Much has been written about the huge changes in our working lives during the past two years – driven of course by necessity and concerns for safety. In 2022, the pandemic is very much still a fact of life for many of us. However, it’s fair to say that we’ve learned to adapt to new behavioral patterns and expectations as we do our jobs. If we are among the millions of “knowledge workers” who find ourselves with more freedom to choose when and where we work, then hopefully, we are making the most of the opportunity to strike a better balance between home and working life.
Going into 2022, Deloitte’s 2021 survey of CEOs revealed that, “Expectations for business growth remain strong, as investment in digital transformation and innovation continue to drive a positive economic outlook.” IT can expect to be busy in an array of digital projects that range from digitalizing non-digital assets to deploying more analytics, IoT (Internet of Things), artificial intelligence, and video networks. In some cases, internal talent may not be available. This will require fierce competitiveness in the job market, offers of higher than usual perks and salaries, and/or investments in outside consulting resources that might not have been called for in the past. These personnel needs will show up in IT budgets.
Further, security tools and audits are likely to be major items in 2022 IT budgets, since more work will be done remotely, IoT deployments will grow, and there will be more access points and vulnerabilities on networks that can be exploited.
Given the remote work transformations that have occurred, offering remote work options and work-life balance should be strategic goals of IT leadership. Fortunately, IT functions are highly adaptable to remote work. Outsource services, application development, systems programming, database work, and a certain number of operations and network work can all be done from home, whereas people-facing functions such as business analyst work, are better suited for face-to-face work. It will be up to IT leadership to determine the right mix of remote and onsite work for various IT functions, but the good news is that working remotely isn't a total “sea change” from how IT has always operated.
We present to you, “Top 10 Remote Work Tech Solution Providers - 2021.”
