Eight Enterprise Tech Forecasts and Predictions B2B Marketers Need to Know for 2023
2023 will be a game-changing year. As B2B marketers, we’ll need to continue to execute integrated standout digital campaigns, probably with less budget; we’ll see deeper levels of automation, and focus on new, meaningful metrics that help us generate strategic insight for our organisations.
ESG and Brand Purpose will drive everything we do, and a commitment to delivering an amazing customer experience will ‘humanise’ the B2B world.
But what are the enterprise tech trends that will drive our marketing strategies?
In 2023, enterprise tech firms will cross boundaries, open up the world and deliver exciting, intelligent technologies with smarter, faster, more powerful capabilities than we ever thought possible. Expect a rise in on-demand networking, advanced cybersecurity capabilities and growth in Smart X – particularly smart buildings - across the tech industry.
Private 5G in enterprise and greater investment in the cloud will also advance in 2023 as digitalisation continues to drive sweeping change in the way the world connects, consumes and collaborates.
It will be the year of on-demand networking; the year that 5G shows its incredible worth to businesses; and the year that the industry truly comes together to create a connected, seamless global ecosystem with a differentiated customer experience at its core.
In order to help anticipate the key trends B2B marketers will need to act upon in 2023, we worked with our incredible friends at global research leader Omdia to distil some valuable insights:
Expect to see enhanced cybersecurity capabilities emerging, as vendors bring to market innovative solutions which deliver greater levels of protection against risk.
AI and machine learning will continue to play key roles in the industry’s development of sophisticated features and capabilities.
“Machine learning plays a role in many aspects of cybersecurity, including in reactive security – in detection and response – and providing increasing levels of automation, and in proactive security, for threat hunting, for example,” says Maxine Holt, Senior Research Director, Cybersecurity for Omdia.
The enterprise use case for 5G will mature.
PWC say 5G will reach a tipping point in 2023, with the US reaching 75% coverage. Enterprises will optimise this accessibility with a hybrid approach to networking, backing their private 5G networks with digital infrastructure including on-demand fibre networks.
Expect to see firms invest more in network slicing. In the case of 5G, a physical network is ‘sliced’ into multiple virtual networks, and each can operate at different bandwidths/latencies for different uses.
The Future of Work will continue to influence technology adoption as organisations formalise hybrid work policies and invest in the technologies they need to support their goals.
This will lead to growth in agile, on-demand networking technology platforms, including Software-Defined Networking and Secure Access Service Edge. Adeline Phua, Principal Analyst – Network Transformation Services at Omdia agrees.
“The future of work will make enterprises rethink technology adoption and this has been ongoing since late 2021. Demand for SD-WAN is growing, expanding beyond large enterprises to SMEs as well and this will continue through 2023. Omdia forecasts the SD-WAN managed services market to grow by 14% in 2023”.
Businesses will continue to invest in and migrate applications to the cloud to generate value, boost flexibility, and increase scalability and automation.
73% of IT leaders are likely to spend the biggest proportion of cloud investment within two years. 40% will shift their CRM systems to the cloud between now and 2024; around 38% plan to shift HR systems, Manufacturing Execution Systems and Unified Communications.
Adrian Ho, Practice Leader, Digital Enterprise Services, from Omdia states, “As more workloads or data are moved into the cloud, organisations have realised that a lot of synergies can be extracted from having a consolidated data pool that can drive operational efficiencies and better customer insights. Organisations are also using these cloud migration processes to re-engineer business processes and workflow. Both need to be executed faster. If done well, this is very deflationary and resonates very well in today’s environment”.
Multi-cloud strategies will be prevalent, with 94% of large companies expected to move to a multi-cloud strategy in or by 2023, according to Statista. Industries which have traditionally been more cautious about switching applications to the cloud – such as the financial services industry – are likely to move more front-office applications to it.
The business case for the metaverse will become more defined, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and healthcare.
42% of executives in an Accenture survey believe it will be ‘breakthrough’ or ‘transformational’. In 2023, businesses are set to extend their planning for use cases of the metaverse, as a virtual testing environment, trialling new opportunities and creativity.
Principal Analyst, Digital Enterprise Services, Adam Holtby from Omdia, says metaverse use-cases are in their early stages.
“We’re seeing some interesting concepts appear here, notably around how the metaverse has the potential to be an interesting ‘digital’ extension to the physical workplace. For example, enhancing meeting and event experiences, or being used to deliver more engaging and collaborative ‘virtual work environments’ for support and contact centre agents – especially those that work remotely. This is all in complement to existing channels. It is still early days, however. Cost justification is a challenge, and this is one of the key reasons why more compelling enterprise use cases are required”.
The growth of SmartX - particularly cities, offices and buildings - is set to accelerate in 2023 and beyond.
According to Jupiter Research, the number of smart buildings globally is expected to reach 115 million in 2026 - an increase of 150% from the current figure of 45 million - as sustainability goals, including a reduction in energy consumption and a drive to zero carbon emission, drive this acceleration.
We also expect to see growth in the smart manufacturing market, with the integration of IT and Operational Technology (OT) to improve data flows and analytics, boost digitalisation and drive visibility across the sector.
Blockchain will become more widely integrated into everyday business applications which require robust security, advanced encryption and peer-to-peer collaboration.
Growing at a CAGR of over 46% since 2019, it’s expected to generate $17 billion by 2024. Until recently, its usage has been generally experienced across the financial services industry, but 2023 is likely to see more industries adopt the technology.
Omdia’s John Canali, Senior Analyst, Service Provider IoT Strategies, highlights how blockchain can contribute to companies’ ESG goals. “Using blockchain, enterprises can create an auditable ledger of their supply chains, ensuring that inputs are sourced sustainably and ethically, “ he points out. “More accurate records on resources will also help with efforts to recycle and reuse resources in the future”.
The rollout of low-latency, higher-capacity networks will accelerate across new and existing geographies as enterprises invest in – and benefit from as-a-service digital infrastructure to help them meet their strategic goals.
2023 will see vendors deliver innovative access technologies from subsea fibre networks to High Altitude Platform Systems, working seamlessly with each other to create powerful ecosystems driven by an even more seamless customer experience.