2022: The year to prioritize data protection services

Cybersecurity companies are predicting that 2022 will be the year of more cyberattacks, making data protection services all the more essential for organizations.

In fact, ransomware attacks are becoming more sophisticated, and companies that do not have adequate data protection services could find themselves losing more than anticipated.

2021 saw record-breaking cyberattacks globally and has affected businesses in almost every industry. Cybercriminals are no longer just looking at launching ransomware attacks, however.

Many are locking data — and even deleting it, for the sheer kick they get out of messing around with organizations.

At the same time, there has been a clear shift in focus to improving remote working capabilities, access to cloud infrastructure, and securing data.

While hybrid and multi-cloud models aren’t new, the freedom they provide will make it even more of a reality moving forward.

Veeam’s Data Protection Report 2021 showed that 96% of organizations are accelerating cloud usage. 23% had a server outage in the past 12 months, while another 28% increased their DRaaS usage within 2 years.

With 2022 just around the corner, here’s how organizations can make the most of data protection services, on top of key trends to look out for, as shared by Danny Allan, Chief Technology Officer at Veeam.

A monumental shift in M&As

While 2021 saw global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reach new highs aided by low-interest rates and high stock prices, larger acquisitions will be few and far between as company valuations continue to rise.

He believes that only well-established, cash-rich companies will have the money required to make new purchases.

The higher purchase threshold will make it harder for SMEs to grow and evolve, which will substantially give larger, established firms an edge up.

AI and automation will replace (some) jobs

There is no denying that a talent shortage amid a global pandemic has left many jobs unfilled. This then has made way for the advancement of AI and automation to fill new roles.

“We have seen technology begin its takeover in the service industry with the introduction of robotic waiters during the pandemic.”, illustrated Allan.

He also added that job replacement will largely affect entry-level jobs in finance, healthcare, legal, and software sectors.

This will, however, make it more difficult for fresh graduates entering the workforce to gain job experience in the future.

The CI/CD push

Thirdly, Allan pointed out that continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) will stabilize and standardize to become an IT team requirement.

The Bill Gates memo in 2001 became the industry standard in how to design, develop and deliver complex software systems – and today it feels like there has been no standard since then.

And it’s not surprising that in 2022, there will be a shift towards more stability and standardization for CI/CD. IT leaders have an opportunity to capitalize on this high-growth and high-valuation market to increase deployment activity and solve the “day two operations problem.”

The talent conundrum

“2022 will also see the tech labor market meet with big money and big challenges. The COVID-19 economy, and the subsequent Great Resignation, throughout the last two years, certainly made their mark in the tech industry.”, he mused.

“As we continue to see turnover and lower employee retention, tech salaries will begin to grow in 2022 to incentivize talents to stay.

“I see this causing an interesting dynamic, presenting bigger challenges, especially to the folks in the startup and VC world. The bigger tech giants are the ones who can meet the high dollar demand and deliver benefits for a competitive workforce.

“It will be interesting to see in the years ahead what this does for innovation, which tends to come from the hungry startups where people work for very little for a long time,” he added.

He also shared that there could so be a resurgence of tech talent returning to “old guard” companies to meet their needs for stable (and large) salaries, forgoing the competitive, hard-knocks of startups that could cause a skill and talent gap that lasts for years to come.

Shift to privacy-first

Apart from that, new privacy-focused legislation will shift attention to data sovereignty clouds.

Data regulations and privacy requirements from the GDPR and other agencies in the region will become stricter, especially in requiring data sovereignty clouds to keep data within nations or within a certain physical location.

Some will see this as an obstacle, but once implemented, Allan believes this will be a good thing as it puts consumer privacy at the core of the business strategy.

They were wrong about remote working

Lastly, containers will become mainstream to support the cloud explosion of 2021.

Allan highlighted businesses wrongly predicted that employees would return to the office, as normal, in 2021.

Instead, remote working continued, and companies were forced to develop long-term remote working strategies to ensure efficiency, sustainability and to retain employees seeking flexibility.

“This remote work strategy demanded cloud-based solutions, resulting in an explosion of cloud service adoption. To meet this moment, containers will become mainstream in 2022, making the generational shift to cloud much easier and more streamlined for organizations,” said Allan.

With that said, the data protection industry will be determined by these changes organizations face in 2022.

But whatever it may be, the reality is, everyone is taking data protection and privacy seriously.

The cyberattacks of 2021, increased tech adoption, formation of new companies and regulatory requirements clearly indicate the importance of data protection services for organizations.

---

---

---

---