The technological and digital trends that will prevail in 2023

A new year begins where technology and the digital world will continue to change at full speed. According to Andrés Maldonado, general manager of IBM Ecuador, There are three challenges that, in particular, are going to have a lot of prominence in 2023: cybersecurity, efficiency and regulation.

The first one explains why cyber attacks on companies are becoming more common and intense, and many are not detecting them in time. “For example, according to an IBM study, in Latin America the average time to identify and contain a data breach is 331 days (251 to identify and 80 to contain), it is a worrying figure because it impacts from all areas of the company to the people who are users or clients of that organization”, he comments.

The second challenge will be efficiency. Companies want and need to be more strategic in terms of productivity and Therefore, it considers that, in this sense, automation will be one of the main protagonists in 2023because it is already generating visible results.

And the last challenge will be regulation. “The increase in regulatory requirements around the world is generating the pressure of compliance with regulations that are key for people today, as in Ecuador the Organic Law for the Protection of Personal Data, sanctioned in 2021 and which will enter into force in May 2023″.

The next technological trends

“At IBM we are seeing five technology trends for the next year,” explains Maldonado.

1. Strategic duo: AI and sustainability

Bearing in mind that sustainability is key for people and companies today, artificial intelligence will begin to play a leading role, helping to drive real change. Among others, AI will enable building more responsible supply chains to reduce waste, right-size inventory, manage carbon footprint, and comply with ever-evolving government regulations.

2. Security at the service of innovation

Highly regulated sectors such as financial services, insurance and healthcare will continue to face disruption. The result will be a new breed of technology providers that will respond to these changes to keep up with the demands of today’s digital consumers.

3. Artificial intelligence with less costs and more results

The next wave of AI will replace task-specific models, with models that can be trained on a vast data set, and that can be used and reused for different tasks, with minimal adjustment. In this way, better performance can be achieved at a lower cost compared to building each model from scratch.

4. Hybrid infrastructure for modernization

In 2023, more organizations will realize that it’s not a choice between mainframe and cloud – it’s mainframe and cloud. By strategically marrying these two storage technologies, organizations can experience enhanced levels of innovation, speed, and security.

5. Quantum computing resistant cryptography

Quantum computing will continue to advance and will be applied to more and more positive use cases such as credit risk, sustainability, chemistry, artificial intelligence, among others. So in 2023, we expect to see further momentum for quantum-resistant cryptography, as the race to a quantum future becomes increasingly real, with more powerful quantum computers.

The benefits of anticipating and adopting these trends in a timely manner can positively impact any company or industry. “The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transformation to a point where, regardless of the size of a company, technologies were democratized and today they are the basis for innovation,” says Maldonado. “In Ecuador, that is the scenario, and without a doubt, industries such as banking, retail, government, and food will have exponential implementation of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, automation, among many others.”.

Meanwhile, the demand for technology professionals in areas such as cybersecurity, programming, development of software, data analysis, artificial intelligence and even quantum computing.

“The best way to take advantage of these opportunities is by training”he warns. “Today there is the possibility of acquiring new skills in technology in a comprehensive way, which means that, for example, a person whose undergraduate degree is Finance can learn to program or be an expert in cybersecurity. IBM has a free and 100% digital educational platform, called SkillsBuild, where people of any age can enter and access more than 1,000 courses on emerging technologies and soft skills.