent more time online connecting with loved ones, studying, shopping and working.
Currently, we are witnessing a raft of technological developments that are restructuring how we live and work. We now live in an era of fast-tracked and far-reaching digital transformation as a post-pandemic South Africa aims to boost its economic recovery. Organisations must embrace technological innovation to remain relevant in an evolving business environment. With this reality in mind, these are the top five business trends that organisations should embrace in 2022:
Ascending to the cloud
The most pervasive effect of the pandemic has been the switch to online shopping and hybrid working – both of which are here to stay. And, as a result, enterprises of all sizes have started, or are accelerating, their migration to the cloud. The flexibility this delivers is essential in the current business climate but the rush to cloud risks eclipsing the value contained in IT hardware.
Legacy kit has value – it often contains business-critical data, so disposing of it securely and effectively is essential. That’s why businesses of all sizes need to establish and maintain a secure IT asset disposition (ITAD) programme.
Failing to properly dispose of end-of-life equipment not only has serious ramifications – leaked data can impact bottom-line performance and damage brand reputation – it can also have serious environmental concerns. When choosing an ITAD partner always ensure that it includes a secure chain of custody.
A smart approach to business processes
The uptake of digital business tools is helping enhance the transition from physical to digital workflows. This is improving business agility and enhancing customer service. It is also generating data, which in turn delivers new insights through artificial intelligence (AI), ideally paired with cloud storage. This creates the optimum combination of speed and security.
But for the best results, each business needs to develop an individually tailored solution. Many have already witnessed the development of an array of cloud-based AI solutions, optimised for industry-specific tasks. Cloud-based AI solutions are allowing organisations to securely and efficiently automate manual tasks and generate and leverage more business-critical insight from their data.
The arrival of 5G also allowed a growing number of processes to take place beyond the cloud. Next-generation digital media services, such as augmented reality and ultra-HD, drive processing power to the edge. By 2025, Gartner predicts that enterprise-generated data that is created and processed outside a traditional centralised data centre or cloud will rise from 10% to 75%.
A token arrangement
Potentially the biggest step into the unknown comes in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Web 3.0, which enables businesses to interact with more-tech savvy customers.
An NFT is a unique digital identifier, or label, recorded in blockchain that cannot be copied, replicated or divided. It acts as a certificate of ownership and authenticity for a specific digital asset that also contains rights related to its use.
Web 3.0, meanwhile, encompasses an array of next-generation web-based apps that will be able to create data in human-like ways thanks to a range of tools including AI, big data analytics and decentralised ledger technology (DLT).
Taken in combination with NFTs, businesses are not only able to rebrand themselves for the Millennial and Gen Z generations, they will eventually allow established industry leaders to expand their portfolios and create new value streams, according to Deloitte.
Pushing the bounds of reality
The ‘gamification’ of the business world becomes an everyday reality as a result of the accelerated uptake of augmented and virtual reality – AR and VR.
These technologies were originally developed for gaming applications but their uses and benefits are starting to be used by businesses to drive engagement and empower employees and customers.
Their applications include the development of immersive training sessions and an array of interactive marketing tools capable of unlocking vital information on customer behaviour patterns.