Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2023

Gartner released its top 10 strategic technology trends organizations must explore in 2023. "To increase the profitability of organizations in times of economic turmoil, CIOs and IT executives must shift their focus from cost savings to new ways of operating excellence as they continue to accelerate digital transformation, said Frances Karamouzis, Vice President of Distinguished Research at Gartner. The Gartner Strategic Technology Trends for 2023 revolve around three themes of optimization, scaling, and pioneering technologies that can help organizations optimize resilience, operations or trustworthiness, scale vertical solutions, and product delivery, and pioneer with new forms of interaction, faster responses or opportunities."

"However, in 2023, simply delivering technology will not be enough. These themes are influenced by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) expectations and regulations, which translates into a shared responsibility to use sustainable technologies. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, every technology investment will need to be set off against its impact on the environment and require the use of sustainable technologies to achieve the goal of 'sustainability by default,'" said David Groombridge, Distinguished vice president of research at Gartner.

1. Sustainability

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Sustainability runs through all strategic technology trends for 2023. In a recent Gartner survey, CEOs said that environmental and social changes had become one of the top three priorities for investors, after profit and revenue. This means that executives must increase their investment in innovative solutions that meet ESG (environmental, social, and governance) needs to achieve sustainability goals. To do this, organizations need a new sustainable technology framework to improve the energy and material efficiency of IT services, the implementation of corporate sustainability through technologies such as traceability, analytics, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence (AI), and the deployment of IT solutions that help customers achieve their sustainability goals.

2. Metaverse

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Gartner defines the metaverse as a virtual collective shared space formed by the fusion of physical and digital reality augmented by virtual technology. This space is persistent, providing enhanced immersive experiences. Gartner expects an entire metaverse to be device-independent and not owned by a single vendor. It will result in a virtual economy powered by digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). By 2027, Gartner predicts that more than 40% of large enterprises worldwide will use a combination of Web3, augmented reality (AR) clouds, and digital twins in metaverse-based projects to increase revenue.

3. Superapps

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A superapp is an application that integrates application, platform, and ecosystem functions. It has its own set of functions and provides a platform for third parties to develop and publish their mini-apps (similar to WeChat platforms, including WeChat applet, official account, etc.). By 2027, Gartner predicts that more than 50% of the world's population will become daily active users of multiple superapps.

"Although most superapps are mobile applications, this concept can also be applied to desktop client applications such as Microsoft Teams and Slack. The key to this concept is that a superapp can consolidate and replace multiple applications used by customers or employees," said Karamouzis.

4. Adaptive AI

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Adaptive AI systems adapt quickly to changes in real-world conditions that were not foreseen or available during the initial development process by continuously retraining the model and learning from new data in the operation and development environment. These systems dynamically adjust their learning and goals based on real-time feedback, making them suitable for operations where rapid changes in the external environment or that need to optimize their responsiveness due to changing corporate goals.

5. Digital Immune System

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76% of teams responsible for digital products are now also accountable for revenue. CIOs are looking for new practices and approaches that enable their teams to reduce risk and improve customer satisfaction while delivering high business value. The digital immune system provides them with a roadmap to meet this requirement.

The digital immune system improves the flexibility and stability of the system by combining data-driven operational insight, automation, extreme testing, automated event resolution, software engineering in IT operations, and security in the application supply chain. Gartner predicts that by 2025, enterprises and institutions investing in building digital immune systems will be able to reduce system downtime by up to 80%, and the reduced losses will directly translate into higher revenues.

6. Applied Observability

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Observable data containing digital features such as logs, traces, API calls, dwell time, downloads, and file transfers are generated when any stakeholder takes action. Applied observability feeds these observable feature data in a highly integrated and consolidated manner, creating a decision loop that increases the effectiveness of organizational decisions.

"Applied observability enables business organizations to leverage their data characteristics to gain a competitive advantage," It is a powerful tool as it can raise the strategic importance of the right data at the right time to take quick action based on confirmed stakeholder actions rather than intentions. When planned for in strategy and successfully executed, observability applications can be the most powerful source of data-driven decision-making," said Karamouzis.

7. Trust, Risk, and Security Management

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Many organizations are not well prepared to manage AI risk. A survey conducted by Gartner in the United States, Britain, and Germany shows that 41% of organizations had experienced AI privacy leakage or security incidents. However, the survey also found that organizations that actively managed AI risk, privacy, and security achieved better results in AI projects. More of their AI projects entered from proof-of-concept status into production and achieved more business value than did AI projects in organizations that did not actively manage these functions.

Organizations must use new capabilities to ensure model reliability, trustworthiness, security, and data protection. AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management (TRiSM) require players from different business units to jointly implement new measures.

8. Industry Cloud Platforms

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Cloud platforms provide industry modular capabilities to support industry application scenarios by combining SaaS, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Enterprises can combine the packaged capabilities of industry cloud platforms as basic modules into unique and differentiated digital business projects, avoiding single-vendor lock-in while increasing agility, driving innovation, and reducing product IPO time.

Gartner predicts that by 2027, more than 50% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business projects.

9. Platform Engineering

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Platform engineering is a set of mechanisms and architecture used to build and operate a self-service internal developer platform that supports software delivery and lifecycle management. Platform engineering aims to optimize the developer experience and accelerate the speed at which product teams create value for customers.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of software engineering organizations will have established platform teams, and 75% will include developer self-service portals.

10. Wireless Value Realization

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Since no technology can dominate, enterprises will use a series of wireless solutions to meet the needs of all scenarios, such as office Wi-Fi, mobile device services, low-power services, and radio connectivity. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of enterprises will use more than five wireless technologies simultaneously.

The functions of the network will no longer be limited to pure connection. They will use the built-in analysis function to provide insight, and their low-power systems will directly obtain energy from the network. This means the network will become a source of direct business value.