Three other data-driven trends will also shape how 2022 will pan out amid the ongoing global health and governance trust crisis.

As the eventful year gradually fades out (but not the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems), four key trends are on cue to prevail in 2022: emerging technologies and executive strategies; data security; IT Observability; and Public-private collaborations. 

Underpinning these trends is the importance of smart data management, as a report from Splunk indicates.

The four trends and predicted outcomes from their prevalence revolve around the power of data; cloud acceleration, the customer journey, according the authors: 

  • Emerging technologies and executive strategies
    • As businesses find their balance, expect an M&A bonanza

      Businesses that were able to significantly reinvest during the downturn have become more agile. And as organizations recover in the pandemic, hard-hit industries will bounce back; however, those that invested aggressively in digital strategies will get stronger while those with less aggressive strategies will still struggle.

    • New approach to talent management

      Just as it turbocharged digital transformation the pandemic accelerated workforce change. There will be new urgency to promote employee well-being while aligning a remote-workforce future with new ways of working securely.

    • Edge computing will live up to the hype

      The major cloud providers are making strategic bets on edge architects, and the technology, bolstered by growing compute power and 5G-IoT, will become a natural extension of enterprise environments.

  • Data security
    • Cybercriminals ramp up professionalization

      Ransomware is the biggest security threat to most organizations today. As bad as the prominent ransomware and supply chain attacks of the few years have been, they will be worse together. It is essential to plan for the inevitability of ransomware attacks to reduce the time and cost of recovery.

    • Cyber hygiene as an organization’s best defense

      With many enterprise networks funneling through employees’ home Wi-Fi setup, basic security diligence is the new corporate network perimeter. Consistent security practices including multifactor authentication, prompt and full patching; and asset identification can help avert major breaches.

  • IT observability
    • Rushed cloud migrations left serious gaps in customer experience, time to take stock

      Observability will become essential for organizations looking to understand how their complex webs of cloud services are actually performing, providing teams with the ability to observe, understand and act on their data to improve the customer journey.

    • Observability and AIOps will converge

      As organizations increasingly recognize the importance of taking action on observability and their data with machine learning, the inextricable link between observability and AIOps will become commonplace by the end of 2022

  • Public-private collaborations

    The cyber threat landscape is simply too vast, and evolving too quickly, for anyone to go it alone. It is imperative to take a whole-of-nation approach to defend against the most significant cyber threats, including threats to critical infrastructure.

    Combining industry and government efforts on planning, threat analysis, and defensive operations is the most effective way to combat cyber threats, including nation-state attacks. Only strong, consistent public-private partnerships can help preempt cybersecurity threats and boost protection.

According to the firm’s President and Chief Growth Officer, Teresa Carlson: “By leveraging the power of data, we can take immediate action to create solutions. Over the next year, data will be at the forefront in empowering leaders to rapidly innovate and bring groundbreaking ideas to market in a  hybrid and multi-cloud world.”