Biggest Business Trends for 2022- Are You Ready?

By Professor James McCallum, co-Founder and Chairman of Proteus

As conversations turn to strategies for 2022, there has and continues to be an enormous opportunity for the UK to lead the charge in the energy and economic transition. More than ever, we have the compelling need to change our behaviours to reflect upon the consequences of an accelerating environmental crisis and the impact of a global pandemic. 

The economic landscape is shifting, and businesses must adapt to meet the energy goals of tomorrow. We’ve been privy to significant disruption, but with crisis comes innovation. Businesses have had to get creative with their operations. Overnight, teams have dispersed, and digital demands accelerated.

Embracing technology through a need to survive must continue with the same vigour over the next year. Businesses, subject to enormous societal pressure, must make drastic changes to meet the business conditions of the modern world but remember, this is an energy transition and not a switch. As we look ahead to 2022, here are some key trends that we can expect to see more of over the next twelve months. 

Work management automation 

As businesses look to strategies post-pandemic, we will see the growth of digital work management approaches. Given that the scope and breadth of energy projects can vary significantly on a case by case basis, real-time data analysis and the application of productivity software will be significant tools for energy companies over the next 12 months. 

Having the right technology in place will help businesses enhance productivity and drive operational efficiencies. Not only will teams be able to reduce utilisation inputs and outputs of their hardware, software and intellectual assets, but the likes of work management automation platforms will free up the workload and accelerate decision making. Businesses must make significant behavioural changes. Acting fast to respond to changes in the economic landscape and harnessing data will offer valuable insights. Being informed and reactive to make time-critical decisions will be key to optimising business processes. Efficiency improvements will decarbonise businesses and improve competitiveness for intellectual and financial capital.

Work management automation can foster connectivity and control of assets whilst also simplifying and enriching data into knowledge which will benefit future business decisions. The outcome is a higher level of competitiveness through streamlined operations – an invaluable asset for businesses moving forward. 

Cloud-based project management

Since the pandemic began, we have seen our dependence on technology increase dramatically. Institutions through necessity have relied on their digital presence as the first port of call to meet as teams and projects were executed and managed remotely. 

Managing projects more efficiently will be key as the economy recovers and momentum builds. Having project software in place will enable businesses to have an overview of critical project status, especially when managing multiple projects concurrently. The right software can offer visibility on progress to ensure all supply chain stakeholders are up to date with key data extracted in real-time to produce detailed reports and learnings to meet future project deliverables.  

Accurate budgeting, managing project milestones and margin improvement coupled with demonstrable decarbonisation will help businesses succeed in the unpredictable post-pandemic landscape. With this in mind, digitising project management will be paramount for businesses in 2022. 

Embracing digital advancements

We must continue driving low-carbon and digital advancements forward with a wartime-like effort in 2022 and beyond. The technologies to achieve this already exist, but widespread systemic adoption is urgently needed to integrate the new behaviours into core markets, regulations, business models, and operations.  

Software technology platforms, although attracting interest, are at different levels of maturity. Its paramount businesses also consider the evolving needs of society and the financial sector when considering adopting these strategies. Those that do not take steps towards digital transformation and decarbonisation will fall behind the competition in operational efficiency, costs, recruitment and the ability to access capital for growth. Adopting the right digital tools will help integrate otherwise siloed software and work management functionality will serve as the glue that ties together the digital infrastructure, team and internal processes. 

Businesses must demonstrate they are at the cutting edge of technology trends and embrace digital transformation as the key to future-proofing their work in 2022. 

The future for businesses in 2022

The future is undoubtedly digital. There is no turning back now. Global uncertainty in the past two years has meant crisis has bred innovation. Entrepreneurial spirit, collaborative energy and agility have been needed like never before. 

Through trial and error, we’ve witnessed unparalleled learning and development. The most important thing moving forward is a genuine willingness from leadership and management to change behaviour in traditional approaches to technology and business process. Streamlining processes and optimising the use of hardware, software, and intellectual assets will be fundamental. We must harness the technology at our fingertips to connect distributed teams, digitalise processes and maximize productivity to perform at our peak. 

It is an exciting time for change. Observing which businesses embrace such strategies to meet the challenges of a brave new world with enormous health and environmental constraints will be key to survival.