Infobip has presented the five key trends that will lead to digital interactions in 2022. In 2020 and 2021, they have been marked by the avalanche of digitization projects with emerging technologies in response to the pandemic.
This solid track record towards innovation and new channel development has shown no signs of slowing down, quite the contrary. According to McKinsey, areas like the IoT will increase in value from $5.5 trillion to $12.6 trillion by 2030.
“The most relevant fact is that technology has established itself as the cornerstone of brands that want to build solid and lasting relationships with their customers in a world where the boundaries between physical and digital experiences have been erased forever,” explains Alvaro. Ansaldo, Country Sales Leader of Infobip Iberia.
Five trends for 2022
These are the five business trends that will revolutionize 2022, with the arrival of a year full of changes:
A clear focus on the use of mixed channels: “The correct combination of communication channels in a company’s digital strategy was important last year, it has been important this year, and it will be important next year,” explains Álvaro Ansaldo. A recent study by MobileSquared has estimated that 2.19 billion people were using WhatsApp by the end of 2020 and forecasts that number will reach 3.14 billion by 2025. To maximize messaging opportunities, API spending will skyrocket from 312 .9 million dollars in 2020 to a forecast of 16.4 billion in 2025.
But not only WhatsApp will be further consolidated in 2022: An Infobip study revealed that during the covid-19 confinement, 31% of those surveyed chose to contact organizations through live chat, while 28% opted over the phone. In addition, for Infobip, voice will play a fundamental role in 2022. 27% of the digital population worldwide currently uses voice search and, by next year, it is expected that 55% of households will have an intelligent speaker like Alex.
5G monetization will enter an upward trajectory: 5G subscriptions will reach 3 billion by 2025 and move decisively towards the IoT. 5G networks, with high data transfer speeds, higher bandwidths, and lower latency, can improve the performance of connected devices. By 2022, telcos will likely offer IoT devices like cameras, smart locks, and even intelligent refrigerators alongside their 5G data plans.
These are the five trends in digital communications for 2022
Rich communications are headed in the right direction: The RCS channel, which stands for “Rich Communication Service” or “Enriched Communications Service,” evolves the current SMS. MobileSquared forecasts that by 2025, 176 networks will have launched RCS person-to-person (P2P) services through their own RCS messaging platforms, a 100% increase from 2019. “We have seen a similar focus on rich messaging from our customers. , with 14.2 billion RCS messages sent globally in 2021, an increase of 3684% compared to 2020”, declares Alvaro Ansaldo.
SMS will continue to lead digital communications: 9 out of 10 people open their text messages, while more than 50% read them within the first two minutes of receiving them. On the other hand, there will be 7.26 billion mobile phone users worldwide next year. According to Infobip, communication by SMS will continue to be one of the most attractive strategies despite the possible risk of saturation. “In 2022, SMS campaigns must be more creative than ever, taking into account that customers already know how to avoid them,” confirms Alvaro Ansaldo.
Secure and frictionless user experiences: In 2022 security will come to the fore given the rise of SIM swaps in recent years, where cybercriminals can intercept the transfer of an existing phone number to a new SIM. Considering this scenario, it is more than likely that in 2022 a new security standard will be established to verify an identity securely and in real-time. The goal is to ensure that security is synonymous with the customer experience and trust.