Six IT trends to watch in 2023

Businesses and society at large continue to turn to technology to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. For example, the healthcare industry is leveraging cloud, edge, and AI to better monitor patients; the transportation industry is leveraging cloud, edge, and AI to better manage traffic; and the oil and gas industry is leveraging cloud, edge, and AI to remotely monitor assets. IT operations have evolved significantly over the past three years, with senior leaders and IT decision makers prioritizing IT transformation to boost business growth. A positive observation is that businesses in India are moving from whiteboarding to implementation. As digital advancements continue to gain momentum against the backdrop of an accelerating pace of digitization, here are six key IT trends expected to transform businesses by 2023.

5G will transform IT infrastructure - Deployment of 5G in India will boost IT services. Technologies such as cloud, edge, and AI will have a significant impact on various industries. Organizations migrating to the cloud to effectively manage workloads will require advanced enterprise IT solutions to leverage new and emerging technologies. With 5G bringing high-speed networks to process data faster, enterprises now have the opportunity to modernize their infrastructure and experience enhanced performance to complement technological advancements such as IoT, AR/VR, experiential platforms, etc.

Increased demand for edge, AI, and IoT - 5G networks are about 10 times faster than 4G. This will increase real-time data processing, making edge computing a more viable option for businesses seeking faster insights. In the manufacturing industry, for example, 5G and edge technology have great potential in driving "smart factories." Combined with AI, edge will enable autonomy in smart manufacturing processes, enabling IoT-equipped machinery to identify faults and transmit signals in a timely manner.

Increased adoption of zero trust - In an era of hybrid work and rapid digital transformation, traditional perimeter security will not protect organizations from cybercriminals as they innovate in their methods of targeting vulnerable organizations. Cybercrime is expected to cost the world approximately $8 trillion by 2023, so protecting remote environments is critical. This is where the zero trust model will become more prominent - eliminating the attack surface, preventing lateral movement and reducing complexity. It also equips enterprises with AI-driven threat detection and advanced data protection controls to improve core IT and security. The rise of security-first thinking will enable enterprises to adopt zero trust architectures, minimize privileges and access, and eliminate the shortcomings of traditional perimeter security approaches while ensuring the security of modern cloud environments.

Enterprises will benefit from as-a-service – ITDMs are constantly looking for ways to reduce infrastructure complexity and gain ultimate flexibility. Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) offerings like Lenovo TruScale enable businesses of all sizes to accelerate IT transformation with industry-leading innovative solutions, with a risk-free, no-surprise, pay-as-you-go model. As as-a-service gains prominence in 2023, businesses will leverage the flexibility and scalability required to stay competitive and manage their capital and operating expenses. For example, during busy periods, e-commerce businesses may face downtime when managing maximum traffic. With a pay-as-you-go model, businesses can easily scale up or down to manage dynamic traffic loads during festivals or large discount sales.

Sustainable Computing – The energy demands of IT infrastructure drive up costs while also increasing carbon emissions. Data centers produce as many emissions as the global airline industry. Enterprises are already leveraging innovative cooling technologies to prevent energy consumption. Data center cooling technologies, such as warm water cooling and air-assisted liquid cooling, have become popular ways to reduce energy consumption. For more than a decade, Lenovo has been leading this trend with Lenovo Neptune™ direct water cooling technology. Now in its fifth stage, Neptune extends industry-leading data center efficiency to a wider range of servers, recycling warm water to cool the system, enabling customers to reduce electricity consumption by up to 40%.

GPUs will become more prominent - GPUs are expanding from being used only for gaming to accelerating different computing loads, maximizing performance in graphic design, virtualization, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. GPUs equipped with deep learning and super sampling can learn autonomously and begin to eliminate bottlenecks. As HPC becomes more prominent in managing intensive workloads, GPUs will play a vital role in scientific computing. For example, researchers are using GPUs to enable visualization in HPC workloads by parallelizing parts of compute-intensive codes. This allows researchers, scientists, and engineers in the scientific field to virtualize big data and run simulations in a fraction of the time, allowing for faster discoveries.

According to NASSCOM estimates, the Indian tech industry surpassed $200 billion in FY2022. This acceleration is driven by enterprises prioritizing streamlined operations, faster time to market, and providing a seamless digital experience to their customers. In today’s hybrid environment, ITDMs are adopting different technologies to improve overall efficiency and deliver value, a trend that will accelerate further in 2023.