Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023. Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
The 2023 Forecast for Financial Services, Robotics and Automotive
By Kris Sharma, Financial Services Lead, Canonical
Below, myself and some of my Canonical colleagues reflect on 2022, and share predictions for financial services, robotics and automotive, for the year ahead.
I’ll get us started off.
Prediction #1 – Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and analytics will help boost revenues through at-scale personalized services to customers.
In the Financial Services sector, I believe AI, ML and analytics will help boost revenues through at-scale personalized services to customers in 2023, lower costs by reducing error rates and efficiencies gained by higher automation and uncover new opportunities with an improved ability to process and generate invaluable insights from huge volumes of data. Open source technologies provide the core building blocks for AI and ML research, and will continue to drive innovation in financial services.
Financial institutions that fail to make AI/ML central to their core strategy and operations will risk being overtaken by competition as digital ecosystems are transforming traditional financial services.
Prediction #2 – Financial institutions will need to continuously balance the pressure to innovate quickly, while managing risk and combating financial crime.
Additionally, in 2023 and beyond, I believe financial institutions will need to continuously balance the pressure to innovate quickly, while managing risk and combating financial crime. Financial institutions will continue to adopt new technologies, including the use of public cloud computing to keep up with regulatory and industry demands.
Prediction #3 – Financial institutions continue to consume more cloud computing services, adding systemic risk for a portion of the world’s banking services on a few public cloud platforms.
As financial institutions continue to consume more cloud computing services from the same pool of Cloud Service Providers, I believe there is a systemic risk of a significant portion of the world’s banking services concentrated on few public cloud platforms.
To address the cloud concentration risk while managing the demands of digital transformation, legacy modernization, competition and regulatory compliance, financial institutions will need to adopt hybrid multi-cloud strategies. This approach will help financial institutions have a unified and consistent approach to infrastructure management, reduce risk and address regulatory compliance challenges, unlock innovation and extend geographic reach while simultaneously reducing the cost of unused digital capacity.
Gabriel Aguiar Noury – Robotics Product Manager, Canonical
Prediction #4 – Social robots are back, improving human interactivity, building narratives and enriching their personalities.
In 2023, I believe social robots will be back in a big way. Late in 2022, we saw companies such as Sony unveiling robots like Poiq. This set the stage for a new wave of social robots. Powered by natural language generation models like GPT-3, robots can create new dialogue systems. This will improve the robot’s interactivity with humans, allowing robots to answer any question. Social robots will also build narratives and rich personalities, making interaction with users more meaningful. GPT-3 also powers Dall-E, an image generator. Combined, these types of technologies will enable robots to not only tell, but show dynamic stories.
But, this is not only about the novelty effect. Dall-E will keep pushing research to help robots define their behavior based on their surroundings. As image detection and context generation merge, robotics scene awareness and social intelligence will take a new leap. By generating a detailed textual description of an image, robots will soon be able to understand the room they are in or what people are doing. This is another step towards real autonomy.
Prediction #5 – Drone wars in large-scale deployment may start a new arms race.
However, we cannot be blind to the misuse of technology. The war in Ukraine has made it clear that robots have a market. The Institute for the Study of War has signaled drones as essential as shells. Their large-scale deployment makes this the biggest “drone war” we have seen. Autonomous vehicles have also found a niche in the conflict, allowing armies to transport equipment, and underwater drones as well. Outside of this war, China’s Kestrel Defense has also posted videos of a quadruple robot launching munitions or carrying a machine gun.
Unfortunately, in 2023 I believe we may confirm that the world has started a new arms race. Far gone are the days of the EU’s ban on killer robots. This war has likely set the stage for what is to come.
Bertrand Boisseau – Automotive Lead Sector, Canonical
Prediction #6 – Vehicles will continue to gain connectivity features and services with over-the-air (OTA) updates; as 5G deploys, cars will see 5G modems included, with some leveraging the mmWave technology.
In 2023, I believe we will see specific trends regarding technology all across the automotive industry. The digital transformation will continue, especially in how customers buy vehicles. There will be more online buying, and vehicle maintenance will rely more on predictive maintenance solutions coming of age.
And as 5G deploys, cars will see 5G modems included, with some leveraging the mmWave technology. mmWave allows for faster speeds and more bandwidth, which could be used for V2X use cases. With more connectivity, vehicles will continue to become an extension of our homes. Video conference calls will be more present as well as other key applications. Regarding infotainment, we’ll probably see more augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications included in the user experience whether it’s for the driver or the occupants.
Prediction #7 – OEMs and Tier 1s are investing a lot in autonomous driving (AD) and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
OEMs and Tier 1s are investing a lot in autonomous driving (AD) and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). With upcoming EU regulations, we might see some level 3 (and why not level 4?) vehicles roaming the roads.
As technology is taking a bigger part in our vehicles every year, I believe key partnerships with big tech players will continue to be announced. OEMs likely cannot take on these challenges on their own. Moreover, as software is growing in the industry, so are the cybersecurity risks. Having strong partnerships with software companies will help on that front.
Whether it’s due to less drivers’ licenses, rising cost of vehicles, or environmental concerns, our relation to cars is changing and so is our use. The habits will continue to shift towards shared mobility services of multiple aspects. All of these evolutions will rely on software. And with huge investments being required, playing on a limited pool of skilled resources, open source software will be key. With benefits for all contributing companies, from common vulnerability and exposure (CVE) patches to shared components that can be validated and audited in a fast and easy way.
Prediction #8 – The impact of electric vehicles (EV) will be huge on worldwide sales in 2023. The industry will still be facing microchip shortages as well.
Due to environmental concerns and regulation changes, the impact of electric vehicles (EV) will be huge on worldwide sales in 2023. EVs will also have an impact on maintenance as they require different changes (less wear, no oil changes, less brake changes, often more tire wear, etc). Hopefully this will also lead to more charging stations worldwide,perhaps powered by green energy. As EVs become increasingly popular, one might wonder if hydrogen-powered cars will still have a place in our markets. Pushed by governments, the technology is probably coming at the wrong time (high costs, lower energy efficiency compared to EVs, potential energy crisis, etc) at least for cars.
In 2023, according to analysts and OEMs, the industry will still be facing microchip shortages. These shortages mean that vehicle prices will continue to rise, even more so with the low inventory levels that we are now used to. A parallel effect to this situation is that luxury cars will probably sell more. Indeed, as an OEM, if you have a limited number of common components, you’ll favor the high-end models.
In a nutshell, 2023 will see the first big effects of energetic and environmental concerns on consumership and ownership habits, and technological innovations will be all the rage with increasing electrification on top of always available and connected mobility.
##
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kris Sharma is the Financial Services Sector Lead at Canonical. Over the last two decades he has held various senior leadership positions at Big 4 advisory and consulting firms providing advisory services to S&P 500 and FTSE 100 clients. As a trusted C-level advisor and business-tech leader, he has been able to influence enterprise strategies to focus on building innovative solutions for end-users and communities across the globe.
