The Top 10 Small Business Tech Trends of 2022
What will the tech landscape look like in just 5 years? How will it affect small businesses? As business owners, our job is to stay ahead of industry trends and the latest technological developments – but doing so can be a daunting task! That’s why we’ve outlined the top 10 tech trends that small businesses should keep an eye on in 2022 below. See which ones you’re already using, which ones you should try out, and which ones you might have missed altogether!
The Future is Connected
Technology and business are more intertwined than ever, so it makes sense that they’ll affect each other on a bigger scale in future years. The Internet of Things will allow businesses to see their customers in new ways, and biometrics (think facial recognition software) will help companies connect with their customers like never before. In addition, digital transformation is already here—don’t get left behind! Check out these trends now and start planning for what’s next.
Virtual Assistants will become Better than Actual Assistants
By 2022, virtual assistants will be better than actual assistants—they’ll anticipate and predict your needs before you know you have them. The assistant will not only be able to tell when you need help with a task or project, but also which tasks/projects to address first. You’ll probably wonder how you ever got anything done without it. In fact, you might even forget that it’s artificial intelligence at all. This is what we call true AI. And by 2022, we expect AI-powered virtual assistants to go mainstream for small businesses.
Social Media Will be the New Mainstream Communications Platform
Social media has been growing at a rapid pace for years, and it’s only going to keep expanding. As more people adopt these platforms, we’ll see users increasingly shift from digital communications on their devices to social ones. The popularity and use of such networks like Facebook and Twitter will become commonplace, and businesses that aren’t already using them will rush to set up social media accounts. This will be especially true as younger generations continue to enter the workforce, as they tend to be far more comfortable with social networking than older workers. If you’re not taking advantage of these channels now, you may regret it in 2022.
Natural Language Processing Will Become Commonplace
As AI and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities improve, we’ll begin to see these capabilities in more places. In fact, NLP-powered assistants will be common by 2022: your microwave will talk to you about its settings, your car will tell you when a tire needs air and a restaurant’s check-in kiosk will tell you what hours it serves breakfast. The question is no longer whether or not we can do these things; it’s how long until they become standard features. And, as with any technology, there are risks involved with putting such capabilities into our homes and cars—but that’s another discussion for another time.
Cloud Technology will Replicate our Reality in Digital Space
Cloud-based technology has taken over in such a way that it will soon be impossible to do business without storing data on servers. This method is essential for small businesses—as having proprietary software helps with efficiency, control, and security. With cloud-based applications, you can have all of these benefits without needing a dedicated server infrastructure! The future is literally now. While we may not have holodecks yet, we’re getting close.
Wearable Technology Will Change Our Lives
The market for wearable tech is one that is still growing rapidly. According to a recent New York Times report, companies like Apple, Google and Samsung are all working on products in order to get into (or stay at) the top of our shopping lists. It’s estimated that by 2017 more than 100 million smart watches will be sold—that’s four times as many as were sold in 2014! Here are a few more trends we can expect over coming years. (more...) What Happens When Technology Fails? You may not realize it, but technology fails all the time. We hear about these outages when they happen to big names like Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, but there are hundreds of other smaller companies that have outages every single day. And sometimes those outages last for hours or even days...and what happens then? What happens when your business depends on a website? How do you handle it when your entire business model breaks down?
Biometric Security Will Replace Passwords and Codes
Companies like Apple and Google are already incorporating biometric identification technology into their products. Facial recognition, finger scans, heart-rate monitoring, and other methods will be used to verify identity in lieu of passwords or passcodes. As consumers become more comfortable with biometric security, businesses will follow suit. Furthermore, new business models like financial services for migrant workers without bank accounts will also capitalize on biometric security as a way to minimize identity theft and fraud. Connected Cars Will Be Part of Our Daily Lives: Technology is making it easier than ever to get around town—and not just by public transportation. We’re seeing connected cars from every major car manufacturer, self-driving vehicles from Uber and Tesla, electric scooters from Bird and LimeBike...even bikes from Ford. This isn’t just about getting around town; it’s about redefining how we interact with our cities.
Blockchain will Impact Every Transaction We Make
Blockchain is already becoming a daily part of our lives in some ways, even if most people don’t realize it. From banking to government records and property ownership, blockchain will have significant implications on how we complete everyday transactions in just seven years. It’s possible that by 2022, there won’t be a single transaction that isn’t touched by blockchain technology in some way. As more industries adopt it, we can expect to see many different applications for its use—and not all of them will be as straightforward as buying and selling cryptocurrency.
Personal Robotics Will Improve Our Lifestyle
By 2022, we’ll have household robots to assist us with everything from cooking dinner to keeping our homes clean. While these bots won’t replace humans altogether (at least not in an initially planned manner), they will take over some tasks that we find mundane and repetitive. Consider how, today, it’s more common to order a pizza than it is to cook one yourself. In 10 years, a robot may be doing much of your chores while you are out enjoying other things. The best part? You can program them to do whatever you want! Imagine telling a robotic assistant to vacuum at 3 p.m., or making pancakes for breakfast by simply stating what ingredients you would like used (i.e., Two eggs, blueberries, brown sugar and cinnamon on top). As long as someone else has developed these programs for robotics devices, you’re all set!