Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2022.  Read them in this 14th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

The top five tech trends to make a positive impact in 2022

By Henning Volkmer, President and CEO of ThinPrint Inc

One year ago, I predicted with great confidence that 2021 would be better than 2020, and in many ways it was. We learned a lot about the pandemic and how to adapt in a changing world. And, once the vaccines became available, a sense of relief set in along with a sense of some safety as we were able to see friends and family again, go to a restaurant and participate in many of the other things we had dearly missed. But then Omicron made its appearance, making 2022 predictions a lot less straightforward.

One safe prediction is that we will have to remain flexible and adaptable both in personal and business life for a good while longer. To some, "flying by the seat of their pants" is fun and exciting, but a great many among us find it utterly exhausting, especially after almost two years of being forced into this lifestyle.

For those of us in technology where we can rule a vast empire of applications, data centers, cloud and devices from the comfort of our home offices, couches, or any other place with a decent internet connection, it can be easy to forget that this is a luxury enjoyed by few. Last September, "The Atlantic" reported that almost eighty percent of Americans have to go to work as if it's still 2019. Like the authors, I would have thought that number to be much lower.

Before diving into my five predictions for 2022, I would like to call on all of us in technology who have a significant impact on how we live and work, to use that power and resources at our disposal to make life a little easier for the teachers, nurses, doctors, retail workers, bank tellers, delivery drivers and more who have to head out to work every day so our kids can learn, our families can eat, our ailments get cured and whatever else is necessary to keep life going and social functioning. The following trends and predictions will play a key role in making this hope a reality.

Unleashing the possibilities of Microsoft offerings:

Azure Virtual Desktop has seen significant improvements over the past year that make it even easier to deploy and manage. The introduction of Windows 365 Cloud PC Business and Cloud PC Enterprise now bring modern, powerful, easy-to-use and personalized desktops to people wherever they are and whenever they are needed. While hybrid office work seems to be the most obvious use case, we should challenge ourselves to use to ability to run any application in the cloud to untap new opportunities. This might include enabling enhanced learning opportunities to children or helping small businesses better serve their community by arming them with the same technology as their larger competitors. Our team has seen countless projects, both small and large, that lead me to believe that our industry has gotten very good at leveraging Microsoft's new offerings, and we'll see even more creative applications in 2022.

Adopting cloud automation:

ThinPrint and ezeep are in the business of making apps print, but that is not possible without a simple and easy connection between the user's app and ours. With this in mind, many of our customers over the last year discovered a large number of connections between physical and digital work that can be significantly simplified by automation. One technology that I've found surprisingly delightful, valuable and would like to see more of in 2022 is cloud automation and connectivity between different applications through the likes of Zapier, Integromat or Workato.

With a few clicks, we've seen our customers print shipping labels and packing lists to a remote warehouse and deliver a QuickBooks invoice to the point of sales just as efficiently as a 4-foot-long receipt is published at a pharmacy.

Leveraging APIs for new applications in the cloud:

While it might be difficult to argue that the internet is truly living up to its promise of openness and accessibility, I have found a renewed passion for straightforward, easy-to-use and powerful APIs that allow proprietary or homegrown applications run in the cloud. These APIs seamlessly connect to other services to add functionality that might otherwise be very difficult to implement, either because it requires access to vast amounts of data like currency conversion or purchase histories at other merchants or it might be highly complex and challenging to build, such as the case with printing, print management or print connectivity.

While APIs are nothing new, I've been delighted by what some of our customers have built, whether it is integrations into space management solutions for the shared office industry or the chain of used car parts outlets that have connected their inventory management system in the cloud to label printers all over a continent. While I can't say I know all that much about used car parts and might not do the industry justice, I was surprised by the level of innovation in an industry I have long associated with lots of dust, crushed metal, and discarded tires. I hope to see more such riveting, novel (at least to me) applications. They are what makes this industry fun.

Tapping into innovative security solutions for an ever-changing landscape:

The more flexible we are, the more we have to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, which leads to more critical and difficult security challenges. However, there is a solution to these issues. For example, using easy-to-lockdown and manage Linux endpoints from our friends at IGEL, Microsoft's AVD or Cloud PC keeps data away from local devices in the cloud. There is also ThinPrint and ezeep's ability to put printers into a zero-trust setup on a network safely firewalled from endpoint devices. They are also no connected to the internet which protects users from direct outside attacks, as well as any spread of malware in internal networks or malicious actors from inside the company.

Embracing mobile devices for everyday work:

One of my favorite technologies, mobile devices, have continued to see a significant surge among our customers over the past year. From smartphones to tablets, I only expect that trend to intensify.  AVD and Cloud PC are killer applications on iPads, and we finally have all learned to use a QR code. Still, we have not only learned to repurpose old devices, but have adapted to discover the advantages of using smartphones and tablets for many business tasks. The idea of using mobile devices for everyday work is not all that new, but "global events" have provided the not so gentle push needed to give this idea an honest try. Now that the secret is out, I suspect to see much more of it and am excited to see which applications our customers can think of and how we can help them print when they need to connect physical and digital worlds.

Taking these five predictions into account and with so many remarkable technologies available and so much talent ready to get to work as we continue into 2022, it all really comes back to my original - and most important -"prediction" for 2022: Let's make sure we set our sights on supporting those who can comfortably work from home and build something unique and helpful for those who leave their house to go to work every day, come hell or high water.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Henning Volkmer drives the execution of ThinPrint Inc.'s strategy as an expert in print management. A cloud printing innovator and launch partner for Windows Virtual Desktop, ThinPrint is the technology leader for fully processing print jobs in its ezeep cloud without having to rely on on-premises printer drivers. He has established a broad technological background and has been at the forefront of technology trends for more than two decades.