Ohio Entrepreneurs Predict What Work Will Look Like in 2022

What do these founders and CEOs expect in the new year?

In spite of all the challenges faced by companies across the globe, it’s been an amazing year for startups in Ohio. But as 2021 winds down, it’s time to turn our attention ahead to 2022 and what comes next.

We asked a variety of Ohio entrepreneurs how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will affect their industries in 2022, as well as why their Ohio location is a particularly good home moving forward. Here’s what they told us:

How will the evolution of the pandemic affect your industry in the coming year?

As the pandemic progresses, remote healthcare becomes even more crucial. There has been a growing consensus that virtual care will become more critical, especially when combined with an in-home option for the elderly. The pandemic expedited the speed of this shift by many years. We believe the pandemic has allowed us to demonstrate how remote access can dramatically improve Medicare patients’ lives.
– Faris Ghawi, CEO of Vytalize Health/MedPilot

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The pandemic only worsened a clinician shortage that has been long in the making—largely due to a growing population of aging adults, longer lifespans, an increase in chronic conditions, and alarming rates of burnout, among others. Since there’s no immediate solution to overcoming this shortage, I anticipate that healthcare organizations will begin to look for the tools and resources that will better allow them to manage and easily deploy their workforce. By streamlining that process (such as having their credentials and placement potential gathered in one place, rather than scattered across hundreds of sources like today), hospitals can better plan their employee staffing, deploy specific skill sets where needed, and meet credentialing regulations at the same time (and much faster).
– Charlie Lougheed, CEO and co-founder of Axuall

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Honestly, the health information technology industry is poised to continue expanding and trending upwards. For example, direct-to-consumer digital pharmacies, like Roman, Pill Club, and Nurx, were already starting to become popular before the pandemic, and they continue to flourish. Nurx is even opening a closed-door pharmacy in Dublin, Ohio, to fill prescriptions for their online pharmacy. In regards to our own business, ScriptDrop has grown beyond straightforward prescription delivery. With the help of our new partners, we’re bridging a greater variety of care gaps than ever before. There’s a lot to look forward to in 2022.
– Amanda Epp, CEO of ScriptDrop

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With the in-store retail space continuing to change — stores bringing in less product, downsizing spaces, etc. — we’ll continue to see a large emphasis on e-Commerce and direct sales experience. Making sure that our brand and products are available in the places people are looking for them. That doesn’t mean retail is going away, there will just continue to be changing expectations around pricing, performance, product availability, etc.
– Dr. Asad Khan, CEO of Kent Displays

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Continued reliance on Rx delivery and optimization for faster time to therapy(patient getting their medications). There will also continue to be new market entrants that have successful businesses not in the healthcare space.
– Nick Potts, Co-founder and CEO of giftHealth

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What will be a major theme of how we work in 2022?

Besides labor-intensive industries such as construction and mining, industries across the board will have to adapt by introducing remote working capabilities. The extent to which a business can do that will be a considerable determinant in its success, as remote work provides a big incentive for prospective workers. We have dramatically benefited from building a company that leverages talents worldwide.
– Faris Ghawi, CEO of Vytalize Health/MedPilot

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Working remotely isn’t going away, which means employers will need to invest more money, time, and effort into two things: communication and culture. With team members working from their homes, it’s more difficult to make sure everyone is on the same page about company objectives, accomplishments, and policies. And without hallway conversations or water cooler chatter, remote team members can feel quite isolated. Technology is amazing, but it’s hard to develop real human connections through a Zoom happy hour or virtual company party. That disconnection will be something we will all need to solve in the coming years.
– Amanda Epp, CEO of ScriptDrop

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Flexible work and flexible Travel is the new normal. Many Americans took advantage of the option to work while traveling in 2021, capitalizing on the opportunity to book and plan more spontaneous and longer trips due to more flexible working environments. The “work from anywhere” trend will continue to be a hot topic with more than three-quarters of respondents from our trend report data indicating that their ability to work remotely will be a “key consideration” in how they travel in 2022.

For RVshare, we have always valued flexibility. Working from home was available to all employees before the pandemic and will continue to be post-pandemic. We have learned how to efficiently scale a business from anywhere and proved that this is a sustainable way to work.
– Jon Gray, CEO of RVShare

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Flexibility is key. For most tech-enabled jobs, it’s been proven that productivity can remain high working from home. There will be a desire for that human interaction and connection though. So hybrid (flexible) models will work best.
– Nick Potts, Co-founder and CEO of giftHealth

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In what ways is your city, or Ohio more broadly, particularly well positioned heading into 2022?

Firstly, remote work has been a significant boom for Cleveland and the rest of Ohio. It has dramatically helped us with recruitment now that there has been an influx of talented hires moving to Ohio. The overall healthcare community has also completely stepped up during this challenging period. We feel very fortunate going into 2022 to partner with impressive provider organizations locally to continually deliver world-class care.
– Faris Ghawi, CEO of Vytalize Health/MedPilot

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We are Test City USA, and with Kroger and P&G directly to our south, we should see more investment in seed-stage CPG companies that are well positioned to both learn from our demographics,and partner with strategics to our south. we are in SUCH a unique spot to develop CPG brands, easy proof of concept/traction, and proximity to world class players in brands and retail.
– Kathryn Dougherty, Founder and CEO of Spritz Tea

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Columbus is a hotbed of startup activity. It’s exciting to be surrounded by such a dense network of creative, thoughtful people; it makes for an environment full of opportunity. Besides, everyone is so collaborative! Everyone wants to help everyone.
– Amanda Epp, CEO of ScriptDrop

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We’re based in Kent, Ohio and I think people would be surprised to know that in-house manufacturing is a burgeoning industry–lots of local suppliers. There is more to Kent than liquid crystals and we’re not just a college town!  Ohio more broadly has lots of flexible materials industry and so leveraging local supply chain and partners remains a focus for us.
– Dr. Asad Khan, CEO of Kent Displays

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We have one of the largest universities in the country. Lower cost of living than many big cities and a growing technology ecosystem. Columbus and Ohio are both in a solid spot to become a destination for folks wanting to build a family and join companies tackling important problems.
What’s something in the business/startup world that you think more people should be paying attention to?
– Nick Potts, Co-founder and CEO of giftHealth