Since the start of the pandemic, there have been immense changes in the ways employees interact with IT tools and teams. Across the board, enterprises are seeing more collaboration between non-IT employees and IT personnel, and this collaboration can be, at least in part, attributed to IT decentralisation and democratisation. Users’ needs are changing and IT firms are eager to expand the possibilities of human-technology interaction.
“In the current digital-first, hybrid-work environment, more employees are deciding for themselves how their technologies will be chosen, deployed, and used, which has led to an increase in the use of low/no-code solutions,” says Rajesh Ganesan, president – ManageEngine, the enterprise IT management division of Zoho. But what technology trends of 2023 are going to shape the IT field? He enumerates five trends that are likely to dominate this year.
Enterprise-IT will evolve into enterprise-wide IT
“ Not only will most enterprises have a centralised IT group to handle requirements like systems deployment, cybersecurity, compliance, and threat detection, but these enterprises will also have IT personnel throughout the organisational chart, addressing specialised business-driven needs as they arise,” says Ganesan. As technological expertise continues to permeate throughout enterprises, non-IT employees and IT-adjacent service delivery teams will use low/no-code platforms to build and deploy simple applications. According to a recent ManageEngine study, IT at Work : 2022 & Beyond, 42% of global IT decision makers believe that each department will have its own IT team in the next five years.
The tool vs. platform debate will be laid to rest
Ganesan reckons that enterprises of varying sizes and maturity have made different choices, especially in regard to the management of their technology infrastructure. Some opted to go with a specialised tool for every problem; others invested in a platform that could expand to solve problems as they arose. The platform option is far more efficient. “More and more enterprises will opt for the holistic, scalable platform approach to managing their technology infrastructure,” he says.
A unified service delivery for remote-first employees
According to Ganesan, organisations will consolidate enterprise services on a unified service management platform, facilitating remote-first employees with a productive workspace—wherever they choose to work. Besides IT knowledge resources accessed from a single enterprise self-service portal, employees will increasingly be able to access and request services; for example, they’ll be able to onboard remote employees, confirm corporate bookings, and submit travel expenses.
Ubiquitous artificial intelligence
Public institutions, private companies and ordinary people are already using artificial intelligence (AI). In 2023, we will see AI models with better precision being built with a limited amount of training data. Techniques like few-shot learning and transfer learning will see increased adoption, and the gap between natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV) will continue to blur. “We’re already seeing applications that allow us to search through a recording for a particular topic; then, by conversing with a chatbot, we’re brought to the relevant timestamps,” says Ganesan.
Skill up & stand out
The rapid evolution of technology and the changing business landscape has put pressure on businesses to find and retain talent; whether enterprises should find fresh talent or reskill existing employees is a big decision that enterprises will have to make, says Ganesan.
In the wake of the Great Resignation, some assumed it would be easy to find new talent, but that really hasn’t been the case, especially in regard to software-engineering workers. “Factors like diversity and inclusion will continue to influence hiring decisions. Continuing to train, educate, and foster the careers of existing employees is the best course of action. That said, enterprises will have to choose for themselves how best to proceed,” he summarises.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Non-IT employees and IT-adjacent service delivery teams will use low/no-code platforms
More firms to opt for a holistic, scalable platform to managing their technology infrastructure
Factors like diversity and inclusion will continue to influence hiring decisions