Top 3 Predictions for Digital Transformation (DT) in 2023

Update: Download your free copy of TBR’s Top Digital Transformation Predictions for 2024 special report, IT Ecosystem Trust Paves the Way for GenAI-enabled Growth in 2024

AI, automation and the metaverse: Why digital transformation won’t be the same in 2023

3 Digital Transformation Trends We Expect to See in 2023

1. Your funky chair now floats in the metaverse
2. Automation will lower costs and AI will transform businesses
3. They hyperscalers will kill technology agnosticism

Digital = Ecosystems, with AI, automation and Metaverse among the prominent and new(ish) members

Digital transformation (DT) never ends, even if the pilot project scales. Enterprises always need another transformation, and IT services vendors and consultancies helpfully meet that demand with new technology. The metaverse — whatever it actually turns out to be — is the latest shiny new object that drives hype and early-stage investments. Digital transformation cannot escape technology, but as enterprises mature from innovation into iterative improvements, all of DT becomes less about feeds and speeds in a business-context-free vacuum and more about connecting technology with business processes. In a bit of good fortune for everyone involved in DT, AI is the perfect tool to enable that connection.

Everyone involved in DT has experienced the increased importance of ecosystems, with some growing sense that it is only a matter of time before enterprises, IT services vendors, consultancies and technology partners all share data and harmonize processes across one giant multi-enterprise business network. That reality, to quote someone who would not want to be quoted for saying this (Google it), is “a success that hasn’t occurred yet.” While unrealistic for now, clusters of ecosystems might be emerging as IT services vendors and consultancies rapidly pivot away from going to market with technology vendor-agnostic approaches.

One more implication to consider as we move into 2023: just as a new ecosystem cluster may emerge, new silos may develop within enterprises. Rather than divisions between lines of business an d IT, finance, and other traditional business groups, silos may form around specific technologies, providing an opening for IT services vendors and consultancies with specialized skills and the capability to advocate around solutions instead of business KPIs. In TBR’s view, IT services vendors and consultancies that help build these silos, or mini ecosystem clusters, will need to keep them open, with the right protocols and API from the technology side and the standards, incentive models and messaging on the business side.

2023 will be a rocky year, with a potential global economic slowdown decreasing spending on innovation while compelling investments in cost-cutting. The best prepared and smartest IT services vendors and consultancies will see through to the far side of any recession to rebounding spending on AI-fueled transformation supported by keep-the-email-system-working realities of core IT services.

TBR’s 2023 Predictions is a special series examining market trends and business changes in key markets. Covered segments include cloud & software, devices, digital transformation, IT infrastructure, professional services, federal IT services and telecom.