If we think about it, the one thing that helped us sustain the pandemic and continues to restructure our work and life is – technology! 

The past 2 years saw a leap in digitalization in order for us to adapt to the ‘new normal’. If it has proved anything, it’s that we have acclimatized to our altered way of existence, and technology is playing a meaty role in it. A lot of organisations were focused on operational agility, in the wake of which tech adoption and evolution ensued at break neck speed.

Team Ashnik will review and pick the top technology trends of this year, as we do at the start of every year. Let’s look at the technologies that will continue to grow, top industry insights, key trends that will continue to aid digital transformation – and importantly, how open source is backing it all. 

Trend #1: Automation – how CIOs are taking the reins 

The automation of processes, systems, and functions is going to be a mandate in order to be time-efficient and cost-effective. In view of this, the top management namely CIOs across businesses are swiftly developing enterprise-level approaches to strategy, governance, and platform technologies. In fact, the latest report by McKinsey highlights automation as the top trend in tech. 

With IT and infra investment growing steadily, companies want to ensure its being spent wisely and strategically. In a recent Gartner survey, more than 80% of organizations say they’ll ‘continue or increase’ automation spending in 2022. 

One interesting observation is how open software and standards are changing the automation marketplace today. In Ashnik’s open-source survey for SE Asia and India, organizations chose infrastructure automation as the most preferred initiative to be powered by open source in 2022, competing with priorities like the adoption of containers, security, real-time analytics, and database platforms.

Trend #2: Blockchain – driving new fundamentals in BFSI

Blockchain maybe debatably favoured or snubbed by the industry, but the use of this technology in the business and consumer applications space is expected to keep growing. Ranging from supply chains to be better optimized to being able to eliminate fraud and increase security, Blockchain is viewed as a solution that will enable true transparency in business transactions. 

In Deloitte’s 2021 Global Blockchain survey, a majority said their industries would see new revenue streams from Blockchain, digital assets and crypto solutions. The BFSI sector takes a keen interest in Blockchain for a variety of reasons, but mostly for its obvious feature of being highly secure. Being built on open source software code creates an openness, which is what makes its transparent, reliable and secure. Overall, open source for blockchain facilitates decentralization, reduces the load, increases transparency and enables new possibilities to be tapped. 

Trend #3: AI – improving the efficiency of operations

In 2022, we will see AI (artificial intelligence) becoming one of the most transformative technologies ever developed by humanity. AI plays a big role in many industry sectors enabling several breakthroughs and key solutions. As enterprises continue to automate day-to-day operations and to understand COVID-affected datasets, AI is increasingly becoming critical. Besides, AI plays a key role in cyber security today. Some of the most significant applications of AI in 2022 are likely to be in this area.

Machine Learning and AI have started to enmesh themselves in the open source world. The AI tools built on OSS enable a faster adoption of it in science and industry, while also increasing provisioning of ethical AI practices. The CEO of H2O.ai, the company that is behind the open source machine learning platform H2O makes an interesting point “where AI software libraries and algorithms are freely available to developers and entrepreneurs alike – allows businesses to experiment with AI more easily and builds greater trust in the technology.”

Trend #4: Web 3.0 – the next generation of the internet

Web 3.0 is the new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain, which incorporates concepts like decentralization and token-based economics. Driving on AI-driven services, decentralized data architectures and edge computing, Web 3 is touted to be the next big evolution for us – a place that’s permissionless, open source and increasingly decentralized. 

AI governs what you’re looking for and charts out ideas for you. Decentralized data architectures remodel peer-to-peer transactions. Edge computing and 5G together accelerate user connections. 2022 will witness these three coming together to bring the next tech revolution upon us, as quoted by a recent Forbes article. This digital leap is supported by flexible and open-source infrastructures, but there is still a lot to be done before Web 3.0 can truly become a reality. 

Trend #5: Cloud-Native Platforms 

Cloud-native technologies help us build new application architectures that are resilient, scalable and agile – pillaring our constant need of digital growth. With the cloud growing so heavily, be it multi or hybrid, cloud-native platforms improve the traditional lift-and-shift approach to cloud, to ease the complexity in maintenance. 

Cloud native development practices stay central to digital innovation, 451 Group reckons that it is a weapon that the C-suite can use against “uncertainty and rapidly changing market conditions”. As the practice of developing applications with containers is highly preferred now, cloud-native applications are also on the rise. It’s best known building block is the container orchestration system Kubernetes. Which is primarily an open source system used for automating deployment, scaling, and managing containerized apps.

With the adoption of cloud becoming rampant in enterprises, a cloud first, cloud native, open source approach will be the go-to for application development in 2022. 

Trend #6: Optimizing for Hybrid Working – Distributed Enterprises

2022 will make organisations continue the modernized workplace arrangement and workflows to better optimize for hybrid work arrangements. Even though some plan their return to the cubicle, remote work will continue to be in higher numbers than ever before. To nestle a smooth and hybrid collaboration, new tech solutions are being adopted rapidly. 

Distributed enterprises not only serve the needs of remote employees but also customers, who are mounting the demand for virtual services and hybrid setups. Per Gartner, it reflects a digital-first, remote-first business model to improve employee experiences, and increase digitalization of consumer and partner touchpoints for better business continuity. 

2022 will continue to see a spurt in the adoption of digitalizing solutions including open source alternatives for virtual team communication, HR systems, digital paperwork, ERP systems and others – open source making it cost efficient for enterprises yet highly scalable and customizable.

While we know that different trends will impact different enterprises in different ways, a snug integration between these trends will be an obvious need. CIOs and IT leaders should expect an exciting ride into the future building structures, strategies and business objectives.
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