The Technologies That Will Shape 2023
By
movement8

The year 2023 is shaping up to be an exciting period in all facets of digital technology. Many developments long in gestation are finally emerging, while a surprise breakthrough or two is also likely!

From a leadership perspective, the imperative to increase efficiency and save money continues to shape movements around tech development and adoption. Beyond these fundamentals, organisations’ IT infrastructure, cyber risks and augmentation capabilities are all slated to receive more attention and investment.

So, which developments are gathering pace in the year ahead? Keep reading to discover our tech industry predictions for 2023.

The Metaverse and ‘Mixed Reality’

Easily one of the buzziest topics in tech trends lists, the mixed reality (XR) space is more than just cutesy avatars and virtual shopping experiences. Comprising the areas of augmented and virtual reality, XR has made leaps and bounds and is drawing in companies from industries as diverse as retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

XR is now paving the way for a fully-fledged 3D version of the internet, known as the ‘metaverse’. Gartner has highlighted the metaverse as a key strategic technology trend in 2023, noting that new economic opportunities can arise once new types of digital business assets can build in it.

Developers driving innovation in this space include AppliedVR, Google, Nvidia, Snap and Niantic, who are building technical tools and infrastructure ­ which allows other businesses to create their own metaverse-based worlds. NVIDIA, for example, has launched its Omniverse platform, which enables developers to build and operate metaverse applications.

Meanwhile, organisations have begun using the metaverse to enhance their employee experience. Accenture has built an enterprise space dubbed ‘Nth floor’, where the company’s employees can gather in offices and attend training and networking events in a fully virtual environment. In the new normal of hybrid work environments, the metaverse might just be the next solution to managing teams remotely.

Cyber Security’s Evolution

No overview of tech trends in 2023 is complete without giving security a look-in. Data breaches are unfortunately showing no signs of slowing, while companies grapple with the need to review their security architecture in the face of highly publicised ransomware attacks.

These risks are leading more cyber security teams to pivot towards a zero-trust model to fortify their digital citadels and have full visibility of their cloud landscape. About 40% of business leaders have already adopted a zero-trust model, while another 18% are in the process of implementing it, and 17% are planning to adopt it in future, according to research from Infosys and MIT Technology Review.

Yet the evolutionary pressures in cyber security are constrained by the perennial mismatch between talent supply and demand. A global survey of IT professionals by InfoTech shows more than half (54%) are concerned that talent shortages will hinder cyber security capacity in their organisation.

Artificial Intelligence Moves Further Mainstream

AI continues to impress at a steady pace, generating plenty of excitement along the way – note the buzz around OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example.

As AI tools become more accessible to users, IT leaders are pointing towards growing investment in application-focused AI for the year ahead. InfoTech’s survey revealed 44% of organisations will allocate the most net-new investment to AI in 2023, with 35% already invested in it.

While it’s hard to predict AI’s impact on tech jobs just yet, IT decision makers have highlighted business analytics and intelligence, identifying risks, improving security and monitoring and governance as the areas most ripe for AI deployment, InfoTech’s report shows.

Meanwhile, ‘adaptive AI’ can adjust how it learns new information at the same time it is being produced, according to Gartner. To make the most of this frontier in AI, Gartner says more collaboration between data, analytics and software engineering domains are needed to build architectures that will support adaptive AI.

Growth in Multicloud

The tech trends of 2023 aren’t quite possible without the right cloud environment to sustain them. Resilience, performance and security requirements are among the key factors leading researchers to forecast strong growth in multicloud strategies.

ReportLinker research projects the multicloud management market to grow at an average rate of 27.6% between 2022 to 2028. Organisations are being drawn to multicloud set-ups as they allow for more agile development environments (42%), managing security (42%) and access to best-of-breed services and applications (40%), Cisco’s recent survey of IT decision makers shows.

If you are planning a cloud project, now is a critical time to get a head-start on hiring specialist talent to make it a success. The lack of skills for managing multiple public cloud platforms is a major hindrance to embracing a multi-cloud strategy for 32.5% of organisations, Next Pathway’s global survey of 1,200 IT leaders has revealed.

Summary

Of course, our tech industry predictions are just the tip of the iceberg! We expect the year ahead will bring fresh waves of innovation and new solutions to thorny technical problems, to the surprise and relief of many CEOs, CTOs and CIOs. It’s truly a fantastic time to be working in a technology field.

Shifting commercial landscapes, combined with emerging tech, will fuel more growth in tech jobs and encourage business experimentation. With ample opportunities for growth in 2023, it’s sensible to have a team of tech recruitment experts on your side.

As a specialist tech recruitment agency,  can give you the latest talent market insights to steer your business and reach your career goals. Get in touch with us today to discuss your opportunities.