Trends and Predictions 2022 | Innovations and Disruptions

Trends and Predictions 2022 | TelecomDrive.com

As we have learned our way of living in a pandemic era - technology-led, digital transformation, mass acceptance of cloud technologies, blockchain, AI and cybersecurity and rapid deployment of 5G technology has made it a lot easier to adjust ourselves to the new normal in the year 2021.

Year 2022 holds great promise to further drive business and consumer opportunities with tech innovations and disruptions, led by industry enablers. Here is how the technology industry is hoping year 2022 to be.

Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India

MediaTek expects 2022 to be a year of disruptive technological advancements. We are eyeing an array of developments, from the possibility of 5G deployment and spread of Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things to the continued boom in the semiconductor industry and quicker proliferation of smart devices. As a global fabless semiconductor company powering nearly 2 billion devices per year and spearheading technology democratization, we are keen to be at the forefront of this revolution.

We expect the pandemic-accelerated momentum in technology to continue in 2022 and believe that semiconductors will be at the heart of transformative progress across industries. While we have always focused on developing and expanding our R&D capabilities, 2022 will be especially important as we take decisive steps to mark our position at the top of the semiconductor chart.

We are eyeing strong and sustainable growth in the Indian ecosystem and are hiring robustly to achieve this goal. For 2022, our R&D centers are working on updating all our innovative technologies while also diversifying our portfolio into segments such as edge Internet of Things solutions and seamless design execution. We are also lining up innovations in the smart device segment and MediaTek customers have a great deal to look forward to in the new year.

Nokia India Spokesperson

The advent of the pandemic had an impact on the telecom sector's financial health, just as it had on every other sector. The growing usage of digital tools such as video conferencing, digital events, and other similar technologies led to a surge in the data traffic which was up to 20% higher than usual. Mobile broadband emerged as a significant facilitator for maintaining businesses during this time, while fixed internet connections in the country still remains low. The lockdown hampered the network expansion and rollout by restricting telecom equipment and workforce movement. With global issues such as the chipset shortage and supply chain disruptions, the telecom industry faced numerous challenges.

This year brought the spotlight on the need for digitalization across every segment, especially enterprises, where telecom is one of the key enablers. The increase in data traffic will provide opportunities for consumer businesses to grow and the strong need for digitalization will see industries invest more in capacity building, cloud infrastructure and data centres. In addition, digitalization will also drive investments in data and network security to protect the valuable/confidential data travelling across networks.

The telecom relief package announced by the govt. aims to ease the financial situation for the telecom service providers and allow them to step up investments in their growth plans. An increased 100 per cent FDI in telecom will help bring the much-needed investment, especially for 5G and other new technology roll outs. The four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by telcos will help ease the financial pressure on the CSPs. DOT is expected to remove the 3% floor and progressively the SUC (Spectrum usage charge) charges which will continue to come down, effectively becoming zero in the long run as operators keep on buying more spectrum. It is important that the Government continues to engage with the key stake holders such as the CSPs, telecom infrastructure providers, etc. The auction for 5G spectrum at affordable pricing and the release of E and V band for microwave will enable faster adoption of the technology.

The overall outlook of the industry looks positive. Despite all the restrictions and supply chain issues, Nokia was able to roll out over 55,000 sites till May end, which includes both new sites and expansion and we intend to continue the pace in the next year to come.

Now, the CSPs are transforming and exploring new business models with a strong focus on digitalization. The subsequent launch of the 5G network after the completion of the trials next year will give a major boost to the telecom industry and lead to a wide range of new services and use-cases that will further help the CSPs to improve their revenues. The relief package, mentioned earlier, was a very welcome step by the government to improve the financial health of the sector and with active support from the government, we are hopeful that we will emerge stronger than the previous years and become a global hub for the companies to invest in India.

Vishal Agrawal, MD, Avaya India & SAARC

Recovery from Covid-19 has resulted in quick technological advancements and a dramatic transformation of digital experiences over the last several months. As organisations and lifestyles change swiftly, reliance on technology has increased, and radical alternatives have replaced traditional technology. Organizations no longer compete just on the basis of products or services; instead, they compete on the basis of seamless, personalised, connected, and intuitive experiences that are remembered.

