Top 9 technology trends for 2022-2025 and beyond

Technology trends have always reshaped our lives and improved business operations. The most important and talked-about tech trends include the cloud, VR, 3D printing, and Machine Learning. Instead of going over them and their benefits again, in this article we will discuss some of the most fascinating and practical use cases of new technologies in 2022. Read the blog post and see how new tech trends can reimagine our lives and what is to come after 2022.

How digital transformation is transforming business in 2022 and beyond

In its 2022 annual report, Gartner revealed the key technology trends that businesses should keep an eye on. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders probably have no doubt that emerging technologies such as the cloud, advanced data analytics, and Machine Learning are must-haves for organizations of the future. Investments in digital transformation are rising by about 16.5% a year.

As we explore these cutting-edge technology trends, understanding the financial management of cloud resources becomes crucial. This is where ‘FinOps’ comes into play, providing a strategic approach to cost management in cloud environments. To delve deeper into how FinOps principles can effectively guide your financial operations in the cloud, be sure to check out our detailed article on Understanding Cloud FinOps Principles.

Top 9 technology trends that transform our lives

Technology is changing our lives in countless ways and at an ever-increasing pace. The 9 major technology trends include:

1. Cloud Computing / Edge Computing
2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
3. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
4. Internet of Things and 5G
5. Blockchain technology
6. 3D printing
7. RPA – Robotics Process Automation
8. Big Data and data analysis
9. Cybersecurity

1. Cloud Computing / Edge Computing

According to Gartner predictions, by 2025 over 95% of new digital workloads will be implemented on cloud-native platforms. Multicloud is the leading trend – according to Flexera’s 2022 “State of the cloud report”, 89% of enterprises take advantage of multiple cloud providers. The cloud takes data storage to a new level and offers tremendous opportunities for companies looking for scalable data analytics solutions. As with all novelties, some people wonder if edge technology is better than the ‘traditional’ cloud. Edge computing is a distributed information technology that utilizes data centers located nearer to end-users (hence less network latency).

The cloud is revolutionizing data storage and offers scalable solutions for data analytics. As cloud computing becomes integral to business operations, understanding and optimizing cloud expenses becomes crucial. Enhance your cloud strategy by exploring our comprehensive guide on Azure Cost Management, which provides valuable strategies for efficient cost management in Azure environments, ensuring your cloud investments are both powerful and cost-effective.

Use cases

Edge computing is one of the technological innovations that can revolutionize the healthcare industry. EC enables the real-time analysis of medical data collected by wearables or medical devices. The cloud also makes it possible to analyze such data, but with some limitations (e.g., we need to consider the cost and time needed to transfer large images of several GB). In an emergency, delays counted in seconds could greatly impact the health and life of patients.

IDC predicts that healthcare organization expenditure on edge computing in 2025 will exceed $10 billion. What’s stopping them? The medical industry has a number of priorities, e.g., investing in medical devices that save patients’ lives. What is more, for edge computing to deliver real benefits, investments in other technologies (AI, IoT devices) need to be made to create a technology-based environment first.

Read also: Cloud services and trends for 2022

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

The pace of AI expansion is not slowing down. As per the 2022 AI Index Report by Stanford University, in 2021, global private investment in AI reached $93.5 billion.

Use cases

Fully self-driving (autonomous) vehicles are an example of the future tech trends that everyone is keeping an eye on. They make use of Artificial Intelligence, neural networks, and image recognition technologies, among other things, to navigate and drive without engaging human drivers. Google in California has conducted some of the biggest tests – autonomous vehicles have covered almost 140,000 miles in Toyota and Audi vehicles. Similar software tests, also in California, have been carried out by Apple using Lexus vehicles.

But why such a huge urge to create self-driving cars? The most common argument for this is safety. According to National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, about 95% of accidents are due to human error. Other arguments for using autonomous cars are the need to lower fuel consumption, optimize driving, and make such cars accessible to people who are unable to drive for various reasons. Nevertheless, this technology gives rise to intense emotions.

