How do you measure a year like 2021?
Four numbers that when strung together make up a tumultuous, unexpected, and yet hopeful year.
What other numbers can we use to sum up 2021?
Well in 2021:
- There have been over 4.9 billion active internet users and over 1.86 billion websites online.
- Baby Shark has continued to dominate Youtube with over 9.2 billion views
- 46.9% of smartphone users own an Apple iPhone
- 39,198 McDonald’s stores span more than 100 countries around the world
But at Liferay, we’re choosing to look back and measure the year in resilience.
Life(ray) Continues On
Our team around the world continued to explore new ways to connect and engage with our community throughout 2021.
This year we were excited to bring our first ever global event, Liferay Vision, with over 2,400 registrants, 40 speakers, 25 sessions, streamed across 3 different time zones. Industry leaders, developers, marketers, and community members gathered to discuss and learn about the future of customer experience, changing market dynamics, and how to increase business agility by empowering users with low-code and no-code capabilities.
And despite the many changes of 2021, the heart of our Liferayers has remained the same.
This year our teams have put in 962 total hours of service through the Employee Volunteer Program (EVP). Unique circumstances have also presented new opportunities for service, like bringing digital education to elderly folks in Ireland.
A few of our Dublin staff have been helping the elderly through an organization called AgeAction and their “Getting Started Computer Training program, which aims to help older people bridge the digital divide to connect with their loved ones.
One Liferayer, Stefano, has been tutoring a 71 year old man, who only had a 15 year Nokia phone, to learn how to use Word and Excel, send emails, and video-call friends and relatives. The student said, “Prior to meeting Stefano, I thought I would never be able to use my home computer correctly. However, Stefano guided me through many relevant items. I now feel at ease on the computer, and albeit not perfect yet, but I am no longer afraid to use it.”
From packing food for hungry families to starting a garden alongside children with intellectual disabilities, we are thankful for our teams who desire to give back to their communities. We are reminded that especially in difficult trails, our time and resources together can make a difference.
Business and Cultural Resilience
We continued to see this theme of resilience among our customers who were able to quickly evolve and adapt to meet changing needs. This is how the University of East Anglia (UEA) was able to assist students during the pandemic, even before they knew a global crisis was on the horizon.
UEA’s outdated student portal was cluttered and wasted a lot of IT resources to maintain. So the university upgraded its platform to build a streamlined self-service portal for students and staff to easily access important materials.
The MyUEA portal became extremely helpful during the pandemic because it was already set up to provide much-needed answers during a time of rapid digitalization. The team was able to quickly edit the portal to set up information about testing, campus safety policies, and necessary next steps.
Even though the University didn’t anticipate a worldwide pandemic, their new solution was already built to be applicable beyond just its current use case so that it could be effective in any scenario.
It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right
Of course, we wouldn’t have been able to weather the changes of 2021 without the constant support from our partners.
Our partners have been hard at work helping local government agencies, building materials manufacturers, and global insurers build digital solutions that have weathered through the uncertainties of the pandemic.
This year we were also able to connect again with hundreds of partners from all over the globe with our 2nd virtual Partner Summit, streamed across 5 different regions!
Not only was this year dedicated to learning and gaining insight from peers and industry leaders, but it was also a time to reflect and celebrate our partners’ contributions to innovation, growth, and service. We are thankful for the work we get to do alongside our partners and excited to continue to pave the way forward together.
Looking Forward to 2022
2022 will certainly still be a year of many transitions, hopefully, these transitions will include shifting back to more reopenings and physical gatherings. But we’re excited to be able to weather through these changes and to help build towards a better future together.
Saying Goodbye to 2021
Before we enter 2022, we take a short look back into what we did in 2021.