Launching TechMarketView’s 2022 Research Theme: Building Resilience

Resilience: “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness” (Source: Oxford Languages)

If any one of us goes through tough times and comes out the other side stronger and still smiling, it’s common to be praised for our resilience.

Over the last 20 months, all of us, collectively, have faced an unprecedented situation, created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone’s situation has been different but, for most, the need for personal resilience, particularly psychological and emotional, has been clear. In business, corporate resilience took on new meaning. In sectors, like travel & hospitality, that were faced with a complete halt, we saw incredible innovation and creativity as businesses sought to keep the lights on until we came out the other side. While in Government, the nation’s resilience was tested as the economy was disrupted, supply chains were impacted, and systems, procedures and processes were placed under strain.

After such an experience, we cannot expect a return to the way things were. Our 2021 research theme was ‘Reset and Reimagine’, highlighting the need for technology companies and end user organisations alike to adapt their businesses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate, as well as longer-term, effects. We have over the course of the year, highlighted numerous ways in which this has played out; the most prominent has been the shift to a hybrid working environment for many organisations.

As we head into 2022, we expect organisations – both the tech suppliers and their clients (in the public and private sectors) – to focus on resilience in a wide variety of ways. Hence our 2022 Research Theme: Building Resilience. In May, when UK Civil Service COO, Alex Chisholm, launched the Government’s review of national resilience, he said he anticipated “a resetting of the dial in terms of how much we prepare for low-probability, high-impact, events (like COVID-19).” It’s this change in mindset that we believe will result in a change in behaviours by individuals, businesses, and the Government. This, in turn, will result in new opportunities for tech suppliers.

Both the Government and businesses must consider a diverse range of threats, from cyber-attacks to health crises to climate change. They must seek to minimise risk, prepare for disruption, and be able to rebound swiftly when faced with unexpected events. At the national level and at the corporate level, the next few years will bring an increased focus on economic/financial resilience (“building back better”); strategic resilience; IT & cyber resilience; workforce resilience; and supply chain resilience, to name a few.

Across all these areas, technology will play a crucial role as organisations rethink every part of their operations and look to be ‘future ready’. In line with this, in the UK Government’s recent Integrated Review of Security, Defence, and Foreign Policy, Government stated science and technology would be elevated to the highest importance as a component of national security (see National Security & Resilience: The role of science & technology). And we’ve seen a raft of innovations globally that aim to improve the Earth’s resilience to human interference, such as the use of blockchain technology to help stop the Amazon rainforest from being plundered by so-called ‘biopirates’.

Over the course of 2022, we expect this increased focus on resilience, and the need to persist, adapt, and transform, to result in an increased reliance on technology in decision making, in the design of new offerings, in the delivery of goods and services, and in internal and external communications. We also expect to see the desire to increase resilience to result in an enduring interest in social value creation, from environmental sustainability, through to diversity & inclusion initiatives with workforce resilience in mind.

We expect an acceleration in technology product and service investment in a range of areas such as remote working, hybrid computing, business continuity, data & analytics, cybersecurity, and supply chain management. Moreover, the need for ‘collective resilience’ will increase the need for collaboration, integration and more data sharing across the public, private, and voluntary sectors. What will be crucial is ensuring that any IT or digital strategy results in innovation can be introduced without building in new, unexpected, vulnerabilities.

Watch our 2022 Research Theme Launch video here: Building Resilience.

Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '08:00' - Tagged: trends   predictions   research   buildingresilience