There Is a Silver Lining Inside This Cloud of Gloom

While the entire world holds its collective breath waiting to see if there will be another new pandemic strain, and yet another year of continued isolation, technology firms across the globe are busy making huge strides in improving communications, healthcare, education and many other key sectors. Yes, unfortunately, we are still technically in a pandemic, we are still communicating, shopping and learning remotely, supply-chain issues continue to be an issue, masking mandates are causing political and social debates and all of the issues associated with COVID have taken a huge toll on all of us for the last two years. Yet, we are now seeing a slow return to optimism, over 80 percent of channel firms are feeling great about the year to come, they are focused on new business growth, and increasing budgets to invest in new business models, new digital transformation tools, improved cyber security measures, hiring managing service providers and adopting exciting new AI software technologies (April, 2021).

And even though there seems to be a giant cloud of gloom that has hovered over the world for the last few years, the reality is, there is a silver lining coming out of all that we have experienced. For example, in the fields of healthcare and life sciences we have seen amazing advancements in Covid vaccine and drug developments that are pushing the industry to new and exciting heights (Uzzaman, 2021). New advancements in communication technology are driving increases in Telehealth visits and reducing the need for in-house doctor visits which will be a big convenience for many people.

And finally let’s not forget to mention the biggest Godsend of all to come out of all of this gloom is working from home. Unfortunately, it took a pandemic to convince business leaders that new advancements in technology and dramatically improved IT infrastructures would successfully allow key personnel to work remotely. In fact, a recent Lenovo research study shows that 83 percent of IT leaders expect at least half of work in the future will be remote and continued improvements in audio and visual technology will help create new opportunities and efficiencies to take remote business practices to the next level (Rossi, 2021). And for those who are not able to work remotely, new technology advancements in office designs, are creating better employee experiences with an improved sense of personal space.

References

April, C. (2021). CompTIA’s IT Industry Outlook 2022: A Return to Strategy. CompTIA. https://connect.comptia.org/blog/comptia-s-it-industry-outlook-2022-a-return-to-strategy

Rossi, L. (2021). 10 Technology Trends That Will Shape The Hybrid Reality In 2022 And Beyond. Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/10-technology-trends-for-2022-beyond-2022-1

Uzzaman, A. (2021). The Top 10 Technology and Business Trends of 2022. INC. https://www.inc.com/anis-uzzaman/the-top-10-technology-business-trends-of-2022.html