Predictions | 12.02.2021

Six Technology Predictions for 2022: Installment Two of Three

Seamless collaboration, automation and safety are growing stronger.

3. Cybersecurity Scrutiny

The past year has proved that security is inherently complex and should be tightly designed and integrated into all aspects of an IT infrastructure. NWN Carousel helps customers move from a reactive to a proactive security posture with an integrated cloud security as-a-service offering, including self-service analytics allowing quick response to security threats.

Forward-thinking enterprises, into 2022, will ensure their tech stack includes security risk assessments, supply chain planning and business continuity management.  Organizations will reassess their overall IT strategy focusing on how to better plan for the return to office and the adoption of more SaaS type solutions.

Customers will move away from reactive environments, which makes the security architecture even more difficult to manage and maintain, and migrate to a proactive environment.  Broader adoption and refinement of industry trends will take priority, such as:

  • Secure Access Services Edge (SASE)
  • Extended Detection and Response (XDR); and
  • Zero Trust Security Architecture (ZTSA) 

Companies will look at a platform-approach to security which will reduce some of their operational costs through consolidation.  The goal is to reduce the number of security vendors they implement and need to manage. 

“Unfortunately, many organizations reactively jumped on some bandwagons and bought into the hype around poorly defined industry trends and bought new point solutions to mitigate immediate risks.

As a result, they have implemented more overlapping technologies instead of looking to see how they can better leverage what they have already invested in.”

Zane West, NWN Carousel Security Vice President

Looking Ahead: There will be stricter government regulated security oversight, which will hold organizations accountable for breaches and compromises. Insurance companies will likely also have more stringent prerequisites for cybersecurity thresholds. 

4. Visual Collaboration Health & Safety 

The pandemic fueled a surge in cloud, SaaS, and collaboration technologies and also led to a major chip shortage in many device types worldwide. Into 2022, we will continue to experience delays in production from devices to audio visual equipment. However, working with a CCSP like NWN Carousel allows a customer to plan ahead with minimal impact to the business. 

In 2021, the Visual Collaboration industry accelerated and now it has evolved to simpler solutions that are more cost-effective.  This ongoing simplification of technology will continue into 2022 with more as-a-service offerings, such as huddle rooms that are bundled and purchased on an as-needed basis. Organizations that have adopted collaboration tools understand technology is evolving rapidly causing little need to “own” the assets anymore.

Cloud Communications Service Providers, such as NWN Carousel, are driving as-a-service models and wrapping additional valued services into the offerings. These offerings also include virtual cloud platforms that enhance the user experience by including features simulating a more natural interaction.

Safety and health will be at the forefront of next year. Advances in technology will be used for smarter buildings and room capacity warnings. For example in the hotel industry, being able to self-guide customers through digital signage and break up large conference rooms into smaller huddle rooms.  Smart technology will continue to be used to lower room capacity using digital signage to indicate limits.

“Virtual reception has been very impactful where you walk into a building, scan a QR code at the front desk, and occupancy allowance displays on your smartphone. If permitted to enter, a floor plan appears on your smartphone with the available temporary desk. Through our Experience Management Portal, you have one pane of glass to see multiple tool sets, that are customized for that particular customer. This has been very impactful from gaining efficiencies, reporting, and analytics.”

Brian Fichter, NWN Carousel Visual Collaboration Vice President

If you’re curious about the possibility of Virtual Reality becoming a trend in the near-future, our experts say not too fast. Augmented Reality, however, is gaining more traction because AR uses a real-world setting while VR is completely virtual. AR allows users to control their presence in the real world and can be accessed with a smartphone while VR users are controlled by the system and require a headset device. AR enhances both the virtual and real-world while VR only enhances a fictional reality.  Not a ton of traction in the marketplace just yet for VR and AR but more to come.

Looking ahead: With many new collaboration users entering the remote workplace, companies have not planned for a CAPEX budget to fund this strategy. Many will opt for an OPEX budget until there’s a better understanding of the long-term impact.

Experience Management Platform

Our Experience Management Platform (EMP) delivers a unified view into your environment – from core to cloud – providing you with advanced analytics, reporting, service desk, and proactive alerting.

NWN Unified Communications

NWN Visual Collaboration & Workspace

NWN Security