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Predictions 2023: Future Fit Tech Leaders Will Seize The Day In Tough Economic Times
The tough times will continue into 2023, but companies will turn to technology as a key business differentiator.
Forrester Blog Network
November 7, 2022
3 Min Read
Alamy
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Forrester set out to forecast the impact on future tech spend. With fear sweeping the world and near-universal alignment around cratering economies, then-swooning tech spend looked murky. Looking back, we found that economies were much more resilient and that tech spend was a shining star. The reasons are simple — companies made the right decisions to invest in technology to enable workers and deliver better experiences for customers. With 2023 looming, we see signs of tough times ahead — war, inflation, supply chain challenges, and other issues around the globe. While these signs point to economic turbulence, Forrester once again believes that companies will turn to technology as a key business differentiator.
The stage is set for 2023. Future fit technology leaders will make wise technology investments to secure future growth while laggards will act conservatively, cutting costs to the point that they destroy customer value and collect even more technical debt. To prepare you for the year ahead, here's a preview of some of Forrester's 2023 predictions for technology leadership:
Eighty percent of companies will pivot innovation efforts from creativity to resilience. Companies continue to innovate, but they aren't always getting the customer experience (CX) benefits they seek. In 2023, tech execs will use a pragmatic approach to innovation, focusing initiatives on modernizing business processes, automation, supply risk management, and employee experience.
One in three tech execs will tackle talent challenges with an alternative approach to partners. The tech talent that is needed to transform business remains in short supply. With a major supply-demand imbalance, tech leaders need to think differently about talent. To plug the gaps, future fit tech executives will go beyond their traditional tech service provider partners to source talent. Freelancers, computer science schools, and learning resources will become key elements of a winning talent strategy.
Two tech whistleblowers — outside of big tech — will grab headlines. Trust is key when using technology to engage both customers and employees. We have seen what happens when big tech companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft have deployed tech with best interests at heart, only to see it go horribly wrong. Well, we love to proclaim that "every company is a software company," so it stands to reason that trust issues resulting from poor technology choices are likely to follow.
Will 2023 be easy for most organizations? Probably not. Tech executives who stay on top of their game, however, are likely to be rewarded as they continue to deliver a technology strategy that differentiates for customers and employees.
Read our full 2023 tech leadership Predictions report to get more details about each of these predictions, plus two more bonus predictions. Set up a Forrester guidance session to discuss these predictions or plan out your 2023 future fit technology strategy.
If you aren't yet a client, you can download our complimentary Predictions guide, which covers our top predictions for 2023. Get additional complimentary resources, including webinars, on the Predictions 2023 hub.
This article originally appeared on Forrester's Featured Blogs.
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