Metaverso, Chips and Social Ecommerce ’will gain prominence this year

As companies begin to recover this year from the mode of survival caused by COVID, it is more than probable that there will be a “urgent and renewed” approach in improving operations to recover from the losses of last year losses."2022 will be the year to move from survival to strengthening," says Kiron Ravindran.This professor, along with ten other colleagues from the IE Business School, have collaborated with Fifodies to know what technological trends will mark 2022.A year that, although "will bring more deepening than revolutionary appearances", as Julián de Cabo points out, will not stop being moved.Without going any further, cryptocurrencies and blockchain "face a second moment of truth in 2022," says Eduardo Pedreño.

Hybrid work models.The end of the Pandemic statement towards the middle of the year and its reconsideration as an endemic disease of decreasing gravity will condition a increasing return to the activity, “but some labor models will maintain flexible possibilities and will become increasingly desirable for desirable schemes for theworker ”, Vaticina Enrique Dans.Agustín Cuenca is also.“Today teleworking is video+chat+shared folders.That is not enough, so I think we will see an increase in the world of tools designed to work remotely, such as Basecamp, Asana or Monday ”.Along the same lines, Casimir.“According to IDC, more than 60% of companies have accelerated the use of digital technologies to carry out the work.In this, the alternatives of virtual models or augmented reality has entered this year, especially the goal proposal (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft with Teams.An opportunity (still primitive) for new work models, ”he says.

Metaverso, virtual and augmented reality.Great corporations such as Facebook, Nvidia and Microsoft have already presented their plans for metaverso, with the aim of creating immersive environments online that offer a persistent world to work, socialize and play, says Álvaro Arenas.This adds that "as the metaverso ecosystem grows in 2022, I hope it has a direct impact on the future of many technological sectors.These include virtual reality and augmented reality, online games, consumer technology products such as virtual reality glasses or intelligent speakers, digital currencies, and collaboration, education and health technologies, among others ".

Pedreño says, on the other hand, that the so -called metaverso "is another promise with a low degree of concretion", but points out as Dans that the presentation of virtual or augmented reality glasses by Apple could be in 2022 “an interesting triggerTo know what metavers can hold "."Apple's irruption in the segment, disputing the supremacy that until now maintains a goal with Oculusvr, will become a strong reset factor in the category, which will begin to be used beyond gaming and other marginal uses," adds Dans.Cabo also argues that metavers, understood as evolution of augmented and virtual reality, has enough ballots to become medium/long term on the platform that happens to the smartphone."And, as the mobile, it will not be so much a device as a persistent virtual space where we will be more or less continues".However, he says that "we are very at the beginning, there are lack of standards and that we must see what large companies raise in terms of interoperability and ability to define and transfer our digital assets between one and the other metavers or parts of a large integrated metaverso"."Sounds weird," he continues, "but the web also sounded like this".

And, although still everything that has to do with metaverso "is uncertain because it is starting", as light stated, some industries, such as retail, and others that we will see in 2022, begin to take positions in the virtual world,"When it is very likely that in the end the metaverso will become an important market".Some great brands such as Nike, Adidas, Gucci, Balenciaga or Louis Vuitton, remember, have already taken out their digital collections.

Chips and supply chain.The chips industry, which has so ofThe supply chain will remain “mainly due to its unsustainability,“ and we will see increasing pressures to redefine it based on different standards.Some companies, in fact, will begin to make war on their own and will be integrated with rethinking logistics schemes from scratch by the traditional ones ”.

Technology regulation.The harassment of regulators against technological giants will continue, "and none will be fought," says Pedreño.Dans assures that the regulation to the great technological will experience a strong advance (even greater than in 2021), "and many will be greatly restricted and conditioned by it".In his opinion, the Biden Administration in the US will become “the black beast of Silicon Valley” with increasingly hard demands and legal reformulations.Juanes adds, speaking of regulation in Europe, that, to the already known challenges of privacy and personal data, we must now add those related to the use of artificial intelligence and platform models (with regulation in labor issues and use of use ofresources).