The challenge still lies in the multitude of possible scenarios on the road that AI would have to comprehend. Driverless machines are therefore used on suburban routes on a pilot basis at off-peak times. The feeling of taking a ride inside a fully autonomous vehicle was described by NY Times journalists who took part in an experimental ride in October 2022 as ‘spooky, impressive, perplexing and a little stressful.’

3. Virtual Reality & extended reality

What does the future hold for VR? In PWC’s ‘Seeing is believing’ report it was predicted that by 2030 VR and AR could add $1.5 trillion to the global economy. VR has huge potential in gaming, to name but one area. In healthcare, VR could be used to train doctors and improve decision-making under pressure. VR-based systems could also support the therapeutic process, e.g., helping people who struggle with anxiety.

Use cases

When we think of VR, often the first thing that comes to mind is gaming. VR or mixed reality games allow people to become whoever they want and experience reality in a new way. It’s not without reason that tech companies are developing devices like PSVR, Meta Quest, and Oculus. Apple’s VR solution is believed to be waiting in the wings.

But VR is not just about the fantasy world of games. It also represents an opportunity for education, which the Polish Ministry of Education has taken advantage of, planning to use 25,000 Meta Quest 2 VR headsets to teach history in schools as part of cooperation with Meta. While the students watch VR-based story productions, they can travel back in time right into the middle of the action.

4. Internet of Things, 5G & wearables

According to the Ericsson Mobility Report released in June 2022, 5G scales the fastest of all previous mobile tech generations. Currently, approximately a quarter of the world’s population has 5G network coverage. To show the scale, in Q1 2022 alone, there were an impressive 70 million 5G subscribers added. The IoT is closely linked to 5G, as the development of this technology enables the invention of new opportunities for Internet of Things devices.

5G offers capabilities greater than 4G, with lower latency. 5G can improve experiences with augmented reality or VR. 5G development has many practical applications in areas such as industrial automation, utilities like weather monitoring, or healthcare – for example, remote surgeries. The first 5G surgery took place in 2019 in China, when a surgeon located almost 2000 miles away operated on the patient’s brain. With 4G technology, the lag time between medical devices was about 2 seconds. With 5G, it’s been shortened to 2 milliseconds, making remote surgeries a thing of today, not tomorrow.

5. Blockchain technology

From the very beginning, blockchains have been associated mostly with cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. One of the emerging tech trends utilizing this technology is a non-fungible token (NFT), which is a unique identifier that makes it possible to cryptographically assign and prove ownership of digital goods. NFTs don’t have a specific value, which makes them unique.

Use cases

The popularity of NFT exploded in 2021, and many people are convinced that this tech trend will be with us for a long time. With NFT, buyers are guaranteed that their purchase is non-fungible, meaning there is no other identical item. The purchase is confirmed by a certificate of authenticity that uses blockchain technology. NFT is mainly associated with selling digital art such as the popular Nyan Cat or the JPG collage by digital artist Beeple, which was sold at Christie’s auction house for $69 million. Other applications of NFT include the sale of tickets and access to elite member clubs.

Operations which use the cryptocurrency Ethereum for selling NFT, like anything new, trigger contrary feelings. Opponents point out that it has a negative impact on the environment. NFT operations require complicated calculations, and thereby impact power consumption. There is a great deal of discussion about speculation associated with non-fungible tokens. Will artworks worth millions of dollars have the same value in the future? Time will tell. It is an important trend and already many renowned companies are carrying out NFT-related projects, profiting handsomely thanks to this technology (Meta, Nike, Adidas, Tiffany, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci, just to mention a few).

Read also: How Blockchain Revolutionizes the Way of Payment Transactions

6. 3d Printing

3D printing (AKA additive manufacturing) is one of the most intriguing technological innovations available to almost everyone. This trend in technology also has a practical application in many sectors, not only the wonderful world of plastic! You can find 3D printers which create houses, as well as devices which produce crafts from chocolate.

