Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has released the results of “The Impact of Technology in 2022 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study,” a new survey of global technology leaders from the U.S., U.K., China, India, and Brazil. The study, which included 350 chief technology officers, chief information officers, and IT directors, covers the most important technologies in 2022, industries most impacted by technology in the year ahead, and technology trends through the next decade.
Among total respondents, more than one in five (21 per cent) said that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), cloud computing (20 per cent), and 5G (17 per cent) will be the most important technologies next year. Because of the global pandemic, technology leaders surveyed said in 2021 they accelerated adoption of cloud computing (60 per cent), AI and machine learning (51 per cent), and 5G (46 per cent), among others.
95 per cent agreed that AI will drive the majority of innovation across nearly every industry sector in the next five years.
As a result of the shift to hybrid work and the pandemic, more than half (51 per cent) of technology leaders surveyed believe the number of devices connected to their businesses that they need to track and manage, such as smartphones, tablets, sensors, robots, vehicles, drones, etc., increased as much as 1.5 times, while for 42 per cent of those surveyed the number of devices increased in excess of 1.5 times.
The cybersecurity concerns are issues related to the mobile and hybrid workforce including employees using their own devices (39 per cent) and cloud vulnerability (35 per cent).
The vast majority of those surveyed (92 per cent) believed that compared to a year ago, their company is better prepared to respond to a potentially catastrophic interruption such as a data breach or natural disaster. Of that majority, 65 per cent strongly agree that COVID-19 accelerated their preparedness.
