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techblocks · 3 years ago

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WHAT IS CLOUD NATIVE AND TOP 5 REASONS TO ADOPT IT IN 2021

2020 posed a new challenge for businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and companies had to adopt remote working models? A whopping 43% of companies even closed temporarily. The ones that did survive, 78% of them took solace in cloud-native models and Kubernetes environments. This can be judged because the cloud-native market saw average spending of $2.3 Billion in 2019.

With a CAGR rate of 25.68%, the cloud-native market size is expected to reach a value of $9.2 Billion by 2025. While they sound similar, cloud-native is the practice of working entirely on the cloud instead of building a data center and then migrating the data to the cloud, which is the cloud hosting methodology. So, what exactly is the difference, and why is cloud-native the superior option? Find out.

Reasons to Adopt Cloud-Native

While cloud hosting is the conventional method of hosting enterprise data, cloud-native is the new normal of data access and storage, just as COVID-19 has changed things. The following are the reasons why businesses of all sizes should adopt cloud-native:

Cloud Native is Better than Having On-Premises Servers

While many would argue that an on-premise server is an excellent investment due to the control it provides, there are concerns as well. For example, backups are less effective with on-premise servers, and in case of a cyber-attack or a natural calamity, all of it may be lost.

Cloud-native allows you to create backups and store them in several locations so that the data can be restored when the services of the cloud resume. Therefore, on-premise server installations have dropped by 6% to $89 billion globally.

Standard Data Center Hosting Consumes Space and is Less Scalable

As an organization grows, the challenges of expanding the operations also become extensive. While building data centers at all-new locations may seem easy, the original server is not expandable itself. As a result, data centers are not scalable and consume a lot of space and resources. According to a QTS report, there are 13 vulnerabilities that a data center poses. With cloud-native, the user has the flexibility to access the data in a more secure manner that is also easily scalable.

Reduces the Time to Hit the Markets

With data centers, the size, and resources of the service increase as the app or website development scales up. This can cost around $5-6 million, which is separate from the costs of development. Cloud-native allows you to develop the app/website in distributed systems and then bring it together when the need arises. This reduces the time to hit the market post-development, which is significantly longer with traditional development practice.

Furthermore, the additional resources are automatically decommissioned when the usage is complete, making the app/website light to operate and maintain in the long term. Add the adaptiveness with the Kubernetes environment, and cloud-native automatically becomes the go-to option for development.

Cloud-Native Enhances Security

Many data center migrations to the cloud do not come with security measures that are fully adaptive for cloud applications. This means that the pre-existing security measures with data centers are not as effective. This is solved with cloud-native; wherein all security measures are created directly only for the cloud. Furthermore, all the security measures with cloud-native are compliance and regulation friendly, and hence can be deployed almost immediately.

Standard Data Center Hosting is Costlier

Most companies choose to build a data center when their data is too sensitive to be stored on a cloud-managed by somebody else. On average, it costs about $1,000 per square foot of area. And to top it off, they consume an enormous amount of power to work. An average data center costs $10-12 million per megawatt for an enterprise. With cloud-native, these costs can be reduced by up to 70%, with prices starting as low as $100,000.

Cloud-Native vs. Cloud Hosting of Traditional Enterprise Apps?

Cloud-native had seen its fair share of challenges since the cloud hosting model arrived before and was implemented at a broader scale, with 31% of public enterprises stating it imperative. However, in 2021, cloud hosting is becoming outdated due to infrastructure requirements and maintenance costs. The following are the broad differences between cloud-native and cloud hosting:

As the table reveals, the cloud-native model adopts the advantages of cloud hosting, drops the costs and requirements, and further builds on that premise, making it a more all-rounder model for the development of apps and websites.

Conclusion: Why Should you Migrate to Cloud-Native?

With 70% of US companies already adopting cloud-native architecture and a complete transformation by 2025, it is only a matter of time. Cloud-native packs all the features of its predecessors like higher uptime, lower carbon footprints and adds the benefits of reduced overhead costs and faster implementation.

