Computing technology supporting your competitive advantage in 2023

2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year for technology as we see advances in connectivity, intelligence, and real-time interaction between people, machines, and systems. Organisations have the opportunity to use these advances to improve efficiency, create new revenue, and gain a competitive edge.

However, with an economic slowdown and environmental concerns, it may be a challenging year ahead. But with the right approach, digital transformation can deliver exponential productivity, efficiency, and collaboration, supporting your competitive advantage.

We explore some trends in the UK and digital technology in this blog, and how organisations can leverage computing technology in 2023 to not just survive but thrive.

Market trends

In this economic downturn, organisations are facing budget constraints and need to be more efficient with their resources. Fortunately, there are many technologies that are proven to help with greater efficiency, including energy consumption.

With the new norm of work-from-anywhere, workers expect secure, dependable connections that just work, and they expect the same at any work location around the world. However, this is putting significant strain on networks, even those installed only 5 years ago.

By their very nature, critical computing networks need protecting to ensure operational reliability. Figures from the UK Government’s Cybersecurity Breaches Survey 2022 reveal that around 31% of businesses are attacked weekly, and 20% suffer a negative impact as a result. In 2023 organisations will continue to invest in technologies to protect their networks and data from unauthorised access and attacks.

Digital technology trends

Exploiting the digital revolution requires real-time interaction and hyper-connected, intelligent networks. Despite various technologies in use, with common standards this is both feasible and realistic. So, efforts to increase interoperability will continue to be a priority in 2023.

AR and VR technology will be key areas of focus to improve security, user experience, and regulatory compliance, as well as creating more intelligent products and services. And with Artificial Intelligence (AI) built-in, resource-taxing manual IT tasks are replaced with proactive AI-driven automation and self-healing techniques. Autonomous technology will be used in a wider range of industries and integrated into upstream supply chains.

5G technology will transform communication and internet access by increasing speed and reducing latency, and also support the growth of IoT.

Recruiting computing technology staff in 2023 continues to be a challenge for organisations due to a shortage of skilled professionals, leading to fierce competition and high compensation expectations. It is also difficult to find candidates with the right skills.

Computing services and solutions in demand

From our close partnerships with both vendors and customers we are seeing an accelerated adoption of particular services and solutions.

Particularly the cloud will continue to be adopted for its faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale, which is needed for digital transformation. Multi-cloud networking software will enable organisations to connect and manage multiple cloud environments, including public, private, and hybrid clouds.

SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) network architecture framework combines software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and network security functions and is attracting considerable interest too.

We anticipate there will also be an increase in demand for technologies like SD-Branch which supports a consistent, robust, centrally managed security posture across a network of multiple sites and across multiple devices.

The Anything as a Service (XaaS) delivery model offers products or services over the internet on a subscription basis. XaaS allows organisations to replace the traditional purchase-based model with one based on consumption. As XaaS offers more flexibility and scalability and can help reduce costs, it will gain further traction in 2023.

Addressing some of the cybersecurity concerns, we also expect a greater demand for Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) security architecture. We’re also seeing rapid growth in internet-connected devices in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and critical national infrastructure, which is bringing IT and Operational Technology (OT) together. This convergence improves efficiency and performance but also increases the risk of cyber-attacks, threatening security, safety, and reputation. As a result, we’re seeing a growing demand for OT CyberSecurity.

The importance of the right technology partner

To capitalise on these opportunities, it is important to invest in technology that is optimal for the organisation’s unique requirements, and it is also important to successfully integrate them with legacy systems.

Choosing a partner who has the expertise in integrating and harnessing the potential of these technologies is just as important.

And a trusted managed services partner can provide expertise, automation, and predictive tools through remote monitoring. Done well keeps the digital estate optimised, up-to-date, secure, and compliant while allowing IT & OT teams to focus on other areas for added value and efficiency.

Managed services can provide peace of mind, continuous improvement and eliminate the need for recruitment too.

About Axians UK

Axians UK is a technology services partner that delivers transformative solutions to accelerate your ambitions in today’s ever-changing world. Whether you need tried-and-tested platforms or cutting-edge innovation, we commit to customer excellence and invest in long-term thinking.  

The strength of Axians’ global network as part of VINCI Energies means you can rely on our incredible people to deploy technology that achieves critical operational outcomes, wherever you are and whatever your need. Learn more about VINCI here.