With more people than ever working, learning, and entertaining themselves at home, the demand for continuous advances in digital capabilities is growing exponentially. Over the next five years, the volume of digital data expected to be created will be more than double all of the data created since the advent of the digital age, according to 2021 industry research from IDC. Communications, media, and technology (CMT) industries will be front and center in this exponentially expanding world—a central hub through which data is generated, utilized, delivered, and consumed. Fortunately, big advances in CMT industries are enabling the seamless, memorable, efficient digital experiences that employees, partners, and consumers alike are demanding. Let’s explore four major trends that will define CMT industries in 2022 and beyond:

Remote work will transform the fundamentals of how people interact

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, businesses were suddenly forced to transition entirely to remote interactions—remote meetings and collaboration, remote management of employees and partners, remote buyer journeys, and closings of deals. These ways of doing business aren’t going away. Many CMT businesses will continue working remotely in 2022 and beyond, and others will transition to a hybrid model of in-person and remote interactions. Either way, technology will continue evolving to make every interaction in the business world as good as—if not better than—it was before the pandemic. Collaboration tools, cloud-based data management, and online video experiences will work synergistically to provide every employee, partner, and consumer with seamless, high-quality interactions and experiences—whether they’re in-person or remote. Meanwhile, the responsibility for continuously improving and enhancing this remote-first business world will fall on technology visionaries who will be filling digital experience and integration jobs that will be created in 2022 and beyond.

Web 3.0 will radically reshape digital experiences

Web 3.0 is a term used to describe the integration of multiple, next-generation digital advances: predictive analytics and AI to deliver unprecedented insights and intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) to decentralize data architecture and reimagine how people interact, and edge computing to shift data closer to where it’s being generated and used. This decentralized Web 3.0 ecosystem, which will be enabled by 5G internet, will make it possible for businesses to create much more personalized, customized interactions with employees, partners, and consumers. For example, in a retail environment, video surveillance of the showroom floor could be combined with sales data to shape decisions about how products are configured, marketed, and presented to consumers. Meanwhile, IoT sensors could be placed in the field—on equipment, on vehicles, in buildings—and combined with AI-powered capabilities to predict when repairs, downtimes, and other problems are imminent.

Businesses will reimagine how they interact with consumers

The Amazon model of customer service has conditioned consumers to count on instant gratification and access, as well as self-service and AI-powered services. Today, the Amazon model might seem like a gold standard that only the biggest, most direct competitors can afford to implement. But increasingly, it will become the standard adopted by CMT businesses. Underlying this paradigm shift will be a wholly different operating philosophy. CMT organizations won’t just be responsible for providing and delivering products and services; they also will be responsible for shaping the entire experience around the delivery of these products and services. For example, instead of traditional advertising and PR-based interactions, these businesses will look toward telling highly curated, mobile-first stories using streaming services and social media channels like YouTube and TikTok that engage and build direct personal connections with customers. Supporting these changes will be renewed focus on privacy and security; CMT businesses will be expected to implement transparent, customer-friendly policies and data architecture that build consumers’ trust and confidence. 

The enterprise-level tools of digital transformation will become democratized

Cloud-based digital transformation tools like Salesforce have long been used by larger CMT organizations to streamline, automate, and modernize their core operations. As these businesses have realized the benefits of digital transformation, these enterprise-grade tools have quickly become standardized and commonplace. Today, digital transformation tools offer more than just a competitive advantage to CMT organizations; they’ve become a necessity. The same transformation will accelerate inside smaller CMT organizations in 2022 and beyond. As smaller CMT organizations increasingly realize that digital transformation is essential, they will make the same strategic investment in their digital futures. Meanwhile, the accessibility and affordability of digital transformation will continue to rise, ensuring the true democratization of enterprise-level tools.

Now more than ever, CMT employees, partners, and consumers want seamless, memorable, efficient digital experiences that connect, educate, entertain, and inspire them. This seemingly insatiable appetite will be met in 2022 on multiple fronts: a transformation of the fundamentals of personal interaction propelled by the pandemic-era remote-work environment, a radical reshaping of digital experiences as a result of Web 3.0 advances, a wholly different approach to customer interactivity inspired by the Amazon service model, and much greater democratization of digital transformation tools. 

Simplus specializes in helping CMT organizations of all sizes design, implement, and manage next-generation digital ecosystems. To learn more about how partnering with Simplus can keep your organization at the cutting edge of digital innovation, please reach out to Simplus today. We’d love to help you future-proof your organization for long-term resilience and profitability.