Business trend predictions for 2022

Global, Feb 1, 2022

Logicalis Group CEO Bob Bailkoski, sat down with us and talked us through his top three predictions for the year ahead:

Sustainability and reducing carbon footprint

Sustainability or de-carbonisation is a key area of focus for businesses going into 2022. The world is committed to ensuring global temperatures don’t rise more than 1.5 degrees, but this needs true dedication from businesses to support political efforts. Logicalis’ Global CIO Survey 2021 discovered that the large majority (98%) of CIOs are accelerating their business’ digital transformation plans. However, businesses are also considering how their digital transformations can ensure they are sustainable and in line with responsible modern business practices.

Technology gives businesses the opportunity to develop their approaches to reducing their carbon footprint. For instance, Cisco recently made their biggest pledge yet to bring greenhouse gas emissions for their whole value chain down to net-zero by 2040 and reach net zero for their own emissions by 2025. As part of this, they are developing more efficient technologies and recently condensed 2,300 elements into a single computer chip, using 96% less electricity than its predecessor. From sending nearly a ton of equipment to customers, they are now able to ship something closer to the size of a pizza box, massively offsetting carbon impacts. 

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Our role as a partner is to not only help customers reach the most efficient solutions but to demonstrate ways to reduce carbon footprint or offset the overall environmental impact. On top of this, a business's commitment to sustainability and strategies to offset its carbon footprint will impact its ability to attract top talent. Current and future employees want visibility into employers’ actions when it comes to sustainability. If businesses can’t showcase how they are deploying sustainable initiatives, they risk losing valuable talent.

Resource scarcity leading to an evolution of managed services

The war on talent and a global shortage of digital skills is leading organisations to look elsewhere for resources to support business success. In cybersecurity alone, there are over 3 million global vacancies, so businesses are relying on managed services partners to fill the gap. Managed services have traditionally been focused on ensuring that the tech is running smoothly at all times.

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2022 will be the year of experiential managed services, where MSPs will be focused on the business outcome that they are delivering. Managed services will help to overcome the challenges businesses are facing – from employee engagement and satisfaction to productivity and collaboration. Businesses want to see the impact their technology is having on the business rather than just considering it as a utility. Successful managed services will be key to measuring business progress and driving overall growth.

Attracting younger generations

The skills that organisations need today are very different to what they needed 10 years ago, and this will continue to evolve. Businesses need Coders, DevOps Engineers and App Developers - all skills that are predominantly coming from millennials and Gen Z. Businesses must ensure they are appealing to this rising generation of workers. 

As digital natives, they have implicit skillsets that other generations don’t. Businesses need to be taking a less ‘command and control’ approach to attracting these new workers and avoid losing out to competitors. Hybrid working is a key tool and critical feature to attract this next generation of employees. As such, organisations could enable secure working practices from anywhere in the world, enjoying seamless connectivity to allow effective collaboration. Offering that flexibility and modern working methods will drive talent attraction and retention and ultimately ensure business success.

 

 

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