Ahead of 2022, we will be creating a channel on Finextra that collates content on the future of fintech and industry predictions. Here, we will gather long form articles, clustered together, and presented on one page. We will also share these insights on our social channels and with our community via email. I welcome our community to send over their by-lined articles to be published on the Finextra website or connect with us to set up an interview with FinextraTV.

This week, we are focusing on topics such as cloud, data, DevOps, APIs, migration, AI, innovation, and other related subjects. However, while the key themes will be focused and explored in a weekly schedule during November, December and January, industry experts are able to discuss their predictions covering areas or ideas outside of the themes outlined. In this long read, we have started to capture predictions around these areas. Here are the views of some industry experts that have already shared their vision for 2022; don’t miss out on adding your voice to the mix.

As highlighted in his Finextra blog, CEO of GiniMachine Dmitry Dolgorukov believes that the days of funnelling cash for into data storage and housing large systems are gone. “Now, with cloud technology potential more and more financial businesses are migrating to the cloud. This delivers agility in world flow and offers employees increased potential to access work systems from wherever they are.”

Dolgorukov added: “However, it is vital to note the costs and labor for transferring to the cloud and the ongoing maintenance required, making cloud migration a serious decision that businesses will need to face in the coming years.”

This sentiment was also explored by Bernard Marr in Forbes, who explained that in 2022, there will be a shift away “from the deployment of cloud tools and platforms in order to improve a specific function (such as shifting to Zoom meetings) towards more holistic strategies centered on enterprise-wide cloud migration.”

However, speaking specifically around cost, Marr commented that while cloud “essentially makes every other technology lighter, faster, and more accessible,” we must start to consider the “energy costs of providing 24/7 ‘always-on’ infrastructure services to customers.”

Using Amazon’s altruism as an example, he also said that many companies will be focusing on net zero aspirations in 2022 to get ahead of the financial impact that climate change will have on the organisations. Expanding on this, Marr stated that Amazon, although a large cloud provider, is the biggest buyer of renewable energy and has 206 sustainable energy projects running.

Another 2022 prediction that Marr explored was the role of cloud computing in delivering artificial intelligence services, which he referred to as being “inextricably interwoven.” Dolgorukov’s view is that it must be understood that AI and its subset machine learning “are two computing concepts that are closely related but serve slightly different functions – AI solves tasks, while ML focuses on learning from data.”

He added: “In the coming years, both will be heavily employed by companies seeking to automate their services, deliver smarter solutions, and, in general, boost their capabilities as a company.” Luigi Wewege, SVP & head of private banking at Caye International Bank explored other use cases of AI in his Finextra blog, but namely to “improve customer experience and automate processes.”

On chatbots, Wewege said: “While freeing up humans to provide better and more personalized services, the chatbots interact with customers in real time to give them the information that they need when they need it, leaving them with high customer satisfaction.”

He also predicts that voice recognition will be used a lot more in customer service. The inefficiency of remembering passwords has long been discussed within fintech; perhaps 2022 will be the year in which voice recognition becomes an effective alternative.

These are just a few predictions. Financial services organisations are operating in a fast-changing environment and must address evolving customer expectations, operate in an exponentially growing ecosystem as new players enter the market, and drive business growth—all while supporting stringent security, compliance, and regulatory requirements. Other technologies will be required to do this. Get in touch with content@finextra.com to get involved.