As the Tampa Bay tech scene continues to grow at an exponential rate in 2022, technology and innovation will become even more important to companies as they try to upskill and develop their workforce. Investors and big names in tech from all over the country are relocating to Tampa Bay faster than ever before – and as a result, the area is pulsating with new and exciting opportunities.

Like we mentioned in our last blog post, the Tampa Bay area is experiencing significant growth and change, and tech companies, startups, and organizations from all over the U.S. and the world are setting up shop in Tampa Bay. And naturally, everyone wants to get ahead. As the tech scene continues to expand, so too will competition, innovation, and the use of new, cutting-edge technology as companies hope to skyrocket to success in 2022.

Here are the top 3 trends to expect in the Tampa Bay tech scene in 2022

Companies will push for better technology and new cutting-edge innovations.

Organizations will leverage new, emerging technology and cutting-edge innovations as they try to upskill and enhance their workforce. Smaller companies and startups in particular will be working extra hard at this angle as they try to upstage and outpace larger organizations by leveraging new data and technologies, like artificial intelligence and automation tools for increased productivity.

Technology will be seen as an essential, supportive element to a workforce – not a replacement. Tech tools will work alongside employees to form an incredibly productive, well-oiled workforce.

For example, the Carnahan Group in Tampa Bay leverages proprietary technology to get more data in the hands of their clients. These healthcare consultants use new technology solutions to provide hospitals with fast and accurate fair market valuations for compensation arrangements. This significantly reduces costs for healthcare organizations and arms them with critical information.

We can expect to see more organizations prioritizing new and creative technology to provide cutting-edge solutions for clients.

Employees at these organizations will grow and evolve with their leaders, as they’re provided more and more internal software to help them succeed. Leveraging new software solutions has noteworthy benefits both internally and externally – for client results and employee productivity and satisfaction.

In 2022, expect to see more organizations thinking outside the box with their technology and innovation strategies. Forbes recently reported that the pandemic has significantly changed technology sectors everywhere, as clients expect more seamless, digital delivery of nearly everything.

According to the Forbes Technology Council, consumers have an increased dependence on digital delivery. Organizations will be working hard to innovate new ways to meet customer and employee needs. A disruption in the daily office status quo has forced many organizations to reconsider best practices for their projects, workflows, and collaboration styles, which has created the need for new technologies in the workplace, as well as home. The tech industry will continue to rapidly adapt as needs change, which is expected to continue into 2022.

Blockchain will become more mainstream.

Blockchain will continue to expand into the mainstream, and organizations will find new and innovative ways to infuse it into their businesses. The blockchain market continues to emerge at an astounding rate, and new economies and technologies are being created to keep up.

The Tampa Bay area is seeing an enormous movement toward growth and investment around blockchain, and people across the country are moving to the central hub: Nuke Goldstein, co-founder of cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network, recently moved to Tampa because of the engaging, interesting startup and crypto scene. Goldstein said he’s made more connections in Tampa Bay in one month than he did in NYC in three years, which is a testament to the enthusiasm, openness, and growth mindset in the Tampa Bay area.

In recent Tampa Bay news, up-and-coming organizations are partnering with local blockchain companies to build infrastructure that supports better service and increased growth. RSK Capital Management partnered up with BlockSpaces, a Tampa-based blockchain organization. Ross Karel, CEO of RSK, describes the collaboration as a “win-win” situation. He hopes that RSK will be able to provide more customers for BlockSpaces, and that BlockSpaces will help RSK increase their ROI.

Less than a year after launching, Tampa Bay-based blockchain startup, Pocket Network, is already worth more than $1.5 billion. Founder Michael O’Rourke raised funds by selling cryptocurrency tokens instead of equity. According to O’Rourke, the selling protocol was open to anyone, and buyers could purchase however many nodes they were interested in. More than 200 people participated, and O’Rourke said the crowd was diverse – including some of the top cryptocurrency players around the world, like Blockchain.com and Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM).

Crypto enthusiasts believe largely that the pandemic and lockdown were beneficial for the cryptocurrency scene, since people were dealing so much with the internet and “virtual reality” as opposed to physical things.

Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Investment Management, is yet another big believer in the Tampa Bay area as an innovation hub. Wood, a Wall Street player, moved to St. Petersburg recently – an unexpected move. However, she said the investment opportunities were too great to pass up in Florida right now. She spoke recently at the Florida Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit in Tampa. Wood also spearheaded an innovation foundation headquartered in St. Petersburg – an exciting addition to the area.

Automation, AI, and ML will be used to drive productivity and cut costs.

Growth-minded organizations know that leveraging technology solutions like automation, AI, and machine learning can help employees be more productive and help organizations significantly reduce operations costs.

Some companies will choose to eliminate positions and replace workers with artificial intelligence and automation, but many will opt to leverage the efficiencies possible by arming their employees with better technology. In other words, automation will work alongside employees for maximum efficiency, productivity, and profitability, allowing organizations to increase their ROI significantly.

The Carnahan Group is a great example of this hybrid work style – the healthcare consultants use cutting-edge software and advisory solutions to provide hospital employees with fast and accurate market valuations for service and payroll departments. Their strategic solutions work alongside employees to support higher-quality, faster work. As a result, healthcare organizations can significantly reduce operational costs and improve critical processes.

Forrester recently reported that they anticipate effects of the pandemic to drive automation even further in 2022. They predict that robotic process automation (RPA) will remain somewhat prevalent, but artificial intelligence solutions will lead the way in the next business year. RPA growth is expected to slow down as more intelligent solutions are in higher demand.

Among Forrester’s other predictions:

• Service companies will utilize robot workers for tasks like food prep, warehouse jobs, and maintenance.
• More of the Fortune 500 will adopt automation to fuel extreme cutting edge innovation.
• There will be an increased collaboration of human/digital workers

In the Tampa Bay tech scene, you can also expect to see increased adoption of application processing interfaces (APIS), which help organizations implement AI and ML solutions more easily. Gartner expects API investments to increase by 37% in 2022.

Organizations will need to invest in API partnerships to keep their businesses moving forward. The increasing popularity of low-and no-code initiatives contributes to the growing demand for APIs. Many organizations will apply an API-first approach to deliver superior digital experiences for their consumers.

What are your predictions for the 2022 Tampa Bay tech scene, or tech in general? Let us know in the comments.