The increased volatility due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rearrangement of priorities for the technology industry worldwide. The urgent need to attract and retain human resources is emerging as the top opportunity for the industry in 2022, up from fourth place last year. This emerges from EY’s annual report, Top 10 opportunities for technology companies in 2022, which records the biggest success factors in the industry this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the criticality of addressing the already pressing issues related to the strategy of attracting talented human capital to a hybrid labour world.Tech companies are looking at the best way to gradually return to the office, with 9 out of 10 employees saying they are ready to resign if they are not offered flexibility as to where and when to work. At the same time, the demand for engineers and salespeople is growing exponentially for those companies that invest in development.
In 2021, supply chains came under significant pressure due to market volatility, the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, among other geopolitical developments. For the technology industry, two major bottlenecks were logistics and component availability. The report reflects this development, ranking in third place – for the second year in a row – the need to mitigate supply chain risks in order to ensure business continuity.
The need to prioritize environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues makes its presence, with its appearance in fifth place in the ranking, at a time when stakeholders are now demanding more from technology companies.Employees want tangible results, investors are looking for sustainable investment options, and clients expect the industry to implement new technologies that lead to sustainable outcomes. The report underlines that businesses need to meet these requirements by taking the initiative to present a proposal for the creation of long-term value and to adopt corporate reporting methods, in line with key performance indicators (KPIs), which will ensure transparency.
Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) aimed at enhancing the growth profile of technology companies climbed from tenth place last year to second place in 2022. With 51% of tech executives saying organic growth could be a challenge in the near future, mergers and acquisitions will be key to sustaining growth for many businesses. The report states that, despite increased regulatory scrutiny and economic uncertainty, the agreement market is expected to remain healthy.
Here’s the full ranking of the top 10 opportunities in the tech industry for 2022:
1. Attracting and retaining human resources in a hybrid working environment.
2. Exploiting mergers and acquisitions to enhance the growth profile.
3. Mitigating risk in the supply chain to ensure business continuity.
4. Integrating the security factor into the design of new activities.
5. Market leadership in ESG issues, to strengthen relationships with stakeholders.
6. Transformation and excellence in consumption-based sales.
7. Aligning the organisation of the tax operation with digital business models.
8. Simplifying and automating internal processes to increase flexibility.
9. Investing in customer trust to promote digital collaboration.
10. Prepare for the adoption and operation of 5G.
