Technology moves at a rapid pace, and the approaches your business used in the past might not be as sure-fire as they were previously. In terms of business growth, then, it’s vital to stay on top of emerging trends, ensuring that you’re making the most of them, but equally that you’re not either missing opportunities or mis-using technology in a way that could be detrimental to your business.
So what tech trends are we likely to see emerge in 2023 of interest to business? Opinions on this can vary of course, because trend prediction isn’t a hard and fast science. Still, there are emerging technologies and technological shifts that we can identify that are likely to impact most businesses this year.
1. AI systems could change everything from buying to search and beyond
The use of Artificial Intelligence systems in business isn’t a new trend, but it’s one that’s absolutely in the spotlight right now, and absolutely a trend to keep an eye on in 2023.
With major enterprises such as Microsoft and Google betting big on AI to revolutionise how everyone searches online, the way that businesses are discovered online, and even the information presented about them as a result of these searches will change over the next year and beyond.
2. Cybersecurity isn’t yesterday’s problem
Again, not a new trend, but all signs point to an increasing danger for businesses across all sectors when it comes to cyber security. The Australian Cyber Security Centre noted that cyber attacks increased nearly 13% from 2021-2022, with the cost of such incidents also rising 14% year on year.
Think this is only a problem for big business? You’d be wrong again. These aren’t small figures we’re talking about either, with small businesses being hit by attacks on average losing $39,555 while medium sized businesses were hit for an average of $88,407. With trends only pointing upwards, maintaining your security in the face of growing threats will be a vital part of keeping your business safe.
Enquire today about how the Cyber Security Health Check can highlight any cyber security vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your systems and help keep the hackers at bay.
3. The Worker landscape has changed, and technology will assist in this
The global pandemic forced many businesses into ad-hoc work-from-home or remote work setups, often cobbled together simply with whatever resources could be found at the time.
While the pandemic might feel like yesterday’s news, the shift in the way that so many workers operate – or want to operate – is a significant one that will continue to have effects in 2023 and beyond.
Couple that with advances in remote working technology and especially network access, and you’ve got a mixed opportunity for flexible workplaces, but also some challenges to face. The emergence of longer range and faster access 5G networks – especially 5G mmWave – will enable more workers to do more, or for some business sectors to deploy data gathering and monitoring technologies in ways that the older 4G standard couldn’t hope to manage. At the same time for truly remote Australia, further advances in the NBN rollout and competing technologies such as Starlink are and will be opening up new possibilities for a “work anywhere” culture to continue to thrive.
4. Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword any more
We all live on the one planet, and in recent years there’s been a growing focus not only on how businesses operate, but on how they operate in a sustainable fashion. According to research undertaken by Equinix, 73% of IT decision makers in the Asia Pacific region identified reducing environmental impact as being a key factor in their business. For some sectors this is a matter of meeting strict guidelines around environmental impact, especially if your business has operations internationally. For others, it’s a matter of appealing to potential customers, whether they’re consumer or business customers looking to work with more sustainable-minded partner companies.
So what does that look like in a technology sense? We’re already starting to see many IT vendors tout their green credentials in terms of power usage and sustainable practices, including the use of recycled materials throughout their packaging, products and product lifecycle plans.
As an example, Samsung’s new flagship phones tout that they use recycled fishing nets in their production, while multiple laptop vendors now happily talk up the percentage of their products made from recovered aluminum and plastic products. There’s also been some significant focus on the total lifecycle of technology products, including how they’re disposed of at the end of their service life.
5. Social Media is changing business fast
The social media landscape isn’t just about online people arguing about politics or sharing cat memes. It’s also a place where business can be done – or undone. Many consumers will use social media as their first and primary point of contact with your business, whether it’s to make an inquiry about a possible purchase or to seek assistance or post-sales help.
The social media scene is quite fluid, however, especially when considering the target market of your business. Recent moves at services such as Twitter or Meta’s Facebook or Instagram, for example, will see consumers asked to pay for access to services such as blue tick verification, which could see a lessening of engagement on those platforms if consumers are unwilling to pay.
At the same time, the opening up of such services does bring with it the prospect of social media impersonation, where bad actors – either miscreants or actual criminals – try to impersonate businesses or prominent people. It’s important then, even if your business doesn’t interact in a significant way on social media platforms to keep an eye on what’s being done there in your business sector and especially your name. If a consumer expects a fast social media response from your business, are you ready to provide it?
