As the world moves into a potential economic downturn, technology
leaders must help their organizations adapt through emerging
technologies while building a protective layer against the risks posed.
To prepare technology leaders for what's to come in 2023, global IT
research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has released its highly anticipated annual technology report. The
2023 Tech Trends report reveals seven data-driven trends and findings based on insights from IT professionals, analysts, and industry experts.
"Last year's Tech Trends report focused on the capabilities organizations would need to compete in a digital economy," says Brian Jackson, Research Director and one of the principal research leads for the 2023 Tech Trends report. "The
2023 Tech Trends report considers how technology leaders can explore
new technologies while protecting the organization from the risks posed. Our
research insights expand on the previous year's trends, focusing on how
IT can enhance existing capabilities and create new ones while
simultaneously considering the volatility of a world dealing with
several major crises."
The report's survey received 813 responses from industry
professionals, with over 90% of respondents working in IT departments.
The underlying metrics for the 2023 report are diverse, with insights
from 16 countries and regions, including the US, Canada, and Australia,
as well as 15 industries, such as government, professional services,
manufacturing, education, healthcare, financial services, telecom, and
retail.
"Like a chess grandmaster, CIOs will need to play both sides of the board in 2023," says Jackson. "Emerging technologies present opportunities to attack, while protecting from a volatile board state is a requirement."
The
survey findings, coupled with exclusive analyst research and expert
perspectives, are representative of the wider market and will help to
shape CIOs' digital strategic projects for 2023. The following seven
tech trends and findings have been identified by the firm for the coming
year:
- The Metaverse - Marketing pitches and media headlines have
left IT leaders wondering if they should be running a proof of concept
on VR collaboration in 2023 or perhaps staking a claim to virtual real
estate. Info-Tech views the metaverse as a convergence of mixed reality,
artificial intelligence, immersive digital space, and real-time
communications that stack together to create metaverse experiences.
The
metaverse as a solution to hybrid work is still a far-off concept for
most firms, with 63% of organizations having no plans to collaborate in
virtual reality, such as using headsets that block out the real world.
Only one-quarter of firms are conducting a proof of concept or planning
to do so. Slightly more than one in ten say they are either scaling up
or already seeing widespread organizational adoption.
- Generative AI - Generative AI is a type of semi-supervised
machine learning that uses neural networks to create new content or
interpret complex signal information. By being trained with a large
amount of content, models can be made to generate new works like what
people would create.
According to
Info-Tech's survey and research, AI will receive the most net-new
investment by organizations by the end of 2023, with 35% of
organizations indicating they have already invested in it and 44%
planning to invest next year. With a 9% change between committed and
planned investment, AI leads all technologies, followed by data lake at
5% and data mesh at 5%.
- Industry-Led Data Models - The promises of big data have been
a significant focus for the entire 21st century, giving rise to an
industry of data collection and analytics services. After AI, the two
technologies gaining the most momentum in new investment this year are
data lake or lakehouse and data fabric or mesh, with both seeing a 5%
increase in the number of organizations planning to invest in 2023.
These platforms facilitate better access to enterprise data and enable
real-time reporting.
According to the
survey, most organizations will look to develop their own data analysis,
with 41% building their own data analysis with in-house staff and
another 28% both building and buying tools to support analysis. Although
organizations want to put their own industry expertise to work in
designing analytics, building the tools themselves will likely lead to a
missed opportunity to gain the best-in-class approaches honed by
technology vendors. IT leaders should keep this in mind when considering
where to spend resources in 2023.
- Sustained Digital Processes - Organizations are still
investing in digitalizing tasks and processes. They have also learned
that digital transformation doesn't have a definite final state but is
instead an evolutionary process without an end.
Based
on survey data, more companies may now be through the initial rush of
digitalization and into the next phase of sustaining their efforts. For
example, last year, more organizations (eight in 10) indicated they'd
digitalized over 20% of their processes. In this year's survey, the
number is down, with seven in 10 respondents saying they digitalized
between 0% and 20% of their processes in the past year.
Effort will be required to sustain momentum, as will new tools and ways of working.
- ESG Analytics and Reporting - In 2023, it is expected that
public companies will be required to report on their carbon emissions by
financial regulators in places like the UK, EU, US, and Canada.
However, many organizations are still behind on this issue even though
various regulators around the world are either implementing those
reporting requirements or moving closer to doing so.
Less
than one-quarter of IT professionals say their organization can
accurately report on the impact of its ESG initiatives, and 43% say
their reporting on impacts is inaccurate. Reporting accuracy was even
worse for reporting on carbon footprint, with 46% saying their
organization could not accurately report its carbon footprint. IT
leaders will need to improve on this front to be compliant.
- Zero-Trust Security - Zero trust means full access at the
bare minimum. This approach is especially important as we come off a
series of software supply chain attacks over the past couple of years.
Slightly
more than half of the respondents said it was likely or very likely
that a cybersecurity incident would disrupt their business in 2023.
Disruption from new government-enacted security regulations was the next
most common concern, with 40% saying it was likely or very likely to
disrupt business.
As attacks increase in
frequency and impact, organizations are turning to the concept of a
zero-trust network to defend against threat vectors.
- Recession Preparation - In addition to the new technologies
that could yield innovation and all the subsequent risks that IT must
work to mitigate, a financial risk to the IT budget looms for 2023. This
risk reduces the degree to which IT can pursue growth opportunities and
offer protection from regulatory burdens and bad actors.
Despite
the negative signals, most IT professionals expect their budgets will
increase in 2023. Fifty-five percent of respondents anticipate a bigger
budget next year; 28% expect an increase between 6% and 15%, and another
8% expect an increase between 16% and 30%. Interestingly, IT
professionals in the US are more optimistic than their international
counterparts, as 70% expect a budget increase in 2023 compared to 55%
for the global average.
The 2023 Tech Trends report also includes insights in the form
of case studies from technology experts at organizations such as Cisco,
Walmart Canada, Glitch Goods, the Children's Specialized Hospital,
Albemarle Corp, and Edgeless Systems.
This trends report will
inform the firm's next major industry release, the upcoming CIO
Priorities 2023 report. This resource, set to be published in early
2023, will take a deeper dive into the recommended capabilities that
will help organizations respond to each emerging trend.
Download and read the full 2023 Tech Trends Report for more insights for the year ahead.