To top it off, it is seamlessly accessible through remote locations for COVID-19 working models and yet manages to adhere to all security measures to prevent data breaches. It is thus worthwhile to migrate to cloud-native.

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techblocks · 3 years ago

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WHAT IS MACH ARCHITECTURE?

Though a relatively new term, MACH architecture has been quickly growing in popularity. MACH supports a highly composable environment that suits the needs of any dynamic platform, especially that of e-commerce.

MACH serves as the acronym for

Microservices

API-first

Cloud-native

Headless

MACH architecture allows e-commerce developers to make rapid and frequent changes to their platforms by making components of their digital solutions scalable, pluggable, and replaceable as per the business’ requirements.

This framework allows business users to develop and create content pages, update product information and other static and dynamic content without needing to rely on developers, freeing up developers to focus on features and functionality.

What with logistics and bottom lines, heading an online store or service is a tough job. Add to that the fluctuations in customer demand and purchase behaviors, and you have your task cut out. Availability of a product is not the sole factor for a customer to make a purchase anymore. They are on the lookout for newer and innovative experiences, too.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed customer purchase behavior by adding another dimension to it: a personalized buying experience. Already reeling under the pressure of fierce competition in the e-commerce industry, businesses now are seeking to adopt innovative technological approaches to satisfy the ever-increasing consumer demands, while generating revenue.

One of the innovative technological approaches to have emerged in times of such rapid changes is MACH. Touted as a superior alternative to the traditional monolithic architecture, MACH improves upon the much-popular headless commerce approach.

History of e-Commerce Architecture

Initially, product sellers overly depended on e-commerce marketplace giants like Amazon and eBay. Though these giants helped them dip their toes in the water, businesses — especially those with enough brand recognition — wanted to cut out the middleman for maximum ROI.

Building, managing, and updating e-commerce applications on their own proved to be highly expensive and time-consuming. This was primarily because e-commerce platforms followed a monolithic architecture, where the front-end (the interface part) and the back-end (the logic part) meshed together. Even subtle changes to the front-end used to cost significant development hours.

All that changed with the introduction of turnkey Headless Commerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify. They followed an architecture where the front-end was completely decoupled from the back-end, allowing designers to make significant changes to the UI without having to meddle with the coding part.

Headless Commerce platforms helped businesses that did not have a team of expert developers to set up their online stores and run them successfully.

MACH was first conceptualized in 2018 by the commercetools, which developed its Cloud-based platform using MACH. In 2020, it founded a non-profit organization called the MACH Alliance, aiming to help other firms implement this architecture.

Working on the motto “Future proof enterprise technology and propel current and future digital experiences”, MACH is a fast-growing organization with over 40 certified members, including AWS and BigCommerce, that actively support and promote MACH principles.

What is MACH Architecture?

The MACH architecture is a combination of four innovative architectural approaches that have their own characteristics. You may have heard of each of these development concepts in isolation or combined in a lot of use cases. An architecture becomes MACH only when all of the four are combined.

Let’s review each of the four components of MACH Architecture.

Microservices

Microservices, as the name suggests, are architectural approaches in which software is developed and implemented as small independent services.

The same company might not manage these services and they communicate with each other through well-defined APIs. An application following the microservices architecture is built as independent components that perform specific functions but pull off multiple functions when run together.

As an analogy to your home theatre system, your TV, cable receiver, and amplifier are all interconnected – each piece provides one service:

Data Visualization – Your TV

Data Processing – Your Cable Receiver

Audio Output – Your Amplifier

Each of these services talk to each other using defined protocols to deliver individual components of the big picture, such as watching the big game.

All services are loosely coupled and any of these services can be deployed, operated, altered, and scaled independently without the need to make changes in others.

Since they do not share a single code base, services do not need to share their codes. If any service becomes too large and complex over time, it can be broken down into smaller services, too.

