Top 5 trends for CIOs to watch in 2022

Organizations have undergone a dramatic transformation, accelerated by the realities of the last 2 years. Chief information officers are facing refocused strategic initiatives that are shifting away from addressing the demands related to the pandemic.

With the digital transformations that have blossomed in enterprises since 2020, CIOs have become an integral part of plans to deal with an evolving customer base?one that is significantly more tech-savvy. Now is the time for these CIOs to evaluate their organizational priorities and focus on trends that can help maximize the growth and impact of their businesses.

The 2022 trends poised to shape automation this year and beyond will focus on modernizing the variations of workspaces—remote, hybrid, and in-office.

Five must-watch trends

While the global marketplace is still incredibly volatile and somewhat unpredictable, several key trends have emerged. Thus far, these trends have transcended industry boundaries and are impacting virtually all major businesses.

1.    The continuing data explosion: People and businesses are generating more data than ever before. Companies now collect massive amounts of consumer data from a variety of sources. However, much of this data is not being tapped into, as it is locked away in unprocessed documents. Many organizations are reaching a crossroads and must determine how to leverage all of their data to inform decision making or face the risk of falling behind their competitors. Automation and intelligent document processing (IDP) solutions can transform inaccessible, unstructured data into structured, actionable data to give companies the ability to glean more data-driven insights.

2.    The impact of cloud-based resources: Cloud services and technologies have attracted businesses over the last decade because of their ease of use, accessibility, scalability, and cost savings. Those prepared with cloud technologies found digital transformations and remote or hybrid work easier than those without.

However, with more users on cloud-based services, the costs of those services have risen dramatically, and businesses aren’t realizing the expected cost savings. CIOs can address cloud concerns with interoperability and mature governance solutions. Companies can optimize the efficiencies of iPaaS (integration platform as a service) as well as other automations by embracing the concept of “hyper-automation.”

3.    Widespread automation: Widespread automation, now called hyper-automation, is the practice of rapidly identifying and automating as many IT and business processes as possible. Business leaders—especially CIOs and CTOs?will be called on to guide their enterprises in automating every process possible. In the past, companies have often struggled with automation projects because they lacked a process for implementing hyper-automation.

Developing AI and machine learning operations will ensure greater success in hyper-automation. By automating core business processes, organizations can improve efficiency, reduce employee workloads, and increase profitability.

4.    Greater emphasis on the employee experience: Many businesses have struggled to identify and acquire top talent in the past year. One approach to keeping and attracting workers focuses on the employee experience. Modern worker care about much more than just their salary. They also want to achieve a good work-life balance and have positive experiences within the workplace. In light of this fact, most organizations are placing an increased emphasis on creating a positive working environment for their staff. They can accomplish this by creating a strong company culture and equipping employees with the latest technologies.

Specifically, many leaders in the market are using AI-powered IDP solutions to enhance the employee experience and reduce manual processes while creating user-friendly systems. Enterprises that use modern software design layouts and focus on the overall user experience, can create employee experiences that will increase retention.

5.    IDP and iPaaS will become household names: Look for IDP and iPaaS (integration platform as a service) to become commonly used technologies together in the coming years. IDP solutions feed data into iPaaS applications, which standardize how businesses integrate various applications into their organizational IT infrastructure. These two innovative solutions will help businesses of all types become more data-driven, connected, and streamlined, especially as organizations look to achieve hyper-automation.

When leveraged to their true potential, these technologies will enhance RPAs as automation solutions for most major organizations. iPaaS and IDPs offer superior flexibility and integration when compared to traditional automation solutions.

How These Trends Will Drive Businesses Forward

The future is predicated on data and what organizations can do with it. Finding the hidden data through automation and hyper-automation will drive the next year of data processes. As more tasks and processes are automated, people can focus on the jobs that can’t be automated and which will propel work forward. CIOs, then, can be credited with helping to move to strategic outcomes for organizations, beyond the quick-fix tactical options that helped keep the doors open for the last 2 years.

Kevin Harbauer is the CTO at Ephesoft (https://ephesoft.com).