2021 saw exceptional innovations in blockchain, AI & analytics, and digital. For 2022, these high-profile areas signal the need for very big shifts in how we operate. So here are three priority areas for 2022 that I believe will be important to drive growth and higher relevance with customers and partners alike.

The big wins will come for those who can look at how to monetize these trends, not just experiment with them.

1. Put analytics to work

AI and analytics saw a meteoric rise in 2021, and the momentum will continue in 2022. Going forward, I believe the service emphasis should shift from building AI models, to consuming the insights and integrating them with operations. The reason is simple. Creating an AI model when you have the data is only the tip of the iceberg. Lots of credible providers are surfacing who are able to do that. As the availability of the tools and skillsets increases, the ability to develop models is rapidly becoming table stakes.

What will instead drive the value in the enterprise is two-fold. First, how can we make sure that the right data is made available to these AI models in a consistent way? Second, how can we take the insights and feed them into the technology applications used to run operations to deliver performance gains in various areas?

The reason I feel that these 2 areas will be priorities for 2022 is that neither of these is a trivial problem. For any enterprise, the spread of technology, products, business processes, and infrastructure offers up a complex landscape that needs to be sorted and tackled. It follows that a significant portion of the budget will be applied to drive these remedies. So providers who can engage with clients on the end-to-end problem analysis and resolution will have an inherent advantage.

2. Tap into the blockchain frenzy

2021 was a banner year for blockchain with NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and decentralized finance leading the way. We also saw several large enterprise blockchain programs being announced.

I believe that the actual prize lies not in the blockchain programming itself, but in making it work for the growth and operations of an enterprise. Providers who will succeed will help enterprises connect business processes with the rising innovation made possible by the blockchain.

This is especially true of the new web3 technology paradigm coming into play. That’s decentralized and gives power back to the owners of the information. No doubt, intermediaries and corporations will remain, but how they will operate will be very different.

Looking at short-term trends, creating an NFT for consumers is not something that enterprise technology will be too concerned with. That’s largely a brand marketing play enabled by several innovative platforms.  However, using the NFT to provide a promise of service will likely not be feasible without deeper enterprise integration. Consider this: banks may create a brand NFT which also promises lowered APR, additional card points, and fee waivers if certain actions are taken by consumers. Similar use cases can be thought about for B2C scenarios in any industry. On similar lines, financial institutions will need to rethink architectures if they are to provide the right on and off-ramps to DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and digital assets on the blockchain.

Clients will be eager to do something meaningful in 2022. Providers who can go beyond the blockchain buzz, and talk about the entire customer engagement spectrum will see growth and rising market share. It may take a while for enterprises to conceptualize and launch these capabilities. However, they will likely lay the core foundations in 2022.

3. Simplify those operations

“Transformation” has been the big word recently. I feel that it now needs to take a backseat for a bit. There are too many things going on that can seriously disrupt not only technology charters but also entire business models.

So, we need to be thinking of how to “compete in a digital world”. That’s different than trying to manage long-term transformation charters. The reason is that it is difficult to predict how all the upheaval in the market is going to shake out. However, what will still be important is the constant modernization and simplification of the underlying paraphernalia, while keeping in mind the disruption that’s impending.

So providers would do well to recast these transformation programs into a roadmap of manageable short-term chunks. Working collaboratively with clients to clearly map them to operational and CX improvements will prove to be a rewarding exercise in my opinion. You should also create an innovation dialog using the emerging priorities from sections 1 (AI and analytics) and 2 (blockchain). Enterprises neither have all the resources nor all the answers. So providers who aspire to become partners should gear up to co-create actionable visions with their clients.

Next steps

The top priorities for 2022 will be about putting emerging innovations to fruitful use and re-think transformation charters. It has always been valuable to streamline the technology and data backbone.  However, what’s different now is that the need for agility is meeting significant uncertainty. The tech paradigm itself is changing rapidly. Given this pace of change, clients may not always do (the right) things in the right order. So we must focus with clients on creating guiding roadmaps that are flexible enough to maintain forward momentum.