API-First

Application Programming Interface (API) is a software intermediary that acts as a communication channel between multiple applications. Just like a waiter who communicates your order to the kitchen and carries your dish back to you, an API handles requests from one application to another.

The API layer in the MACH architecture allows microservices to communicate with each other without exposing one’s data to another by sharing only what is necessary for a particular set of communication.

In the case of an online store, there are multiple APIs at play, but the most evident ones are the login API and payment APIs.

Most online stores allow customers to log in using other services like Google, Twitter, or Facebook accounts. The login API connects the online store with the third-party account and uses the credentials to log into the store.

The customers also have the choice to make payment via credit or debit card, and digital services like PayPal. Here, the payment API connects with other payment services, which are essentially individual microservices to fetch the needed payment.

Another example is a travel booking aggregator like Kayak, which uses APIs to connect with the databases of various airlines and displays every flight information on a single page.

Unlike the code-first approach, where the developers first develop the core services and the APIs later facilitate the communication, an API-first approach involves the development of APIs as the primary step. These APIs can serve all applications; applications can be developed and managed for all OS, devices, and platforms.

Simply put, APIs are developed separately first and then integrated into an application to connect several microservices to make a wholesome whole. This allows multiple developers to work together on a larger project without stepping on each other’s toes or causing conflicts in code commits.

Cloud-Native SaaS

There are SaaS vendors who host the entire application on a single server. This Cloud-hosted approach is fundamentally very different from the Cloud-Native approach predominant in the MACH architecture.

Here, the microservices, which are essentially SaaS services, are hosted on different servers located possibly in different locations. The developers create a network between these services using software-based architectures for easier communication between them.

The biggest takeaway of this approach is that it enables horizontal scaling of microservices since the storage requirements of one do not affect the other.

Headless

The Headless approach decouples the frontend from the backend while they are connected only through APIs.

This approach suits applications because they require multiple front-ends (interfaces) that adjust to multiple devices through which they are being accessed.

The backend or the logical part, irrespective of the touchpoint, usually remains the same and need not be worked on every time you want to build a new interface.

The Headless approach allows you to communicate with your customers through any device, as it caters to appropriate front-ends where you get complete design freedom in that you can create front-ends for each device while keeping the backend the same for all.

For example, let’s say you have a brick-and-mortar clothing store as well as an online store. You also have your products listed on online marketplaces like Amazon.

Due to COVID protocols, you cannot allow customers to try on clothes in stores; so, you have an AR device that allows virtual try-on.

Users access the online store through desktop computers, mobile phones, and tablets of different screen sizes. Within those devices, the user may access the store through a native app, a website, or through integration with other platforms.

All these touchpoints need front-ends of their own tailored to meet the need of the user’s experience.

The rest of the backend processes like inventory, product pricing, images, 3D models, and database management are nearly the same across all devices. Designing separate applications that have their own back-ends for each of these devices is excruciating, costly, and time-consuming. That’s where headless commerce comes to the aid.

By separating the frontend development from the entire process, it allows you to optimize or innovate on the customer experience you wish to deliver.

The headless approach helps businesses to deploy multiple frontend experiences across a variety of devices, allowing them to connect with their customers at any touchpoint. This does not mean only those devices through which a browser is accessed, but also external devices like vending machines, IoT, AR/VR devices, and more.

Changes to the interface can be made in the nick of time, if any immediate alteration is needed, without interfering with the backend. This gives greater flexibility to the application.

Overall, MACH architecture is a functional mix of all the four above approaches to make any application highly scalable, easy to develop and build, flexible, and modular. New features can be deployed faster than ever without having to expand the code-base or interrupting the existing features.

It becomes easier for you to connect with your customers across multiple channels without having to build different applications for each.

