Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2022. Read them in this 14th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Automation, Container Adoption and Tech Talent Gaps: What’s Ahead in 2022
By Danny Allan, Chief Technology Officer, Veeam
2020 had a drastic impact around the globe, and 2021 has reflected the aftermath. As we look towards the new year and begin to ask ourselves, “what’s next?”, looking back on the past two years will play a huge role in what’s impending. As 2022 approaches, we will begin to see how the surge of new technology tools will undoubtedly mark a new era in cloud, AI and automation dependency. On top of this, we will see how the Great Resignation continues to impact the tech labor shortage and how companies adapt to it.
AI and automation will replace entry level jobs in the finance, healthcare, legal and software industries
The talent shortage will leave many jobs unfilled, making way for the advancement of artificial intelligence and automation to fill new roles. We have seen technology begin its takeover in the service industry with the introduction of robotic waiters during the pandemic. In 2022, we will see AI and automation capable of filling positions in other hard-hit sectors like the finance, healthcare, legal and software industries. These developments will mostly affect entry level positions, like interns, making it harder for recent graduates entering the workforce to gain job experience in the future.
CI/CD will stabilize and standardize to become an IT team requirement
The Bill Gates memo in 2001 became the industry standard in how to design, develop and deliver complex software systems – and today it feels like there has been no standard since then. IT teams and developers fell into habits of adopting “known” technology systems, and not standardizing in new spaces, like continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). In 2022, we’re going to see a shift towards more stability and standardization for CI/CD. IT leaders have an opportunity to capitalize on this high-growth and high-valuation market to increase deployment activity and solve the “day two operations problem.”
New privacy-focused legislation will shift attention to data sovereignty clouds
With increased focus on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulating data protection and privacy in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) enhancing privacy rights and consumer protection for Californians, other states and countries are facing pressure to enact comprehensive data privacy legislation. As this continues in 2022, I expect we’ll see much more focus on data sovereignty clouds to keep data within nations or within a certain physical location. This is a far more specified cloud model that we’re starting to see in EMEA with Gaia-X. Some will see this as an obstacle, but once implemented, this will be a good thing as it puts consumer privacy at the core of business strategy.
Containers will become mainstream to support the cloud explosion of 2021
Businesses wrongly predicted that employees would return to the office, as normal, in 2021. Instead, remote working continued, and companies were forced to develop long-term remote working strategies to ensure efficiency, sustainability and to retain employees seeking flexibility. This remote work strategy demanded cloud-based solutions, resulting in an explosion of cloud service adoption. To meet this moment, containers will become mainstream in 2022, making the generational shift to cloud much easier and more streamlined for organizations.
Tech’s labor market will be met with big money and big challenges
The COVID-19 economy – and the subsequent great resignation – throughout the last two years certainly made its mark in the tech industry. As we continue to see turnover and lower employee retention, tech salaries will begin to grow in 2022 to incentivize talent to stay. I see this causing an interesting dynamic, presenting bigger challenges, especially to the folks in the startup and VC world. The bigger tech giants are the ones who can meet the high dollar demand and deliver benefits for a competitive workforce. It will be interesting to see in the years ahead what this does for innovation, which tends to come from the hungry startups where people work for very little for a long time. We could very well see a resurgence of tech talent returning to the “old guard” companies to meet their needs for stable (and large) salaries, forgoing the competitive, hard knocks of startups that could cause a skills and talent gap that lasts for years to come.
While COVID-19 has had some disastrous implications around the globe, it has propelled forward a new world that is heavily tech reliant and defined. Remote work, severe labor shortage, a sudden worldwide demand for elevated technology and consequential cyber threats have forged a space where tech is king. 2022 will see major expansion and regulation of cloud, data privacy, automation and CI/CD, and a subsequential high demand for talent and investment in the tech industry, shaping the future of the economy and workforce for the next decade, and maybe beyond.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President for Product Strategy, Danny is responsible for Veeam’s global product roadmap and strategy group, and for spearheading the company’s technology vision as the #1 provider for Backup solutions that deliver Cloud Data Management. He partners with global enterprise customers and large Service Providers to assess and ensure long-term industry success. With more than 20 years of software technology experience, he is passionate about solving customer problems and software innovation. Follow Danny on Twitter at @dannyallan5.
