The Technology Trends that Rule 2023

If anything beneficial has happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the impetus to the digital transformation of organizations. The pandemic pressurized the governments to impose lock-downs and instruct people to follow safety norms such as social distancing. The online mode of working became the common norm. Had we not developed a strong digital infrastructure, the economic offense of the pandemic would have been even more severe.

Talking about technology, the new technology trends that are going to steer businesses ahead in 2022 are…

• Cloud and everything-as-a-service (XAAS)

• Creating the supply chains of the future

• Building the next iteration of the hybrid workforce

• Leading the charge to create a sustainable future

• Signposts for the future

Technology has great potential to withstand the challenges the future has to throw at us. The organizations that were fast to adapt to the digital mode of working countered the onslaughts of COVID-19 better. We have to remind ourselves that COVID-19 would not be the only challenge coming our way. There could be a dozen more threats that are about to come. If we have to build businesses future proof then we can’t avoid but take the shelter of technology.

These days the most revered technology is the cloud technology which helps us store data on remote servers. This data can be accessed through the internet. Cloud technology has two components – front-end and backend. The front-end helps the user to access data stored in the cloud through internet. However, the most important component of cloud is backend, which is responsible for securing and storing data. It comprises computers, databases, central servers, and nodes.

But cloud technology alone is not sufficient to remain competent as an organization in these murkier times. Global researched has urged organizations to embrace shorter supply chains, work with everything-as-a-service (XaaS) models, and edge intelligence to nudge up their transformation efforts.

As we are dwelling in a more uncertain world, the traditional supply chains which capitalize of labour arbitrage opportunities available in low cost countries like China may not be suitable. In the future, the preference for manufacturing locations changes quickly and more focus is given on producing larger volumes economically. Having longer supply chains can hence leave companies exposed to many dangers and unnecessary time wastage in taking approvals and clearances at various levels.

The rising tide of future uncertainty is coming sooner than most companies expect. We recommend to leverage the talent capabilities, especially in core areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and robotic process automation (RPA). As 2021 began, we witnessed many supply networks struggle. Hence, it is advised that technology industry leaders re-examine where and how manufacturing happens and try to shorten the chain by improving flexibility, transparency, and resiliency. It is important that industry leaders toil more on digital transformation efforts, data and analytics capabilities, cyber security, and cloud infrastructure improvements. Organizations should give more importance on employee training so that they can optimally use the cloud and advanced AI technologies, and work from remote locations. If need be, then reskilling and up-skilling of the employees should be done on high priority.

As of 2022, we still have to overcome many challenges in technology makeover to be future ready. Leaders have to work in the direction of laying strong foundations for future growth and innovation. One core aspect that requires immediate attention is to work on everything-as-a-service (XaaS). This means that anything can be a service with the help of cloud technology and remote accessing.

As XaaS stands for “Everything as a service”, everything which is a servive is a type of XaaS. Among the many varieties of cloud computing models are:

1. Software as a Service (SaaS)

2. Platform as a Service (Pass)

3. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

4. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

5. Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

6. Network as a Service (NaaS)

7. Communication as a Service (CaaS)

SaaS provides many software applications such as Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps. Similarly, IaaS provides services to Google Computer Engine and Azure.

Some other XaaS sterminologies that have cropped up recently are Security as a Service (SECaaS), Healthcare as a Service (HaaS), Transport as a Service (TaaS), and Hardware as a Service (HaaS).

Implementing XaaS in your system gives you a distinctive edge as it save a lot of cost, it is scalable, has high accessibility, boosts innovation, provides better security, and is faster to implement.

Some benefits of using XaaS;

• Scalability

• Faster Implementation

• Accessibility

• Cost Saving

• Quick Modification

• Flexibility

• Better Security

• Boost Innovation

XaaS is on the roller coaster now as public cloud services are growing at a rapid pace. Researchers estimate that global cloud computing revenue is going to touch $342 billion by 2025. In the past two years, technology industry has thrived. However, the momentum may not be sustainable. To enable the next wave of technology growth, companies should rededicate their efforts to improving agility, transparency, sustainability, collaboration, and digital innovation.

Research has shown that XaaS adopters have been more successful in forging relations with their clients and enjoy more consultative engagements with their vendors. Cloud is increasingly becoming the preferred platform for enabling Xaas. Through XaaS, investors and other stakeholders can also gauge their investments conveniently from anywhere.

The rapid changes that we can foresee call for a build-up of hybrid workforce. In the process same teams, we need subject matter experts (SMEs) as well as techies for handling the technology integration part. We now have to see a process from a holistic point of view and take pragmatic measures to have a hybrid team in place. If people from diverse backgrounds work in a team then they would bring different perspectives and work styles. This facilitates higher levels of innovation and new outlook to solve problems. To form hybrid teams, you not only need people from different ethnic backgrounds but also from different educational backgrounds and professional backgrounds as well.

Overall, we are looking for higher levels of technology integration and advancement. There is a lot of research and development taking place to make technology even more competitive and cut-throat. It can be safely said that organizations that are lazy in adopting technology are surely going to fail in a not so distant future.