The last two years have been bursting with unique challenges and opportunities for everyone. We were no exception. We tackled the pandemic head-on. First, we went public and brought in subject matter experts from every field of relevance and launched a series of webinars to bring awareness and dialogue among our great community.

We then put a think tank together and took a deep dive into the ins and outs of our mission, in an attempt to convert the challenges of the pandemic to diverse opportunities for our members. We expanded our training and certification operations in 2021, thus, training more professionals than ever before. We could simply make more schedules available to meet the ever-growing demand for our professional training courses. Virtual sessions made it possible for anyone from anywhere to connect to a session of their choice. Meanwhile, the companies don’t have to cover travel and accommodation costs for their employees during training.

Audits and assessments were conducted with a faster turnaround time because we were able to remotely walk through facilities, which meant we covered more ground in less time. Our infrastructure advisory services and digital economy efforts were back-to-back on Zoom and other platforms which made it possible for us to use our diverse resources on a varied range of tasks without having to logistically be considerate.

Most importantly is the amount of time we put into planning for 2022 and beyond. Our team has spent countless hours discussing and extending our upcoming plans. We came up with a wide range of brilliant ideas that will be game-changers. Here is a glimpse:

• Throughout 2022, we will engage with even more nations to advise them, mentor them, and help them develop robust strategies for the transformation, effectiveness, and sustainability of their digital economies.
• IDCA will launch a brand new website in Q1 of 2022 that will have many features released one by one throughout the year. It will be a great source of relevant information for governments, corporations, and professionals around the world.
• We are introducing a super-active industry newsgroup that will provide our audiences with the latest industry developments. We are in the process of expanding our committees, boards, and advisory council. Our aim is to increase the diversity of expertise as well as the international presence among our members during 2022.
• Due to the constant requests, in 2022 we will launch a well-devised and robust set of knowledgebase webinars and podcasts hosted by industry experts on subjects of data and privacy, cloud, cybersecurity, blockchain, digital economy, AI, IoT, and data centers. These events will be running on a regular set of schedules with pre-devised topics and mission statements.
• By 2022, we will announce more public data centers, cloud, and cybersecurity training sessions than ever before. Additionally, we will be adding a key set of new training routes to the IDCA education program.
• In 2022, as our partners become more versed in the IDCA mission and quality standards, we will be designating more countries to our partners and have less direct intervention so that we can put our focus where it needs to be, in supporting our partners and end-users worldwide.

IDCA's mission is to help nations build robust and sustainable digital economies that are beneficial to their citizens. In other words, we support countries and their governments in creating and expanding their digital economies that foster lasting digital societies. A key function of IDCA is to advise on the ins and outs of the infrastructure they can implement as a foundation for a digital economy that caters to a healthy society. We also assist these countries in building the infrastructure, namely the cloud environments and the data centers they need to support their digitalization goals. For this, we train people. We set standards. We audit infrastructure. We design strategies and infrastructure, meanwhile, mentor decision-makers and stakeholders.

During 2020-2021, IDCA worked very closely with its global partners to continue to offer our often much-needed support to many countries and our partners proved one of our most valuable assets. In 2022, we plan to drastically expand our global presence through the right partners. Our expansion will allow us to support many additional countries as they devise, plan, and construct their digital infrastructures. We will also train thousands of data center, IT, and cloud experts and assess tens of data centers in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, and Eastern Europe. We will also continue to support experts in the leading digital economies in the US, Western Europe, and Asia. We are adding new fields of expertise in key areas of AI, blockchain, and the Internet of Things. We will increase the number of training sessions, webinars, and - hopefully - live events in 2022.

To many people, the last two years have not been easy. At the same time, we at IDCA are convinced that there are huge opportunities to enable and empower justice and prosperity through the use of effective, sustainable, and ethical information technology. Our goal is to help improve the lives of many people who have not yet been able to benefit from the true values that digital economies have to offer.

2022 will be an exciting year. 2022, here we come…