Regardless of what you sell, technology is an essential component of your business, whether as a product, tool, or both. There’s nothing like a disaster to speed up change — 97% of executives say the COVID-19 pandemic sped up their digital transformation, and 79% say the pandemic increased their budget for this transformation. This rapid change makes it more important than ever for business leaders to keep up with IT technology trends. These are the seven trends business owners should pay attention to as they look ahead to 2023. 

1. Faster Digital Transformation

The pandemic has accelerated many social and business trends, including digital transformation. As businesses and schools had to switch to virtual operations overnight, managers saw how quickly digitalization could become a reality. 

By the fall of 2020, the worldwide percentage of customer interactions happening virtually was three years ahead of the projected pre-crisis rate. The pandemic sped up the percentage of products and services that are available digitally by a global average of seven years. Companies are now relying on technology for everything from department meetings to live events for customers. This also affects customer expectations. For example, more customers now expect businesses to offer 24/7 customer service and will become frustrated if this is not available. 

2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence is a powerful step in the evolution of technology with many business applications. AI is essentially technology that lets computers think something like people. Machine learning is a more specific type of AI that allows a computer to learn without needing to be programmed for every individual task. Going into 2023, business leaders can expect the AI tech trend to become omnipresent. AI will automate tasks, provide better health care, and accurately transcribe text. 

Businesses can apply AI technology to a range of tasks to improve efficiency. One promising trend is using predictive algorithms to understand and anticipate customer behavior. These AI programs can help you target your marketing and sales communication more narrowly, depending on expected customer decisions. Since the AI tool is doing the analysis, your employees will have more time to focus on responsibilities like creative work and relationship-building. 

3. The Internet of ThingsIoT Devices Stat

The internet of things refers to the growing number of smart products that are connected to the internet. These include smart watches, thermostats, fridges, and cleaning robots. In addition to these consumer conveniences, IoT devices are useful in health and safety settings and include things like smart medical equipment, water distribution systems, and urban safety monitors. By 2030, the average person is likely to be using 20 IoT devices, which makes this an important area for businesses to pay attention to. 

If a company sells a physical product that could conceivably become a smart device, expect this to become standard. For other companies, expect customers to use different devices to visit websites or use apps or software and make sure to adapt as needed to make this a good experience. 

4. Edge and Fog Computing

Cloud computing, which is simply IT tech services or materials being distributed over the internet so that users can access them from anywhere, has become the standard for most businesses. However, with the amount of data now created and transmitted, users can run into delays during high-traffic periods. 

Two alternatives, edge computing and fog computing get around this problem. An edge computer is positioned at the edge of a device’s network, between the device and the cloud. The edge computer processes data and sends it to the cloud. Fog computers operate between edge computers and the cloud. They analyze what’s most important from the edge data and send only that relevant information to the cloud for storage. This saves cloud storage space and allows quicker data transference. Fog computing is a type of cloud computing, and edge computing is a type of fog computing. 

5. 5G Network5G Quote

The 5G network allows faster data transfer, which facilitates other technology trends like the internet of things and fog computing. Companies are usually working with enormous amounts of data, and connecting to 5G networks can help continue to transmit and process this data quickly. A faster network allows for technologies where even a millisecond of delay can cause a disaster, like self-driving cars. Other smart settings, like a factory with millions or even billions of sensors, will also rely on faster, high-capacity networks. 5G allows other high-tech solutions to become a practical reality.  

6. Augmented Reality

Augmented reality, also called mixed reality, is a virtual reality technology trend that lets users see and interact with a virtual image in the real world. This technology can create more engaging video games and provide life-saving anatomy training for doctors. It can produce immersive virtual tours, which are great for realtors showing properties and for expanding access to interesting tourist sites. In retail, augmented reality allows for virtual try-on solutions, which more than 60% of customers said they would prefer.

7. Chatbots

For many businesses, customer service chatbots are an especially useful way to implement AI to benefit their brand. These bots can handle simple customer service issues without relying on a human employee, which makes managing customers’ 24/7 availability expectations much easier. Nearly 88% of customers report being satisfied after a bot-only customer service experience, and chatbots become more sophisticated and more capable each year. In 2019, bots could handle 68.9% of chats without transferring to a human. This rate increased 260% from 2017 and will only continue to go up in 2023. 

How Power Over Ethernet Enables These IT Technology Trends

When implementing any of these IT technology trends, a company needs to think about how it’s connecting smart devices to power. Power over Ethernet uses the same easy-to-install cables to transmit both power and data. Contact Planet Technology USA to discuss how we can set up a fast and secure PoE solution for your business.