A lot of things have progressed in AI in the last 12 months. It's being used much more by a whole lot more people and accessibility is being refined and it's being made easier to understand as well. You'll see more Virtual and Augmented Reality become more common place in medium to large brands over the next year as they "try" to adopt the Metaverse platform.
As a part of this I think Headsets will be made as gifts and prizes as it gains more acceptance globally and the prices go down.
I believe a lot of the Innovation Hubs for technology-based business that sprung up during the Lockdowns and were there to support businesses through them may return in 2022 as well. The success of these haven't been as well documented as other things but I think these wee little "think-tanks" and start up accelerators really helped the economy bounce back much faster than many people thought would be possible. The resources there and the funding really kept the wheels turning - so I do hope they come back.
One thing I have noticed over the last year is there are more and more roles online that are seeking "Creators". This seems to be new role that Brands and larger businesses are looking for. I think this will yet breakthrough to the SME's here in Ireland. This means the demand on knowledge for a greater raft of ability and experience will be out there. I do think this will mean that there maybe more disparity over the next couple of years in this skillset and it's an area that needs to worked on more by every size and shape of business.
With the push that the Trading Online Voucher has been doing since the first Lockdown here in Ireland to encourage business owners to put their business online, it was a very valuable source of help to existing businesses. However, for those that didn't immediately qualify for the 90% help last year - they potentially could be some of the businesses failing in the coming months as they don't qualify for as much support. These fledgling innovators are up against the wall and unless they can find ways that are affordable to build their business through and beyond COVID we shall see more of these businesses close. I encourage everyone reading this to support local, new businesses to prevent this haemorrhage of jobs and skill.
One of the most obvious changes I saw in the last year was business owners learning how to create videos at home or at least at their own business locations. As vital and experienced a videographer is, these business owners had to learn how to create, script, edit and more in order to continually reach their audience through the medium of video.
In fact it has been much easier and some what cheaper to purchase green screens, microphones, ring lights, camera's and a whole host of things to be capable of doing this from our own locations and these new "Creators" from above will be very capable of doing this. I can see more and more businesses utilising these tools and build these skills in 2022.
Every year I try to think of a word that may represent the year ahead and then add a word that signified that year for me and those around me. Check out below:
2020
January "Highly Anticipated" - December 2020 "COVID 19"
2021
January "Pivot" - December 2021 "Tested"
2022
January "Sustainability" - December ?
I'd love to know what your words were for each year and what's coming up. Please keep it clean!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