Final Thoughts

MACH is one of those innovative approaches that take your business to new technological heights while allowing you to provide your customers with an improved experience. MACH merges four architectural approaches, in which the application is built by connecting Cloud-Native independent microservices through APIs. It also allows you to create multiple front-ends without having to alter the backend. There are many software vendors now who provide businesses with platforms that run on MACH architecture. Some future-oriented businesses have already begun shifting to this approach, and acting on their cue might prove beneficial to your business, too.

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techblocks · 3 years ago

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UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Leveraging Digital Strategy to be and stay competitive

Sal Sribar, Senior Vice President at Gartner, told a group of executives in 2017, “Many businesses are stuck running digital projects. Some of them are very large, but digital projects are not a digital business.” The idea of digital transformation has been around for a few years. Mr. Sribar stated in 2017 “Four years into the digital shift, we find ourselves at the ‘peak of inflated expectations, and if the Gartner Hype Cycle teaches us anything, a trough is coming. Disillusionment always follows a period of extreme hype.”

This quote exemplifies the frustrations many executives feel with pushing forward digital transformation. They know it needs to be championed and come to fruition, but there are stumbling blocks along the way, including a broad resistance to change. And taking the steps towards this transformation means developing a plan. Unfortunately, a 2017 CIO study found more than half of surveyed CIOs did not have in place a formal digital transformation plan. Many of the respondents noted they’re working on digital projects, but the lack of a plan is telling in terms of them not seeing the transformation as a broader cultural undertaking.

What Exactly is Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is essentially a disruption. And the need for this disruption is often coming from new entrants to the market, or competitors that are doing things differently and are grabbing customers.

It changes how a company operates, how employees look at their work, and the ways the company relates to its customers. It means adding digital processes, systems, and other tools to the company’s entire operations with the goal of enhancing customer experiences, reducing risks, and finding new revenue-generating opportunities.

Companies that embrace digital transformation are looking to build a more agile, customer-centric, and efficient enterprise. They want to be able to put in place new opportunities quickly (perhaps a new mobile app) to help them disrupt their market and capture customers. The pressure for this transformation is increasing because many industries are commoditizing, and therefore providers need digital tools to stand out. They have to offer the most streamlined app and ordering processes. They have to respond to customer queries through any type of channel in order to become known as the best service provider. Companies are desperate for differentiation.

The need for a digital transformation strategy is also influenced by the customer’s expectations for immediacy which are driven by a changing demographic that is growing up with mobile and connectivity. While some CIOs and other C-suite executives might find the customers’ expectations to be unreasonable, they’re still the customers, and that means firms must “adapt or die.” Operational flexibility, fast access to innovation, and an improved customer experience are all drivers of digital transformation strategies. And these must all come together harmoniously if firms are to succeed.

Why Digital Transformation Matters

Digital transformation is important because it will positively impact key metrics, such as customer lifetime value and operational efficiency metrics. It’s a strategy that pays dividends across the organization, as internal teams are more connected to each other and data, operational tasks occur faster, and customers are engaged more deeply. Digital transformation means accepting the realities of today’s connected consumers. It involves offering multiple channels of communication, blending the in-store and virtual experiences, using social to connect people to the brand.

Ask the founders and investors of Blockbuster if they wished they pushed forward with a faster digital transformation. There are myriad other cautionary tales of companies that held significant market shares but didn’t move in time with the pace of change. Consider a brand such as Nike that makes money selling shoes, clothing, and equipment. It’s moving into digital through its own branded fitness trackers and even the launch of connected footwear which will further inform athletes about their progress and training. The company also features Nike+, a social community with running clubs, coaching, and events that blend together digital data and real-world experiences. Such digital transformations on the customer-facing side allow companies to stay relevant with Millennials and even younger demographics.

Digital transformation matters internally because it involves centralizing data and then putting in place new ways to become more agile and innovative. It promotes involvement by everyone in the organization, by giving them collaborative tools to let their voice be heard and to perform their tasks in more efficient and customer-facing ways. It also means gathering input from employees, before, during, and after transformation, so it can be confirmed the new processes are working properly “on the ground.” Digital tools can promote more autonomy among staff members, as they’re empowered by information access, and have the context they need to make data-based decisions.

