IT Trends 2023 – Sustainability the big buzzword

According to Gartner, technologies alone will not be enough in 2023. The pursuit of sustainable technology has an overarching role in the coming year. The aim is to make IT services even more efficient. Executives need to invest more in innovative and sustainable solutions, which will enable greater operational resilience and financial performance. The IT trends represent opportunities and risks for companies and should help to achieve reliable and sustainable business growth.

Top 10 dominant IT trends for the coming year 2023:

• Digital immune system
• Applied observability
• AI trust, risk and security management
• Industrial Cloud Platforms
• Platform Engineering
• Wireless value realization
• Super Apps
• Adaptive AI
• Metaverse
• Sustainable technologies

# IT Trend 1: Digital Immune System

After the Corona pandemic, the coming year already holds new dangers and many uncertainties such as supply chain problems due to the Ukraine war, recession and inflation as well as the ongoing shortage of skilled workers are looming. To master these can be in technology the key of many strategic goals, here the optimization of IT systems is central with three focus goals:

• Reliability
• Better, data-driven decisions
• Maintaining the value of AI systems in production

A digital immune system is therefore intended to increase the resilience of products, services and systems. According to Gartner, the immune system is a way for CIOs to deliver high business value and customer satisfaction while minimizing risk. Interestingly, according to Gartner, 76% of teams with responsibility for digital products are also responsible for revenue generation. However, traditional approaches to software development make it difficult to create systems that are scalable, secure, and stable.

The “Digital Immune System” concept brings together analytics and AI to improve testing of these tools and then encompasses end-to-end security throughout the supply chain. This gives you applications that are more resilient and help prevent failures. Companies are able to reduce downtime, by up to 80%, through the use of some of these technologies, which in turn will show up in more stable revenue.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is considered an example of a possible solution. In doing so, multi-cloud & on-premise environments can be made more resilient with a comprehensive solution.

# IT Trend 2: Observability through artificial intelligence

Data is the key – the gold of the future. These are to be analyzed and processed by artificial intelligence and as much as possible learned from them. Data can be the barometer for important business and IT decisions. The hype around artificial intelligence is not new; it is now everywhere. Intelligent algorithms show up every time we search for something on the Internet, shop online, navigate while traveling, or manage our schedules and complete countless tasks.

No-code AI solutions and as-a-service platforms will make artificial intelligence more accessible on an ongoing basis. With technology infrastructure and budget no longer a severe barrier to entry, those with good ideas will develop new AI-powered products and services that simplify or improve our lives. One example of a no-code AI solution is Microsoft Power Apps.

# IT Trend 3: Data Protection & Security Management

Artificial intelligence is creating new risks for companies. In the areas of trust, risk and security management, adapted conditions must be created. Investing in Gartner’s trends can prevent risks. Gartner has researched that only 50% of AI models ever go into production due to a lack of trust in the data and issues with security and privacy.

It is important to note that the new Data Protection Act will come into force on September 1, 2023.

# IT Trend 4: Cloud

The trend is on the rise, with more and more companies using cloud platforms to deliver business value. There are various options for this – Microsoft Azure, for example:

The advantages of a cloud solution are clear:

• Companies gain flexibility,
• Innovativeness
• & the value creation time is shortened.

# IT Trend 5: Platform Engineering

Platform engineering is the discipline of designing and building toolchains and workflows that enable self-service capabilities for software engineering organizations in the cloud-native era. Platform engineers provide an integrated product, often referred to as an “internal developer platform,” that addresses the operational requirements of the entire application lifecycle.

# IT Trend 6: Wireless

The trend toward wireless is based on Gartner’s prediction that about 60% of all enterprises will integrate more than five wireless technologies by 2025. This with the aim of meeting any working environment. However, wireless networks go beyond individual devices. This means that your network is not just a cost to the business, but can evolve into something that actually adds value or differentiation to your operation.

# IT Trend 7: Super Apps

2023 pioneering work is required! – They enable the transformation of business models, reinvent relationships with employees and customers, and accelerate strategies to tap into new virtual markets.

Super app development is enabling new ways of communicating with customers. They combine features of an ecosystem, apps and platforms into a single application. This gives customers, employees and partners access to various core functions and independently created miniapps. This makes a personalized and contextualized digital experience a reality within a single app.

The key is that a super app can consolidate and replace multiple apps for use by customers or employees. One super app, for example, is Microsoft Teams.

# IT Trend 8: Adaptive artificial intelligence

Moving from rigid AI engineering pipelines to adaptive AI systems. Adaptive AI systems aim to adapt autonomously on an ongoing basis in production. To do this, for example, they use real-time feedback and learn based on new data so they can quickly adapt to a changing environment.

# IT Trend 9: Metaverse – the Internet of the future

Currently still very vague and unclear, but Metaverse is probably best described as an immersive digital world. No one really knows what immersive online environments will look like in the future. Many are skeptical of the Metaverse. Nevertheless, Gartner expects that a complete Metaverse will be device-independent and will not be owned by a single vendor. In five years, over 40% of large enterprises worldwide will be using a combination of Web3, AR Cloud, and digital twins in Metaverse-based projects to drive revenue. One way that metaverse could be used, he said, is with avatars and chatbots to improve customer service. Other use cases include the use of gamification for training or augmented reality for the shopping experience. Gartner also found that 51% of Generation Z expects some form of augmented reality to be used in the next two years.

We will also see that the Metaverse is both mobile and post-mobile. We will still access it from anywhere in the world and from any device. But the standard device will not always be a smartphone. New ways to access, experience and interact with content include headsets, smart glasses and even full-body suits with haptic feedback. Companies that want to ensure they are not one of the laggards need to think about two things now:

• How will they use these opportunities to develop products and services that provide a more immersive and rewarding experience?
• And how can they use the available platforms and tools to make their internal processes more appealing and efficient?

Arguably, this has resulted in companies building collaborative remote working, training, onboarding and project management.

# IT Trend 10: Sustainable technologies

Gartner’s top trends end with the topic of sustainability and the role IT can play in it. It’s not just about the environment and climate change; what matters are the people behind the companies, the social aspects of an organization, a better work culture, progress on diversity, equality and employee inclusion and training.

Technology plays a very central role when it comes to environmental sustainability. This is especially true for energy reduction solutions in IT services, the use of analytics, and renewable energy traceability. Companies should consider these points, define what is possible for their organization and develop a roadmap.

Do you also want to drive digitization, but don’t really know what the options are and how to weave IT trends into your competitive advantages? – Then write to us via our contact page and we will look for individual solutions and optimization potentials.