Technology Business Trends (2022): Sustainability, Scarcity, and Talent Innovation


Get ahead with this comprehensive guide on technology trends and their organizational impact. Tailored for CIOs, it offers a roadmap for aligning technology with business goals, fostering innovation, and building a resilient, future-proof enterprise.


This technology business trends report is an annual exploration of ways technology will shape business. It describes and organizes trends in technologies that have transformative potential. Trends the c-Suite must pay attention to because we live in an era of uncertainty and to thrive, businesses must recognize and respond to a rapidly changing environment, fluently adjusting their strategy to the challenges and opportunities they encounter, transforming both business and technology in a continuous cycle.

The experts in this research see organizations building more digital and leadership capabilities, addressing culture and promoting the exploration of new, innovative technologies and platforms. Yet, while organizations focus more on upskilling employees than ever before, the increase is much less significant in soft skills areas such as emotional intelligence, adaptability, and collaboration.

This issue identifies three key business imperatives:

  • Sustainability
  • Scarcity
  • Talent Innovation

And the technologies that can help organizations address them:

  • Edge computing
  • Mesh Technologies
  • Augmented Reality

CIOs can use these business technology trends to modify or craft an IT Strategy or to start a dialog with the business about technology drivers. Staying ahead of the curve is the name of the game in technology business management.

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, the reliance on technology has reached an unprecedented level. With the merger of physical and virtual worlds, self-learning robots, and imminent advancements in quantum computing, organizations find themselves at a crossroads. While technology has become an integral part of business operations, its rapid evolution leaves little time for enterprises to adapt. The challenge isn't merely staying updated with the latest trends; it's about understanding their implications and crafting strategies that align with overarching business goals.

Amidst this complexity, the internal dialogue within organizations often lacks cohesion and direction. Business units, roles, and technological affinities tend to operate in silos, making unified decision-making an uphill battle. Additionally, the myriad of technological trends, each impactful in its own unique way, creates a labyrinth that professionals find hard to navigate. The result? Missed opportunities, inefficient implementations, and a reactive rather than proactive stance on technological adaptation.

But what if there was a structured framework to make sense of it all? One that not only identifies and outlines key technological trends but does so in a manner that's digestible, actionable, and tailored for a range of professionals, from tech experts to business leaders. With contributions from pre-eminent experts across various domains, this report provides succinct technology trend summaries. These are organized into six well-defined categories, ranging from user experience and collaboration to data and process automation, and infrastructure and applications. An additional seventh category offers overarching design principles that tie everything together, helping you apply these trends to real-world scenarios effectively.

Furthermore, to avoid the pitfalls of sequential or compartmentalized thinking, this business technology trends report uses a holistic, circular framework. This puts user experience and collaboration at its heart, indicating that technology should not just serve functional needs but should also foster engagement, creativity, and community.

By offering concise, to-the-point summaries within each category, this report ensures that you don't just understand these business technology trends but can also implement them in a meaningful way. So, whether you're evaluating a strategy, pondering over a new project, or simply looking to understand what's making waves in the tech world, this trends report is your one-stop solution. It's not just about following trends; it's about leveraging them to create a cohesive, forward-thinking strategy for organizational success. With this trends report in your arsenal, not only will you be prepared for the technological challenges of today, but you'll also be poised to shape the future you desire.

Given the dynamism of today's technological landscape, CIOs face an array of challenges that range from driving digital transformation to ensuring cybersecurity and fostering innovation. However, the lack of a structured understanding of relevant technology trends often leads to inefficient decision-making and suboptimal outcomes. This is precisely where this comprehensive business technology trends report can prove invaluable.

  1. Strategic Alignment: One of the key offerings of this trends report is its holistic approach to technology trends, categorized into distinct but interrelated sectors. CIOs can use this structure to align their IT strategies with broader organizational objectives, thereby creating a unified roadmap for the entire enterprise.
  2. Resource Allocation: Understanding the trends shaping sectors like data analytics, automation, and user experience allows CIOs to make informed decisions about where to invest their resources. This report acts as a robust analytical tool, facilitating a deeper understanding of what technologies will yield the best ROI.
  3. Bridging Communication Gaps: By offering succinct summaries and overarching design principles, the trends report serves as a common language that can be understood by both tech-savvy and business-oriented team members. This will enhance cross-departmental communication and facilitate a more cohesive approach to problem-solving.
  4. Risk Mitigation: The fast-paced evolution of technology brings not just opportunities, but risks. Using the trends report's design principles, CIOs can build a resilient strategy that is flexible and adaptable, thereby mitigating potential risks associated with rapid technological change.
  5. Driving Innovation: This document is not merely a list of trends but a toolkit for innovation. By identifying the trends most relevant to their organization's context, CIOs can foster an environment of innovation, enabling the company to stay ahead of the curve.
  6. Ethical and Societal Considerations: In an era where business decisions increasingly intersect with ethical and societal issues, the trends report's focus on design principles such as sustainability and trust offers a much-needed framework for CIOs to navigate these complex waters.
  7. Operational Excellence: Through its focus on automation, data analytics, and user experience, the technology trends report provides CIOs with actionable insights that can be implemented for operational optimization, thereby directly contributing to the bottom line.
  8. Future-Proofing: The business technology trends report serves as a dynamic playbook that is continuously updated to reflect sector-specific challenges and opportunities. This enables CIOs to not only solve current problems but to anticipate and prepare for future challenges.

In summary, this business technology trends report is not just a directory of trends but a strategic asset that can help CIOs transition from being reactive to proactive, turning challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation. Armed with this resource, CIOs can forge a technology strategy that is coherent, resilient, and forward-looking, positioning their organization for long-term success.




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