*By Severino Benner
When starting a new year, it is common for companies to organize themselves to carry out their strategic plans and define how they will achieve their main goals. For this, technology can be a great ally, optimizing processes, facilitating management, expanding the digitalization of business operations and generating indicators for each area or even for the entire business process.
Throughout 2022, new technologies were implemented in organizations from the most varied sectors, in order to expand the digital capacity to meet, with ever-increasing excellence, the growing demands of the current market. However, depending on the level of maturity, such evolution still needs to be honed within some companies.
In view of this scenario, which technological trends should be the main focus of companies in 2023? According to the annual survey of the Gartner, for this year, among several trends, sustainability and cloud platforms will be essential for the development of corporate businesses. But besides these, what are the other points of attention? And, regarding market segments, are there any that should be more concerned about their connectivity and digitization?
Increased adoption of the cloud, advent of 5G and investment in security
In order to reduce some costs, companies are increasingly looking for high quality technological infrastructure options. At this time, the cloud is emerging as an advantageous possibility for those who realize that sharing can be better than owning. Joining the cloud is like living in a condo, sharing a lot of resources, but being able to realize savings from the big picture. We have global public clouds or regional ones, which are generally cheaper. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the real need to adopt the type of cloud so that the cost does not make the migration unfeasible.
In addition, cloud computing remains a strong option due to the growing adversities with cybersecurity, another important technological trend for 2023. With data stored in the cloud, the risk of a possible cyber attack, and consequent information leakage, it's smaller. Therefore, it is necessary for the company to observe and comply with three essential items to maintain its technological security: internal compliance, mitigation of the risk of attacks and adaptation to the requirements of the LGPD (General Data Protection Act).
On the other hand, with 03, one of the main technological trends for this year will be the consolidation of Mobile 5G, which will further strengthen adoption of the cloud in organizations. All the main processes are moving towards the palm of the decision-makers' hand, that is, towards cell phones and mobile devices, allowing decision-making at any time and from any place. For a company to be able to carry out operations and change important routes without waiting, 5G becomes essential, allowing companies greater mobility and agility, as well as scalability, especially for services stored and connected to the cloud.
ESG in companies and changes in work models
It can be said that, currently, the financial market has prioritized investing in companies that are aligned with ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) practices. In this way, it will be necessary, during the course of this new year, for organizations to invest even more in this issue. With regard to large companies that already have ESG-aligned certificates, it is necessary to pay attention, as they will certainly demand similar standards from their suppliers, and so on.
That is, there is no escape, since companies must comply with the ESG policies, ensuring the reduction of their carbon footprint, more sustainable working and transportation conditions for their employees, in addition to preparing their systems to collect essential information for the elaboration of new sustainable projects, therefore, management software must be prepared to generate these indicators.
In the same sense, aiming to promote greater retention of qualified labor, another technological trend for 2023 will be the need for companies to rethink their work models. According to a report by the Brasscom, the Information Technology sector, for example, points to an average demand of 159,000 professionals a year by 2025, whose areas that will have the greatest demand are Artificial Intelligence, Big Data & Analytics, Cloud and Web Mobile.
Thus, the demand for qualified professionals continues to increase in the Brazilian technological market, while the lack of manpower and competition with foreign companies emerge as a challenge for organizations. Because of this, companies should increasingly consider the creation of new retention programs, with a series of compensation and bonuses for employees, in addition to, if possible, offering trainee programs and business courses for professional training and development, with technologies to optimize the performance of its contractors, ensuring their maximum satisfaction in the company. For this, the adoption of performance evaluation tools, feedback, indicators and individual development plan to accelerate development becomes indispensable in this process.
In addition, it will also be necessary to evaluate the Home Office model, which has become common in several organizations after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the convenience and flexibility, this will not always be the best option for companies. It must be remembered that less than 20% of Brazilian households do not have the adequate infrastructure to carry out work activities at home office, according to a survey by the Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV Ibre).
Another aggravating factor of the home office is the lack or difficulty of fully integrating teams, learning and exchanging daily experiences. Therefore, it is a fact that this model should not be adopted by most companies this year, which will probably opt for the fully face-to-face or hybrid models, which have brought excellent results to the business, but it is necessary to have infrastructure and planning, as a technologically unprepared environment can impact productivity.
Health: a promising sector for digitization
According to a survey published by EXAME, the health sector is among the most promising to invest in. This is because, despite the progress technological provoked by the new demands brought about by the pandemic, the segment is still in an early stage of digitization and has a low level of adoption of risk, prevention and primary user care tools, compared to other market sectors, such as finance and retail .
In addition, after the pandemic period, many people became more concerned about their health status, seeking more frequent examinations and consultations, whether preventive or for some type of treatment, but they are not always able to be attended to effectively. Consequently, the health sector will have to invest in improvements, optimization of technological processes, inclusion of new digital tools and specialized training of its professionals, in order to meet this specialized demand with quality, as well as seek a reduction in claims to maintain the carriers and hospitals sustainable. Investment needs to start being made in disease prevention and personalized treatments and follow-ups to reduce hospitalizations and emergencies.
Therefore, the technological trends for 2023, whether they are focused on the business of companies, or on the particular success of the most promising sectors, have the main objective of contributing to the optimization of operations, digitalization of mechanical processes and the success of the goals to be achieved, guaranteeing a growing leverage of the Brazilian economy in general and also collaborating with the environment, due to the adoption of ESG practices.
*Severino Benner is CEO of Benner Group, a company that offers business management software and technology services to revolutionize and simplify business.
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