“Having gone through the ups and downs of the last two years, no one has full convictions of what this year will bring. Let us offer you some clarity, by looking at global business trends that can prepare you for the challenges ahead.” – Shazurawati Abd Karim, Executive Vice President, TM One
2021 was a year filled with hope – everyone talked about post-pandemic recovery and hopes of going back to normality. On the contrary, the new variants pushed the world, Malaysia including into another wave of lockdowns and movement restrictions.
As governments rolled out their arsenal of measures for the world to cope and recover from the pandemic, consumers turned to digital tools to enable new ways of work, live, learn, and play. Companies have no choice but to adopt digitalisation to connect to their customers, and pressed ahead in going digital that is essential to ensure business survival.
The past two years saw countries rolling out 5G extensively, with China and the US being the frontrunners. In 2022 and beyond, we can expect an accelerated phase of 5G commercialisation, as governments in developing countries find the right balance between the use of low-frequency, sub-6, and mmWave.
Deployments of small cell infrastructure will soon follow investments in the 5G spectrum to improve coverage indoors and outdoors.
Faster speeds and lower latency in 5G present new commercial opportunities for enterprises in various sectors. Companies remain committed to a 5G-driven future for the consumers.
As experiments involving network slicing bear fruit, expect an explosion of applications – from smart cities, autonomous vehicles and drone delivery to immersive entertainment, mobile robotics and remote health monitoring.
Enterprises now have the opportunity to support data-intensive applications that can create unique and seamless digital experiences for consumers. 5G is not just a a new technology but a business enabler. As a CX-first company, TM One firmly commits to embracing human-centred technology and is more than ready to help enterprises transform their businesses.
According to GSMA, 2022 is the earliest year 5G network slicing would be available. However, even before telcos find the best way to commercialise this budding technology, global enterprises have begun integrating 5G into their business. This on-site solution can offer low latency and high bandwidth connections to many use cases.
Digital enterprises looking to implement breakthrough applications should not ignore private 5G. It provides a valuable platform to enable real-time responses and actions.i Smart manufacturing and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) will benefit significantly from this level of speed and reliability. As telco carriers and cloud service providers increasingly package these private 5G solutions into managed services, enterprises will find it easier to deploy, operate and scale on-premise networks.
The advent of Open Radio Access Network (RAN) has also set a blazing trail in the private 5G space. From lowering barriers to entry, enabling new partnerships and fuelling product innovations, enterprises can leverage multi-vendor technology to create a robust private network. Though implementations among enterprises are still rare, testbeds provide vital information and build essential business cases that can trigger an industry-wide adoption.ii
In recent years, cloud technology has become increasingly essential in the digital transformation journey. As companies shift to digital settings, so did their work files (on the cloud). Gartner predicted that global cloud services spending would reach over US$480 billion in 2022, up by 53% from 2020.iii As a result, more companies will employ cloud computing infrastructure this year as the backbone to deliver excellent digital service.
As cloud technology becomes cheaper with pay-as-you-go models, enterprises will be able to adopt multi-cloud strategies. Bare metal, public, private, hybrid, edge; you name it, companies will look to tap into multiple providers and align shifting priorities with increasing budgets. The trend will gradually move away from a general accumulation of cloud services to a carefully planned set of decisions.iv
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) will also gain prominence in enterprises to help support the growing virtual workloads. With these platforms demanding extreme processing power and data bandwidth, the cloud will be the key solution to unlock new levels of accessibility.
With employees returning to offices and consumers dining at their favourite restaurants, enterprises find themselves struggling at balancing their resources and approach to ensure ultimate customer experience and business performance with this hybrid model of both online and physical services. Retailers and educational institutions included, need to readjust. Technology integration to reshape and reimagine the future of these experiences could bring forth distinct, unique and differentiated services journey for that competitive edge ahead of the competition.
Ransomware attacks have hit many organisations hard in recent years, affecting areas from gasoline shortages to meat supply. As businesses shift to hybrid mode and people spend hours on connected devices, cybersecurity becomes more critical.
With proliferation of IoT devices, enterprises will need to incorporate security into everything from hardware design, software, AI and ML.v If compromised, connected devices will expose users to high risk of attacks.
Edge computing, which brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data, is also edging closer. You can already find computing networks in a smart city, car, farm, wearable device or even your home. With new architectures and use-cases, along with them come new security risks and requirements. Securing the edge will be the next big priority for companies looking to deliver next-gen digital services at close proximities.
i https://www.voicendata.com/private-5g-innovations-juniper-networks-predictions-2022/
ii https://www.thefastmode.com/expert-opinion/20976-the-open-ran-and-private-networks-of-the-future
iii https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/10/25/the-5-biggest-cloud-computing-trends-in-2022/?sh=5183d0192267
iv https://www.ciodive.com/news/cloud-iaas-trends-2022/616860/
v https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/96781-top-15-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2022