Preventive health.More and more companies seek to develop systems based on user monitoring both for health care with a preventive approach, and to carry out more research in the health field.This is stated by Dans, for whom "some countries with advanced public health systems and pointers will also begin to advance the idea for consideration of costs and quality of service".Pedreño, on the other hand, foresees “an invasion of technology companies in the health sector: 23 Andme developing medicines, Google using Deep Learning for the same purpose and many others”.

Sustainability and climate change.Since sustainability and climate change are the two great challenges of humanity, Juanes points out that companies that seek solutions for circular economy, reduction and reuse, use of local resources, energy efficiency, andpoints out that to achieve this the role of technology is key.“Both in models of better use of resources (the evolution of the collaborative but closer economy), and in energy efficiencies (thanks to data management and smart grids, less use of resources thanks to IT communications, etc..).Along these lines, Dans believes that “a real fever” will be seen for solar panels and batteries in countries where the solar revolution at domestic level has not yet occurred, and that the electric vehicle will “climb” in preferences in the preferencesof users and more traditional brands will begin not only to produce them, but to announce the decarbonization of their production.

Cryptocurrencies, NFT and web3.Decentralization will continue to gain strength, by the hand of blockchain technology, Cuenca and Arenas coincide.According to the latter, “the blockchain will continue to gain space in 2022, but above all they will appear platforms for NFT (non -fungible tokens).Next year we will see NFTS everywhere, from films to properties and works of art ”."The NFTS will begin to demonstrate if they are something serious or begin to prick," says Guillermo de Haro, which highlights the blockchain in B2B, "although tokens and crypts begin to generalize".Cuenca says that "in crypto anyone can decentralize and schedule damage and that will make very disruptive projects that we are not able to see and I do not speak of NFTS or Shitcoins".

Julián de Cabo also points to a “new wave” of the web, the web3, “with alternative capabilities for software, business, networks and value transfer that will go far beyond the explosion of cryptocurrencies.I hope, ”he says,“ that it is a much more open and decentralized scenario, with more options for individuals to make money and not just the great technological ones.And here the NFT starts to have an interesting role ”.For its part, Ravindran sees that, in the blockchain space, intelligent contracts "see more prominence in supply chains".And Pedreño warns that cryptocurrencies and blockchain face this year a second moment of truth.“After a decade, the volume of payments processed through cryptocurrencies in 2021 has been only 12.000 million dollars (compared to 1.9 billion total globally),

Quantum computing.The race to achieve the quantum computer that works will correctly continue in 2022, says Elena Yndurain.In his opinion, there will be surprises: “Appearance of some unexpected Qubit technology with hardly any failures;Surely Amazon Web Services will launch its own quantum computer, and IBM, Google, Ionq and Honeywell will overcome 1.000 good quality qubits ".

Digital advertising.The increasing protests against person management and user preferences for persecution and advertising harassment will lead, according to Dans, to the "reinvention" of much of the ecosystem as we know it, "and to a redefinition in search ofmore respectful and sustainable schemes ".

Cloud.The cloud will remain key to improve costs, efficiency and agility, so more companies will continue to move their work to the cloud, Kiron Ravindran and Juanes coincide.The first is likely that there is an improvement in the capacities of the cloud suppliers and, the second, emphasizes that there is more and more emphasis on native development for the cloud (Cloud Native), “where you can take advantage of allThe opportunities of the cloud given the highest level of maturity of companies.This allows vertical solutions that will be increasingly specific and actionable ”.

Cybersecurity.After the increase in cyber crimes in 2021, especially ransomware attacks, ravindran and sands advance that “urgency will cause artificial intelligence (AI) and analytical resources to detect safety risks and predict the behavior of hackers,And thus prevent future attacks ".For Cuenca, cybersecurity will continue to increase in relevance ("it is the time of password and security managers," he says) and Pedreño advances that new solutions are going to be glimpsed “aimed at finishing our dependence on passwords by devices or biometry"."Privacy will also continue to be a hot topic, especially what touches social networks and their harmful behaviors," says this teacher.Along the same lines, Juanes warns that the attack surface has expanded, that ransomware and other types of attack, especially through the supply chain, are already here to stay, “so investment in safety based on AIFor the protection of digital assets and services it is already an obligation, because we are still behind the bad ”.