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techblocks · 3 years ago

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TOP 10 CHALLENGES OF BUILDING ENTERPRISE E-COMMERCE ON MAGENTO

An attractive, intuitive web storefront and an engaging online presence can make all the difference between brisk or sluggish sales for an eCommerce website. When customers gain a personalized shopping experience, one-click checkout, and other benefits of an engaging shopping experience, sales and profits improve. So, every expense and effort going into the development, hosting, and deploying of such sites become worthwhile.

With more than 100,000 online stores created on Magento, the open-source platform has emerged as one of the most preferred e-commerce platforms to set up highly customized and unique online shops. Magento is written using the PHP programming language and leverages elements of the Zend framework and the model-view-controller architecture. Developers can implement core files and extend the platform’s functionality by adding new plug-in modules available from third parties.

Why is Magento a Popular Choice for an eCommerce Site?

Easy deployment, integration capabilities, advanced customization, numerous layouts, plug-ins, and choice of hosting options are some of the advantages that helped it become a chosen platform for eCommerce developers. The platform has powerful marketing, search engine optimization, and catalog-management tools. It is PA-DSS and PCI compliant, cloud-optimized, and mobile-friendly.

The platform caters to the needs of small businesses, mid-market organizations, and large enterprises. With a choice between the free Magento open-source and cloud-optimized Magento Commerce with a license fee, the platform holds a large share of the eCommerce pie.

The Challenges

Many challenges have cropped up over the years with this open-source platform. Updates, patches, and advanced versions from the diligent development team have addressed these issues successfully.

Let’s look at some of the top challenges and how they’ve been addressed.

Speed

Speed is of paramount importance in eCommerce. Slow page loading and broken links can make or break a sale or a merchant’s credibility, with most first-time customers not returning to the site at all. eCommerce sites built using Magento’s open-source platform usually load faster but have often faced roadblocks due to speed issues. The presence of a large number of files affects the website’s speed.

Increased page loading speed, catalog page viewing capacity, faster order processing, and faster checkouts were features delivered by Magento 2. For low speed, the mitigation efforts include configuring a cache, updating to the latest version, and discarding redundant extensions, among other improvements.

Products Not Getting Displayed Correctly in the Frontend

When products were not visible in their native category, they were usually out of stock or the caches and indexes were out of date. These issues were widespread with Magento 1.

One resolution was to change the inventory configuration for displaying products that were out of stock. The experts suggested reindexing, index: reset, cache, and enabling the “All store views” version.

Lack of Documentation

Open-source platforms suffer from patchy documentation. The resources and reading material for Magento are scattered across many Internet sites, making it hard for developers to find source codes, resolutions, and training resources. The project timelines and costs go out of step due to this challenge.

Magento provides support services as and when developers raise a request. But the time spent is unnecessary, and Magento’s response is usually slow. In contrast, this issue is mitigated by the communities on the web that provides quick support and resolutions.

Low SEO Capability

Coming up in searches and being in the top rankings are crucial to making an online shopping site successful. Although Magento comes up in basic searches, it is wanting on many SEO parameters.

SEO has considerably improved in Magento 2 version. But it is still a good idea to implement additional SEO best practices, make your site fast and functional, and invest in content marketing to increase organic and inorganic growth.

Upgrade issues

With advanced features and capabilities such as security updates, bug fixes, third-party updates, and integrations, businesses eventually have to upgrade to the latest version of Magento. Still, the upgrade itself is not free of challenges. Enterprises often encounter performance issues and even breakdowns while updating. There have been instances of loss of data due to migrations to the new Magento version.

At the beginning of the upgrade, a well-laid strategy and an experienced solution provider are required. A reliable technology partner can help you gain tangible benefits: improved performance, better testing framework, and high quality of code.