Going forward, we will see greater emphasis on AI, machine learning, and cloud technologies being incorporated into many industries such as healthtech, edutech, fintech, and others, as well as automated contact centres that will further enhance customer experiences. Large firms will also make small infrastructure expenditures as they prepare their organisations for a hybrid workforce by digitally transforming their workforce and developing future workspaces.

Arvind Bali, CEO Telecom Sector Skill Council

As India is entering into global tie-ups and executing big-ticket projects like the PLI scheme, 5G launch, Smart Cities project, PM WANI project and BharatNet project, we are seeing an increased requirement for skilled manpower in all segments of the telecom sector. When it comes to futuristic technologies like 5G, IoT, Cloud Computing, ML/AI, and others, the industry will need a fresh batch of industry-certified skilled manpower which can tackle both the volume and technicality of the work involved. Additionally, India is also poised to become a global talent export hub and we need to actively engage both the rural and urban youth to create smart, sophisticated flag bearers for this initiative.

Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt (Retd), Director General, Indian Space Association (ISpA)

Roll out of Spacecom Policy would bring in significant opportunities for Space Communication segment, specially the Space based broad-band, wherein LEO Satellites with low latency would help address connectivity challenges of far-flung areas and Rural India.

Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India

As we welcome 2022, a wave of concern due to the new strain of COVID-19 yet again reiterates - the importance of being “geo-aware” to contextualize environmental, social, and economic systems for a safer and healthier society, and emphasizes the significance of “Preparing Strategically, Responding Rapidly and Recovering Methodically”.  In spite of numerous challenges, 2021 has been a landmark year for the geospatial industry.

While on one side the “geo-awareness” and “spatial thinking” surged to all time high, we also witnessed major strides by the government through new policies like Geospatial Data Guidelines, Drone Policy, Draft National Geospatial Policy 2021, among others. These make 2022 look very promising and as the geospatial technologies get subsumed into the enterprise IT architectures, GIS takes centre stage in new converged environments to help organizations unearth better economic, social, and environmental value and higher return on their investments.

Technological advances have pushed geospatial applications to newer heights, especially in the year 2021. While the technology supercharged normal business intelligence with a geographic component that allowed a holistic situational awareness, providing real-time insights into operations and systems, it also enabled us to fight COVID-19, from an interdisciplinary perspective, with proactive planning, international solidarity and a global perspective. Now, as the geospatial technologies are getting subsumed into the enterprise IT architectures, GISl is taking centre stage in new converged environments to help organizations unearth better economic, social, and environmental value and higher returns on their investments. The rapid rate of GIS adoption in the past year has indeed laid a strong foundation for the dawn of a new “Geo-Enabled Era” that will foster inclusivity, sustainability, and resilience in the future.

Spokesperson – Rajiv Bhalla, MD, Barco India

The year 2021 will always stand out as the year organisations and people adapted to the hybrid lifestyle. The beginning of a disruptive new decade marked by innovative solutions, technological advancements, and resilient organisations driven by visionary leaders, 2021 taught us many lessons. The tech industry has outdone itself, designing new solutions to take on even the most insidious of pandemic challenges and we should hold these lessons close as we move into the new year. The pandemic has highlighted one thing, for sure, an organisation is only as effective as its employees, and leaders must adopt a people-first approach in all their policies. As we embark on another revolution around the sun, let us put our heads together and work towards solutions which are sustainable and responsible. 2021 is the year we learned to adapt, let 2022 be the year we flourish as we focus unwaveringly on business resilience and optimal leadership.

Rajesh Dhuddu, VP & Practice Leader Blockchain & Cybersecurity Tech Mahindra

The accelerated integration of technology in business operations and workflows, along with increased adoption of Work from Home (WFH) model, have resulted in a surge in cyberthreats and attacks.  Malicious threats from outside and within organizations, coupled with increasingly stringent data regulations, have made cybersecurity a C-suite level issue.

Acknowledging this, organizations are focusing on re-evaluating their IT strategy ensuring an end-to-end, robust, and strategic infrastructure design based on Zero trust architecture to improve overall infrastructure security posture of business and network security lifecycles alike. Using low-code automation to harness collective knowledge and form a secure, centralized system of data records, to simplify operational systems and enable a cohesive view of things, is rapidly becoming the functional norm.