Use cases

You can print practically anything. But one way that technology and robotics can work together is shown at the Ford plant, which successfully uses autonomous 3D printers in the automotive industry. Ford uses 3D printing for mass component manufacturing. 3D printers producing auto parts (e.g., brake brackets for Mustang) communicate with robots via an interface, allowing continuous work – for example, taking over tasks that people can’t perform at night.

7. Solutions to automate business processes (Robotic Process Automation)

In 2020, hyper-automation was noted in Gartner’s annual predictions for 2020 as one of the most significant technological trends. From then on, it has made tremendous strides. RPA makes use of software robots to automate business processes; contrary to the common misconception, in the future the automation of business processes may create many new jobs for programmers. Why the hype around RPA? It allows for the automation of repeatable tasks and unburdening human workers in every industry, from administration to logistics to banking.

Use cases

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated issues within healthcare systems in many countries. Labor costs are increasing, and at the same time, startups offer innovative digital solutions created with the healthcare industry in mind. To remain competitive, decision-makers will need to take advantage of automation and digital potential as well. According to Gartner’s predictions, by 2023, about half of all healthcare organizations in the US will invest in RPA solutions. In the healthcare industry, many repetitive processes rely on data, and RPA could help increase their efficiency, minimizing costs and improving patients’ experiences.

Some of the use cases include administrative data management. RPA solutions based on NLP, speech recognition or image recognition can be employed to input administrative data into a healthcare system. It is a task that does not require advanced skills, yet can be quite repetitive. The RPA-based solutions can gather data from multiple sources and supply the database without engaging humans.

8. Big Data & Analytics

The future is data-driven! Companies see the potential of Big Data sets; hence, the role of the data analyst is in extremely high demand. According to Statista, global revenue from data and analytics in the period 2015-2022 amounts to $274.3 billion.

Use cases

Big Data analysis can contribute to the development of neuroscience. In the past, obtaining information from several neurons was out of reach. Today, scientists can employ technology that makes it possible to compare the activity of 300,000 neurons – as in an experiment conducted a couple of years ago at the Allen Institute founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Collecting data is not everything – researchers admit that only analyzing the data with the help of Machine Learning tools can help to find a pattern and highlight the right structures.

9. Cybersecurity

Protecting sensitive data is one of the biggest challenges in the upcoming years. The ‘zero-trust’ security model assumes that there are no users or devices that can be trusted. By 2026, the zero-trust security market is forecasted to grow to $52 billion. It is the leading trend in the field of mobile device protection too. According to Verizon’s Mobile Security Index 2021, 60% of respondents believe that mobile device security poses the biggest safety risk to their organization, and in fact, researchers warn that mobile devices are a new target for hackers (nowadays mobile phone users spend 80% of their time outside of the protected corporate network). With protection of just one device compromised, they can have access to sensitive and valuable corporate data.

Use cases

Data theft, stealing credentials, access to corporate resources, installing malware, or spying are some of the most common types of cyber-attacks. This makes the cybersecurity of mobile devices one of the leading trends you should pay attention to in 2023. If you use a corporate iPhone (or your private one as part of the bring-your-own-device model); you might be interested in solutions like Jamf Threat Defence, an Apple-dedicated tool created to protect endpoints from being compromised and prevent phishing attempts. JTD uses advanced Machine Learning to identify and prevent zero-day attacks.

New technological trends – summary

Tech trends are undoubtedly proving to be useful in day-to-day life in 2022. Every year we breathlessly observe how Artificial Intelligence and robots help businesses to spread their wings. Powered by the potential of the cloud, supercomputers offer a whole new way of computing and analyzing enterprise data, while VR technology and intelligent wearables help monitor health and train medics. Technology is closer to us than we think.

The above are some of the main technological trends in 2022-2025 and beyond. Technological innovations such as the Internet of Things, VR, AI, and the cloud are no longer the technologies of the future – the AI vaccine design programs and the impact of technology on drug design are just two such examples. The challenge for companies is to find ways that will allow them to get the most out of these solutions. We expect that 2023 and the next few years will lead to even faster growth of the abovementioned technologies and increasing demand for software development specialists, which is expected to continue until 2030 according to the available data.

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

Schedule a meeting