Technology in businesses in 2023: What can we expect?

Enabling collaboration

The engine driving the working from home revolution has changed dramatically (and been fast tracked) in recent years, with new ideas and technological advancements continuing to come to the fore. But what exactly have we learned?

“We need to trust our teams,” comments Paul Mardling, Redcentric’s Chief Technology Officer, “most working is now hybrid, so solutions need to be location agnostic. The office needs to be a place people want to go, with the days of 9-5 presenteeism largely over. In terms of tech, it’s making sure staff have portable equipment that suits their roles.”

Kieran Brady, Group Sales and Marketing Director, agrees. “Trust is key, and a work-life balance is extremely important, with employees now having more say in their personal working patterns. In the coming years the working week may change to four days. This will mean additional people, shared roles, hot desking and shared office spaces becoming the norm.” 

In order for these changes to be successful, technology will need to support collaboration. The move to cloud will continue, allowing for on demand availability - data, applications, services and resources available securely anywhere at any time.

The ‘total experience’

Organisations are increasingly investing in ‘total experience’ (Tx) strategies to drive greater loyalty and advocacy. This impacts business resilience and technologies, with managed service providers (MSPs) supporting these customers playing a vital role. This is reflected in a 2021 report that saw the MSP market valued at more than $161billion, with businesses of all sizes leveraging MSPs to boost their efficiency and productivity.

“MSPs need to be a ‘safe pair of hands’ and an addition to their customers' teams, providing end-to-end management, experience and skills,” says Cem Ahmet. “By investing in the total experience, organisations need to consider what they offer employees and customers, for example charity days, mental health support and employee benefits.”

Embracing opportunities and supporting the end customer continues to be a focus. “2023 growth and foreseeing the public sector transition to the cloud will enable local and central Government to serve citizens more economically and efficiently,” comments Kieran Brady. “Modernising and digitalising technology will be put in place to allow citizens to communicate more easily.

“That means having stability and a partner that is financially secure and can show customer experience and investment in products, services and overall portfolios.”

“It is imperative to have a real time view of operational costs and cost control methodologies,” adds Ahmet. “This can be done by investigating efficient methods of saving power, and in this current environment, it will be extremely relevant with uncertainty around the macro-economic landscape.”

What about data centres?

With many challenges and obstacles affecting the UK data centre industry in 2022, 2023 will be largely influenced by regulation. With a lack of enforcement of vital policies recognised as one of the largest potential issues in a post Covid world, we are seeing the Government take a deeper dive into the sector.

“The cost of power has had an enormous impact on customers and the running of DCs,” says Steve Wright, Data Centre Expert at Redcentric. “A long term energy strategy for the UK is still a challenge. The market volatility is going to persist, however, the increases we have seen in 2022 will likely be sustained for 2023. The market has evolved, particularly with (liquefied natural gas) LNG imports now making up a significant proposition of gas needed for electricity production, primarily from the US and Canada.

“ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors are also a huge factor, with the development of Net Zero targets by 2030 still very much up in the air. We’ve been using renewable energy for a number of years, but as a sector we continue to see it come into force. We are very much still dependent on gas until the nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point C (2029/2030 in reality) and Sizewell C (2037-2040) are completed and can provide zero-carbon electricity for around six million homes.

“With 80 – 90% of data centres being built in the UK to service hyperscale requirements, their growth remains unabated and is expected to continue as businesses move to full or hybrid cloud models. Legacy enterprise and on premise equipment still accounts for close to 50% of IT spend, however, with the aspect of hybrid cloud and digital transformation, an accelerated shift is predicted.” 

Colocation is also still playing a pivotal role, with the market expected to double in revenues over the next five years. This is a reasonable growth rate, but still lags behind hyperscale cloud in terms of both real monetary value and percentage growth.

Final thoughts

The advice above predicts that being customer-focused, reliable and planning ahead to incorporate new expectations for both customers and employees will be key to success. 

So what should be top-of-mind for CIOs?

“In spite of these advancements, we are still facing a shortage of skilled workers,” concludes Paul Mardling. “To fill this void, we will see an increase in automation. However, customers and companies need to understand their business processes. You can’t automate what you don’t understand, so reviewing processes is key.”