Rohit Khetan, Head Marketing & Strategy, Ginesys

The retail landscape will continue to evolve at a rapid pace in 2022. Post pandemic challenges and opportunities will be technology-driven with a deeper and real-time understanding of consumer trends and demand. Digitization has led to an increase in demand for integration of offline retail stores or pre-integration and online web stores and channels for a better omnichannel experience.

Another trend we foresee is the gradual democratization of retail intelligence to benefit mid-size companies and SMEs. Increasingly people are using AI to drive customer behaviour at scale leveraging digital footprints. This includes using interest and social media footprints to subtly push customers to try certain products/ webstores. Industry data suggests that marketers will see an average increase of 10-20% in sales when using personalized experiences. Digital payments across retail formats like UPI are now at around 10% of retail transactions and only growing. Combined with credit cards, this is set to eclipse cash as the payment system of choice. Last but not the least, self-checkout is going to be a much-implemented feature across mid to large stores as costs to deploy this technology gradually reduce.

Neetish Sarda, Founder, Smartworks

Managed office spaces will continue to grow, given the value, agility, and flexibility it offers to the occupiers. The year started slowly, but the demand for fully managed office spaces gradually increased, with us signing major multi-city deals with large companies. We also added close to a million sq. ft. area to our overall portfolio. With hybrid offices and work arrangements taking centre stage, managed office spaces have gained significant popularity and have become an integrated part of portfolio strategy for enterprises.

2022 will see a complete transformation of offices into smart and dynamic spaces that incorporate the latest technologies to facilitate better workspace management and experience with data-driven decisions. Office experience has become more critical in the ‘new normal’ than ever, so a lot of focus will be on implementing the right tech solutions in workspaces for real-time insights on space optimisation and utilisation, leading to overall efficiency.

Nipun Jain, CEO, RapiPay

For RapiPay, year 2021 has been a very successful year. Despite the challenges thrown by Covid second wave, we grew more than 100% over last year. Other than achieving business numbers, we also grew our presence in deeper geographies and far-flung areas. We saw Micro ATMs gain traction from both retailers as well as end consumers. With over 1 lakh RapiPay Micro ATMs installed, we constitute around 25% of the Micro ATM market.

Today, RapiPay has a strong retail network of 4 Lakh Direct Business Outlets and growing with transactions over 1 million daily. In 2022 also, we will continue to expand our suite of banking and payments services for our DBOs/retailers. We believe in 2022 we will witness more partnership between Fintech companies and Banks to provide various banking and financial services and widen their reach. RapiPay will continue its efforts of taking banking services to the last mile, so that Indian population can use safe, secure, and convenient banking services. With more funding and increased collaboration between established and new players in the payments and neo banking space, the outlook for the Fintech sector looks promising and very positive this year also.

Akshay Munjal, Founder and CEO, Hero Vired

The pandemic has catalysed the role of ed-tech in democratising quality education at scale.  Ed-tech is reimagining learning through data analytics, immersive and emerging technologies. The coming year will witness the penetration of these trends, with user experience at the heart of the learning process. Collaborations among various education and ed-tech organisations along with industry-academia partnerships will see a significant uptick to bridge the skill gap. Technology will play a pervasive role in boosting engagement and redefining learning outcomes as companies like Hero Vired continue to reimagine education through new-age programs curated in line with industry requirements.

The inaugural year has been fantastic for us. Since our inception in April 2021, we have grown to 140+ members and concluded crème de la crème collaborations with MIT, LaLiga, NSDC, Singularity University and more. In less than nine months, we have branched out into three core verticals - B2C, B2B, where we provide up-skilling and re-skilling solutions to businesses, and B2I, wherein we provide solutions to higher education institutions. We have clocked a phenomenal 30% month-on-month revenue growth and a monthly run rate of ~5 Cr.

For 2022, we have a three-pronged plan that focuses on strategic acquisitions, international expansion and people. We are looking at acquiring companies with a great content/faculty/ specialised content pool. We are also exploring partnerships with the world's best educational institutions. Geographically, we are targeting expansion across India as well as in Asia and Africa. We are also looking to increase our headcount by 3.5x times.