Influencers and Social Ecommerce Marketing ’.Following the Asian tradition, influencers marketing will follow a meteoric growth in the company's digital marketing budgets, combining the increases in increasing notoriety and brand recognition with conversion objectives sale pure and hard, according to Fernando Aparicio Aparicio Aparicio.“It will be the year that will be applied as a third way to the traditional ecommerce alternatives: the own online store and the Marketplace, especially Amazon.And the Live Shopping will begin to have an increasingly relevant weight in the mix marketing of companies with relieved budgets.Aparicio also believes that 2022 will be the year in which social networks will merge with the ecommerce, "in the long -awaited social commerce, for which you still need to know if it offers profitability and, above all, the expected conversion rates".This teacher ensures that the integration of payment options within social networks will facilitate the purchase per impulse (“WhatsApp will become the first western super-app?, Wonders), although he says they will continue to be far from companies such as Amazon, to thelack a logistics solution that offers them a complete and integrated value chain.

'Super -apps'.A trend that will definitely monopolize headlines in 2022, according to Pedreño, are the super -apps.Initially arising in Asia with Wechat, they are apps that incorporate multiple functions.“Banking companies such as Revolution will start selling online trips and many other apps seem interested in adding functions either by integration of various apps (Uber with Uber Eats, for example) or by acquisition of companies whose functions could serve to amplify theirValue (after the failed purchase of Pinterest by PayPal there could be something similar) ”.Pedreño adds that at the point of acquisition point, social networks such as Pinterest, Twitter or Snap, "successful, but not at the Facebook level".

'Vertical marketplaces'.Within the framework of the B2B, greater evolution will be seen to transactional environments where companies not only know digitally, but can complete transactions within the marketplaces themselves, says Aparicio, which predicates that “we will attend the growth of vertical marketplaces as24/7 alternative to traditional fairs, in an accelerated trend by COVID-19 ”.And in this context he launches a question: "Will LinkedIn become, once and for all, in the Great Marketplace B2B with the ability to dominate Western markets?".The market, he says, cannot be more conducive.

’Explanate’ of AI.IE Business School teachers agree that this year the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics will continue to be reinforced."The AI is part of our daily life, from the recommendation systems for our online purchases through automatic translators," says Arenas, which points out that companies are developing predictive systems to forecast the trends of their customers and their sales,including in its models uncertainty situations such as a pandemic.“The entire AI and Analytical area will continue to grow and see much more robust models predicting and helping decision making.Juanes also believes that technology that seems to have more interest, impact and search remains artificial intelligence, “from intelligent automation for customer management or internal users (chatbots or other cognitive systems) to its use in decision processes (with casesof use in logistics, health or almost any vertical) to Zero-Touch automation.In any of the cases it is intended to move from intensive models to technology intensive models, improving quality, minimizing errors and time ”.In this context, Vaticin Basin that “we will see an increase in the need for explanation of why some data -based decisions are made or AI.It will be necessary to display the decisions made by the systems ”.

No code and lack of talent.Juanes believes that a potential solution to the problem of lack of talent (still difficult to solve) is to achieve more accessible technology, "and thus democratize its use"."Solutions such as Development No Code or Low Code Development are starting to be very common, and eating a lot.He also believes that he will not continue to advance: "The amount of applications that can be developed without the need for technical expertise will continue to increase".On the difficulty for the access and attraction of digital talent, Juanes advances new opportunities ("a lot."It will be very important to understand the needs of employees, especially in digital or hybrid models where physical contact is still very limited".

Recovery plan.Focusing on Spain (and Europe), Juanes emphasizes that they have a great opportunity with the recovery, transformation and resilience plan, where, according to, an important investment in connectivity (especially 5G), digital transformation (very oriented toSMEs and critical sectors of the Spanish economy) and cybersecurity (with the greatest investment in history)."This can make some of the most anticipated use cases (such as rurtal connectivity and digitalization).We hope that all this capital can be used in the appropriate investments, "says this IE Business School teacher.