As the final quarter of 2021 opens, many businesses will embark on evaluating their current technology systems and operations to see where they can improve next year. While 2020 forced businesses to adopt technologies to enable remote work such as video and voice collaboration, 2021 saw further investment in the cloud – and 2022 will be no different. Gartner forecasts end-user spending on public cloud services to reach $396 billion in 2021 and grow 21.7 percent to reach $482 billion in 2022.

As remote and hybrid-remote work persist and become foundational to modern business operation, the cloud and automation technologies will garner more of the spotlight. As you consider what technologies to update in your business in 2022, learn more about the following three that will be front and center.

Document Management Systems

Document management platforms help you automate the management of documents and their workflows throughout your business. With it, you can better streamline your business processes and improve quality practices across all departments.

Moving from paper-based processes to digital ones is at the heart of any modern digital transformation, and document management systems support those efforts. With the right document control software, you can:

• Reduce storage space and save money on eliminating the physical locations needed to house
• Enhance security as document management software has built-in control over access to sensitive
• Enable better collaboration since documents can be accessed from multiple locations and
• Be rest assured of backup and disaster recovery, which should automatically come with your document management
• Improve regulatory compliance with more accessible document storage, clearer audit trails, and automated records
• More easily retrieve documents with no need to spend hours searching for printed

Ultimately, document management solutions deliver efficiency back to your team while you reduce costs of all kinds. All this time saved translates into massive productivity gains so you can focus on growth instead of filing paper.

Cloud Computing

Despite the flurry of investment in the cloud spurred by the events of 2020, many businesses have not entirely made the move to the cloud. But the increased adoption of cloud-based technologies will persist through 2022 as more and more organizations see the value of cloud applications and computing services.

As businesses seek to automate more processes, they’ll look to the cloud to do it. For example, document management software can either be adopted on-premise or in the cloud. Leveraging it for computing purposes delivers tangible benefits, including:

• Scalability if you need to add or subtract users. The pay-per-user model of cloud applications means no drastic upfront expenditure and a clear return on investment over time.
• Cost savings as you no longer need to pay for hardware and pay a fleet of IT people to manage that
• Competitiveness as cloud providers automatically update their solutions. You’ll always have the latest and greatest with no effort needed to upgrade

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

More and more businesses are looking to ERP to create cohesive business environments that unify departments, break down silos, deliver data in helpful ways, and ultimately drive better productivity. ERP systems can also be adopted either on-premise or in the cloud, and they integrate different business functions across a company. The ERP market is growing steadily and will continue to see widespread adoption in 2022. Research from 2021 shows nearly 50 percent of companies are soon planning or have already started to acquire or upgrade an ERP system.

ERP delivers big benefits to organizations, including:

• Unifying data across departments so business leaders can make better decisions. With no more data silos, companies can better understand what is working and what needs fixing – creating opportunities for
• Supporting a remote workforce. Cloud-based ERP in particular provides anytime, anywhere access to data for employees no matter where they’re You can also maintain productivity offline if there is an outage so employees can keep working and sync their work in the ERP when connectivity is restored.
• Dramatic improvements in With an ERP system, you’ll enjoy automatic updates to technology that deliver the latest, safest versions. If your ERP system is in the cloud, these updates will take minutes, and you’ll be able to keep systems agile and evolving.
• Better business reporting. ERP provides enhanced reporting tools to give

decision-makers access to real-time information. With one integrated database for all your business processes, your reports will be based on a single source of truth instead of disparate data sources that are time-consuming to reconcile.

• Improved cash ERP helps you better organize your inventory and invoicing. With enhanced visibility into your inventory, you’ll avoid carrying too much or being caught with too little. And enhanced collections tools enable you to bring in cash faster.

These three technologies are emblematic of the broader automation trend businesses will lean further towards in 2022. With systems out there to streamline business processes of all kinds and improve productivity and efficiency across the board, considering cloud, ERP, and document management is a no-brainer. Together all three can transform your business.