Technology and cloud modernization: What to look for in 2023

I look after the technology services practice at Genpact, and in my conversations with tech leaders, the same question comes up again and again: Am I business relevant?

In other words, they're asking how they can make the right moves at the right time to deliver value to the business. With that in mind, here are five technology trends to consider as we approach a new year.

1. Rethinking business and tech alignment
2. Shifting from cloud migration to cloud modernization
3. Powering data-driven decisions with cloud
4. Prioritizing process intelligence
5. Strengthening security

Let's look at each tech trend in more detail.

The question of business relevance isn't one that tech leaders used to ask. Traditionally, companies approached business and tech alignment in one of two ways:

• Vertically, in which dedicated IT teams support different business areas, such as like marketing, sales, and finance
• Horizontally, in which the business organizes IT teams by skill – like custom development, business analysis, and coding – and loosely serve all areas of the business

In 2023, many tech leaders are building an almost diagonal model – something that takes the best of both approaches. Here, the cloud delivers the horizontal technology foundation – accessible by any employee at any time – as well as the business-specific practices built on top of it.

This restructuring forces business and technology leaders to collaborate to create better ways of working across the enterprise.

I've spoken about this topic before, but in 2023, thinking beyond migrating to the cloud will prove essential. It's time to focus on modernization.

Once, companies were content to replicate legacy technology in a cloud environment. But this only got them so far. Now, cloud-native technologies will become crucial to modernization. Their scalability and flexibility will help leaders innovate much faster. Plus, cloud-native technologies make it easier to collect data across the business, which leads us to the next cloud trend.

Every enterprise wants to become a data-driven business. My colleague and head of analytics, Amaresh Tripathy, predicts that 2023 is the year algorithmic enterprises will finally go from fiction to reality. But shifting from gut to data-driven decisions is only possible with a cloud foundation.

First, the cloud provides the data and computing power needed for analytics. From exciting innovations in unsupervised artificial intelligence to predictive models, the cloud fuels the analytical fire.

Second, the cloud helps leaders democratize access to data. Analytics will feature in the working lives of every employee, not just those in IT. With the cloud, teams can tap into a treasure trove of data-driven insights to make the best decision every time.

The debate on working from home or returning to the office rages on. But the conversation needs to focus less on where work gets done and instead on how it gets done. This is where process intelligence can help.

When dealing with a painful process, it's no longer enough to apply technology as a bandage. Instead, businesses need to get to the root cause. Process intelligence relies on process mining – analytics and artificial intelligence powered by the cloud – to uncover which step of each process is problematic and why. In other words, is it a people, data, or technology issue?

Process intelligence can answer these questions and help businesses develop better ways of working – wherever the work gets done.

In every conversation I have with clients, cybersecurity is one of their biggest concerns. Of course, this will continue in 2023.

To tackle the issue head-on, security can't become an afterthought. It must remain at the heart of every technological decision. And some leaders are getting proactive. They're using cloud technologies to build digital twins of processes and applications and then intentionally stress-testing them with a cyberattack.

In short: hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Remember, the world changes fast. What's trending today may become old news in a few months. Success in 2023 will depend upon your ability to respond to – and predict – emerging trends. But by connecting your business and technology strategy, tech leaders will never have to question their relevancy again.