Jan 14, 2022
5G Leads the 3 IT Goals for Business Owners in 2022
Evidenced by the surge in the remote workforce and ubiquitous utilization of state-of-the-art digital tools and solutions, IT is enabling businesses to be more productive than ever before. Collectively, they've spent trillions on IT, and in 2022, they're expected to spend a whole lot more — potentially as much as $4.5 trillion worldwide, in fact, according to estimates from Gartner. That's a more than 5 percent increase compared to 2021.
But the question remains: What will companies be spending that kind of money on? For the most part, it will largely be on network, software and infrastructure that allow for greater access, speed, bandwidth, connectivity, flexibility, and ongoing reliability.
Here are a few of the IT goals businesses expect to work on and make a reality in 2022. Some are a continuation of their network and infrastructure aspirations from previous years, and are now aiming to improve upon where they've made strides.
1. More widespread utilization and adoption of 5G technology
The follow-up to 4G and introduced in 2018, 5G has consistently been gaining momentum in terms of usage and deployment in the years since its worldwide rollout, and it's understandable why. 5G wireless technologyoffers a higher multi-Gbps, delivering ultra-fast data speeds, enhanced reliability and availability, more network capacity thanks to added bandwidth as well as ultra-low latency. It's little wonder, then, that the global 5G infrastructure market is poised to reach $115.4 billion by 2026, according to predictions from Research and Markets. That's up from $12.9 billion in 2021.
The growth in 5G is largely a product of Internet of Things solutions and more people and businesses logging on to the internet with mobile and smart devices. Several cellular carriers offer 5G network capacity as well as fully 5G-enabled devices. This fact makes it all but certain that more businesses will be leveraging it in 2022. According to CNN, it's estimated that 50 percent of mobile connections will be 5G come 2025, based on predictions from the GSM Association.
Michael Porowski, a senior principal research analyst at Gartner, noted that the coronavirus fueled added interest and adoption of 5G, both for work as well as entertainment purposes.
"The COVID-19 pandemic spiked demand for optimized and ultrafast broadband connectivity to support work-from-home and bandwidth-hungry applications, such as streaming video, online gaming, and social media applications," Porowski explained.
This may explain why, in a 2020 survey conducted by Gartner, over 80 percent of polled chief financial officers said digital acceleration was a priority for them moving forward.
Cities are also investing in 5G digital solutions. By 2024, 5G coverage will be in place for 60 percent of tier-one cities, according to Gartner. Tier-one cities are defined as those that are more highly developed, including the likes of New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and Los Angeles.
The federal government may also be furthering 5G availability through the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act. If adopted and signed into law, the bill would "promote and accelerate the deployment and use of open interfaced, standards-based and interoperable 5G networks throughout the United States" through a $750 million grant.
2. Growth in distributed enterprise network adoption
While COVID-19 created a number of different obstacles for businesses, it also bred opportunities. With so many people working from home, organizations recruited outside their state or region to hire applicants who could work 100% remotely. In short, the office-centric network is being substituted for the distributed enterprise variety. As Network World points out, geographically distributed enterprises are allowing businesses to be more flexible in terms of who they hire and where those people get their work done.
David Groombridge, vice president of research at Gartner, told Network World that distributed enterprises have become a necessity in today's business environment, regardless of the industry.
"For every organization, from retail to education, their delivery model has to be reconfigured to embrace distributed services," Groombridge explained..
Gartner says potentially as many as three-quarters of the organizations that leverage distributed enterprise networks will make 25 percent more in revenue compared to those who stick with office-centric. As noted by CIO, some of the benefits of distributed enterprise networks include centralized management, application control through centralized security management, and limitless scalability.
Several well-known organizations and affiliations already take advantage of the distributed enterprise architecture, including those in retail, financial services, health care, and government.
3. Continued investment of systems that enhance 'business composability'
Business composability, as defined by Gartner, refers to the technologies, operational capabilities, and ongoing strategies that allow organizations to innovate and adapt on an as-needed basis. COVID-19 magnified the degree to which things can change overnight; organizations that embrace business composability are in a better position to succeed in a dynamic business world. To do so requires applying and investing in the foundations of business architecture to unlock modularity and greater autonomy.
"Business runs on technology, but technology itself must be composable to run composable businesses," said Monika Sinha, Gartner Research Vice President. "Composability needs to extend throughout the technology stack, from infrastructure that supports rapid integration of new systems and new partners to workplace technology that supports the exchange of ideas."
Sinha added that nearly two-thirds of organizations with CIOs who attest to their employer's high composability are in a better position than their competitors from a standpoint of productivity and performance. Some of the technologies and architectures composable businesses have in common with one another include distributed cloud technology as well as artificial intelligence utilization. In 2022, these organizations plan to invest in cyber and information security, data analytics, and cloud platforms.
"A high level of composability would help an enterprise recover faster and potentially even minimize the effects of a cybersecurity incident," Sinha further stated.
Cybersecurity has always an issue for business owners, but it's become even more of a concern for enterprises and organizations of all sizes with more people working remotely. This may explain why 80 percent of IT and security professionals surveyed said their employer intends to increase what they're spending on cybersecurity solutions over the 12 to 18 months, thereby strengthening their existing network infrastructure, according to a poll done by Balbix.
What IT solutions are next for you in 2022? Whatever they may be, Ventus wants to be a part of it. As an industry leader in IT networking innovations, Ventus has the capabilities and expertise to build, host, deploy and secure your network environment. We also offer a number of services, including monitoring, maintenance, IP addressing, and our plug-and-play technologies are state-of-the-art and can be used for retail and branch networks, failover, or self service retail including ATMs, ITMs, kiosks, point of sales systems and so much more.
Contact us today to learn about any and all of our customized offerings; we can help your business break through and achieve more in 2022.