Accelerating Digital Transformation: A Look at What to Expect in 2022

One silver lining for businesses in 2021 was that the need to protect customers and workers at all costs required an agile mindset and a real thinking outside of the box approach to business processes, IT operations, and the workplace. With work from home taking center stage in 2021, many companies are committing to a flexible work model in 2022. Some studiesOpens a new window report that approximately 70% of companies plan to transition to a hybrid work environment.

The urgency to be more agile also required companies to respond to the dire need for better collaboration capabilities, including communications platforms like Slack, Zoom and Teams, allowing us to keep in constant touch. These tools are invaluable, but to support deeper collaboration among remote and hybrid teams, integration with enterprise content management and document capture systems is required to ensure that information is available to employees and customers in a secure manner, wherever they are and whenever they need it. They are also essential in accelerating business processes while ensuring accuracy and customer satisfaction. 

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Companies will continue their migration to the cloud as they address the complex combination of teams working both on-site and off-site. At the same time, they strive to meet business objectives that enhance the customer experience. To effectively meet internal and external objectives, digital transformation projects that may have been put on hold in 2021 will accelerate in 2022. The integration of front-office and back-office systems allows companies to deliver more value to customers through a better experience, faster response times, and automating processes that previously were manual. Not only does automation increase accuracy and expedite processes, it also benefits customers and the company’s bottom line.

In light of the increased adoption of cloud technologies, new IT innovations and the current flux in the workplace environment, here are my predictions for what we can expect in 2022:

1. Cloud-based team collaboration software will continue to be integral for all businesses, across nearly all industries, in 2022. These cloud-based tools were the glue that held teams together as they worked remotely during the pandemic. However, moving forward, businesses will take advantage of additional features, including the integration of Microsoft SharePoint for content management. 
2. The hybrid work model will continue to drive the adoption of team collaboration software and enterprise file sync and sharing platforms in 2022. Companies will also continue to move their IT to the cloud to take advantage of the ability to quickly add new technologies and services and leverage the reduced/remote IT capabilities inherent in the cloud.
3. 2022 will be a breakout year for scanner technology innovation. PC-less scanning will become more prevalent, fulfilling front-line knowledge workers’ need for faster and easier ways to transform paper into digital assets. Artificial Intelligence based content classification and extraction technology will continue to mature next year, helping automate and accelerate business processes. Enterprise search will advance, thanks to the benefit of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and AI, which will enhance business intelligence and worker productivity. 
4. Scanners will also aid remote and hybrid teams even more in 2022. More companies will leverage scanners to digitize existing legacy documents and paper assets in the office. This will allow companies to make information available securely to all employees — in the office, at home or on the road. Hybrid teams, who work both in the office and remotely, will use document scanners to eliminate the need for fax machines, free up valuable desktop real estate, find information faster and share paper-based documents with HQ and other remote team members.
5. The push to become better corporate citizens will drive more companies to take a hard look at their sustainability processes in 2022. Digitizing records and making them available as electronic files saves companies time, money, and paper. Businesses can eliminate file cabinets and storage rooms, downsizing their footprint and reducing their electricity consumption. Digitizing paper and sending it electronically lowers transportation costs and decreases energy usage. While the “paperless office” won’t fully materialize in 2022, the urgency for companies to reach their sustainability goals will lead to “paper light” operations that are more customer-friendly.

See More: Cloud Technology – A Key Enabler of Communication Service Providers Transformation

As we close the book on 2021, one thing we do know is that 2022 will be just as unpredictable. However, as we have seen over the past two years when companies across every industry step up to face challenges head-on, the business community continues to meet the moment during incredibly tumultuous times by innovating, adapting, and thriving as a result.

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