Dependency on Experts for Installation and Customization

Magento’s free code is relatively easy to deploy and customize. As a website owner, one is responsible for the necessary maintenance, keeping the code updated, keeping up with essential security patches, and migrating to the new version on time. Still, more advanced implementations could throw up errors after deployment or stop the development work altogether, until a Magento specialist evaluates and fixes the problem.

The Magento developer community has grown over the years, but free resources can only solve some problems. For custom code, better UI/UX, building customized extensions, and upgrading hassle-free, certified Magento developers and an experienced team can mitigate risks, prevent data losses, and minimize downtime.

Installation and Configuration Issues

The installation process has many issues, as it gets stuck, and errors of files and extensions crop up. Incorrect configuration settings could weaken the site’s performance.

Migration to the latest version would be required, besides changes to settings and code. There are solutions such as fixes, codes, and commands to each of these issues distributed across various websites, blogs, and social media posts.

Admin Issues

The Magento 2 version resolved the problems with multiple admins, blank admin page error, and slow admin logins, but new issues kept cropping up. The inability to login to the admin panel after incorrect login entries was because most browsers allow only real domains to collect cookies.

The solution was to write a few lines of code into the Magento file to fix this issue.

Extension Issues

There are challenges to adopting newer extensions that are often costly and take time to install. There could be errors when installing Magento extensions, and the installed extensions do not display at the frontend.

This issue can be resolved by relocating the files and deleting the cache. Ensuring extensions .phtml, .xml, and .css files are in their exact locations achieves these goals.

Data and Security Issues

Data does not mean only the customer’s financial information but also the website’s code and customer base. In October 2021, the Magecart cyber gang targeted two dozen unpatched vulnerabilities in third-party Magento plug-ins. They used different strategies, including exploiting the extensions’ Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) vulnerabilities to breach various stores. Many such cyberattacks have occurred because of failing to apply the latest security patches and not upgrading to the latest version.

The new security features in Magento 2 version help prevent data loss but are not foolproof, as is the case with any other security feature. Yet, upgrading to the latest version has security benefits.

Conclusion

Magento has a global community of implementation partners, specialists, and developers that help enterprises and individuals build and optimize their valuable eCommerce store that generates large volumes of customers and sales.

TechBlocks–a leading digital product development firm with its extensive experience, strong execution discipline, and “customer first” attitude–will be a valuable partner in your journey to build and launch your successful eCommerce store.

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techblocks · 3 years ago

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2022 TECHNOLOGY PREDICTIONS

With 2022 right around the corner, it seems only fitting to talk about what the future may hold for technology. Most people alive today have never seen the unprecedented level of change come as quickly as it has, leading to a level of uncomfortableness for businesses and consumers alike.

As a company that develops technology for some of the world’s leading companies, we have our ear close to the ground and our sights set on the future. We’re excited for what the future holds, and these are some of our 2022 technology predictions.

1. Lines of Work from Home Continue to Blur

2020 started off the year with a massive transformation into Work From Home as many companies scrambled to deal with the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the dust starts to settle and many countries are seeing impressive vaccine penetration rates, the lines of Work from Home will evolve and become even more complicated.

While some companies move to a Work from Anywhere model, others may move back to a hybrid model of part-time in the office and part-time remote. This is going to lead to a de-densification of historically crammed office towers and office space, leading to a growth of mixed-use real estate, with office towers converting some floors into apartments, condos, or hotel spaces.

To continue to deal with remote work situations, employers are going to need to pay special attention to security concerns in environments that are full of devices and equipment they do not control.

Will we see employer-provided Internet connections specific for work devices at home? Will we see services like Windows 365 and Flex1 become more mainstream so IT departments can keep higher control of security?

We bet on virtualization leading the way for environments that require a higher level of security for remote devices.

2. Augmented Reality & the Metaverse

10 years ago VR platforms like Oculus were just starting to emerge on the market, and it’s hard to believe that Google’s first attempt at augmented reality, Google Glass is almost 9 years old. Back in those early days, you needed to have a top-of-the-line desktop PC to run a VR headset and a heavy cable running out of the equipment, much like being jacked into the Matrix.

