The pace of technological change and innovation continues to accelerate. For business leaders, staying on top of key technology trends is crucial to remaining competitive and driving growth.
As we enter 2023, these five emerging technologies should be on every organization’s radar:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI adoption is accelerating, providing businesses with opportunities to automate processes, gain insights from data, improve customer experiences, and increase efficiency. From chatbots to recommendation engines to fraud detection, AI is transforming workflows across industries. Leaders should identify high-impact AI applications for their organizations this year.
Key AI applications like machine learning platforms, natural language processing, and robotic process automation will enable businesses to work smarter. Prioritizing AI now means reaping significant competitive advantages.
- The Internet of Things (IoT)
With more connected devices and sensors, the IoT presents new avenues to track assets, optimize supply chains, minimize equipment downtime, and more. Manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare industries stand to benefit the most from IoT adoption. Networking giants like Cisco forecast that 500 billion IoT devices will be online by 2030 – highlighting massive growth potential.
- 5G
While still rolling out globally, 5G has started empowering new mobile use cases like AR/VR applications, telemedicine, autonomous vehicles, and more with its fast speeds and low latency. Businesses should keep 5G on their roadmap and consider the innovations it enables, like smart warehouses, enhanced logistics monitoring, and other industrial applications.
- Cybersecurity
As technology underpins more business functions, cybersecurity becomes imperative. The average cost of a data breach now exceeds $4 million. Ransomware attacks alone caused an estimated $20 billion in damages in 2021. Implementing security measures like multi-factor authentication, encryption, next-gen firewalls, and staff training helps secure organizations. A proactive cybersecurity stance now prevents costly impacts later.
- Blockchain
Blockchain technology enables secure, transparent transactions through decentralized ledgers. While crypto demonstrates one application, blockchain has many enterprise use cases like contracts, supply chain tracking, medical records, and more. Though still maturing, blockchain could transform how businesses exchange value and information. Piloting blockchain applications in delimited scopes lays the foundation for more expansive use.
In summary, prioritizing emerging technologies like AI, IoT, 5G, cybersecurity, and blockchain will help future-proof organizations for 2023 and beyond. To drive innovation and remain competitive, leaders must actively explore how these and other exponential technologies can enhance workflows, boost efficiency, reduce costs, and create new revenue streams. A proactive approach keeps businesses ahead of technological disruption.
Working with experienced IT partners helps build the expertise required to leverage these complex technologies. With insights on transforming operations through new IT capabilities, businesses can confidently invest in the technologies poised to drive the next era of innovation and growth.