Today’s VR equipment is standalone and does not require a PC to act as a host. The cost of equipment is falling fast and is on par or better positioned than most smartphones with similar specs.

VR and AR wearables will continue to grow and reach a larger audience outside of core technophiles, gamers or enthusiasts.

Our prediction, these technologies will find a home in education and as assistive devices for those with physical or mental barriers. Companies like VRCity (Delphi Technologies) will find new and unique training opportunities when physical training is costly, dangerous, or otherwise prohibitive.

In addition, integrated augmented services will start showing up on other devices, like your TV or smartphone with companies like DroppTV building augmented and integrated shopping and e-commerce experiences.

3. Teleprofessional Services will continue to grow

As with Work from Anywhere, many health providers have learned that they do not need to be in their clinic full time anymore, and can comfortably deliver health advice from their PJ’s, their cottage, or anywhere with an Internet connection. Other professions are realizing the same thing and the shift towards remote service will continue to grow.

This is not without its problems as many health care providers have taken this remote healthcare position too far that is counterproductive towards providing quality health care to their patients.

We’ll likely see a course correction in 2022 where clinics begin encouraging more in-person appointments augmented by remote follow-ups for routine things like medication refills.

Remote health, in particular, requires a level of trust in technology to protect Doctor/Patient Confidentiality or Lawyer(Attorney)/Client privileged conversations. While end-to-end encryption is becoming more mainstream, not all technology is created equal. Some solutions are confusing to use creating frustration for the patient.

Many of the solutions we see today are a rush implementation to fill a need at a point in time. Our prediction, 2022 will lead to early maturity of remote health care solutions, including better video and audio integration, electronic medical records, and remote prescription refills.

4. The Rise of 5G, IoT and Beacons

With 5G penetration quickly rising and data-integrated devices like parking meters, cars, light switches and home appliances becoming more commonplace, we’re likely to start seeing everything coming with an internet connection built-in using WIFI, 5G or other UWB technologies.

In 2022, we’ll likely see greater control of our lives via smartphones and smartwatches for everything from access control of our houses and offices, but also remote control of our cars. Phones, like the Google Pixel 6 and Samsung Galaxy S21 come with built-in UWB radios allowing the phone to be used as a remote key to unlock the owners car in proximity to the car without needing an internet connection.

With this, we’re likely to see greater machine-to-machine (M2M) integration, allowing our cars to talk to other cars on the road, our appliances to talk to our power meters to manage peak vs. off-peak usage, and nearby notifications, and ultra-integrated data services.

5. The Decline of Personal Computers

As I am writing this, I am reminded that I only really use a laptop or formal computer in the context of work. My primary method of communication, information sharing, and education is my smartphone.

Like many people, a full-sized desktop, laptop, convertible devices or tablet does not serve a material purpose other than watching videos or working.

2022 will likely be a year of decline of standalone devices with a potential increase in convertible or multi-function devices, foldout large-format phones, or deeper integration with smart TV’s to take the place of traditional computers.

6. The Great Disconnection

When COVID-19 first emerged, people were forced into their homes, to shy away from the public and become recluses within their own homes. With each wave of COVID passing and restrictions loosening up, we saw greater rates of people enjoying the outdoors. Campground reservation numbers sored beyond pre-pandemic levels creating shortages. The number of people outside walking, hiking, or playing recreational sports seemed to go leaps and bounds beyond anything we’ve seen in the last decade.

As people get bored of staying at home, we’ll see a great disconnect from home-based technologies as people set their sights on other forms of entertainment.

We’re also seeing attitudes shift on the usage and retention of persona data and calls for Surveillance Capitalism to fall. Users will expect greater transparency in how their data is used and how it is collected with a right to disconnect or delete their data at their request from any company they do business with.

This will likely lead to a continued slowing of growth or a decline in users on mainstream social media sites and a shift towards consumption-based payment models.

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