Given the current economic instability, I anticipate that business process effectiveness and cost reduction will be high priorities in 2023. You need AI and automation now more than ever to maximize productivity, generate analytics-driven savings, and accelerate growth.

I guarantee that incorporating AI and automation into your plan will benefit you in the following ways:

• Improve scalability. Many firms' scalability and expansion are hampered by bottlenecks caused by a shortage of human resources. AI and automation mitigate this by enabling for easy scaling, particularly when implemented on a virtual cloud architecture. In essence, the more you automate, the better your scalability. As an added benefit, automation frees people from repetitive and manual duties, allowing them to focus on more creative work while increasing innovation and minimizing turnover and burnout.
• Improving operational efficiency. AI and automation can help to improve efficiency, productivity, and remove manual errors in human jobs. Furthermore, their emphasis on process standardization and data consistency serves as the foundation for continuous process improvement, which is at the heart of digital acceleration.
• Allow for effective problem-solving. AI can capture deeply concealed patterns, simulate and find optimal solutions, and assist specialists in making data-backed judgments when trained on high-quality data. Furthermore, these findings can pave the door for novel techniques.

Simultaneously, organizations that ignore AI and automation risk slipping behind. According to a recent McKinsey Global Survey, 70% of respondents claimed their companies were testing automation technologies in one or more business units or processes, up from 57% in 2018.

After you've tackled cost and business process optimization, the next goals should be agility and efficiency, in my opinion. Low-code and no-code development tools were built specifically for this reason, and their adoption is expected to skyrocket in the future years.

Businesses can use no-code development platforms to create software and applications by leveraging WYSIWYG editors and drag-and-drop components. With no coding necessary, both developers and non-developers may build business processes and fully functional workflow apps at scale, significantly reducing development time and costs.

Similarly, low-code solutions offer the same benefits in terms of time, cost, and complexity reduction, but also allow for the creation of more configurable programs with higher functionality. As a result, an increasing number of businesses are embracing low-code development to expedite innovation and boost competitiveness.

According to Gartner, by 2024, more than 65% of apps will be produced utilizing a low-code visual environment.

The talent war becomes more intense with each passing year, and managing it will remain a top strategic issue for company leaders in 2023. Aside from a shortage of computing skills, the epidemic has pushed many people to rethink what they want out of their careers, as indicated by the Great Resignation, emphasizing remote working and the digital employee experience.

Employees and applicants find digitally-driven firms more appealing.

A good value proposition in this area could provide you a competitive advantage in the recruitment and retention struggle.

I understand that firms are under tremendous pressure to provide a digital suite that keeps up with employee preferences and expectations, but investing in the infrastructure and practices that enable efficient remote and hybrid work will pay dividends.

In 2023, I believe that modern digital tools combined with good online team-building activities will be critical.

I'm confident that cloud-based solutions and services will continue to be a crucial trend for digital acceleration in 2023 and beyond. Moving to the cloud provides a slew of well-documented benefits, such as lower costs, more reliability, and higher security, but it's your not-so-secret weapon for realizing the full value of digital acceleration.

Cloud services promote agility and speedier time-to-market by making resources available to your developers when they are needed, allowing you to respond quickly to market changes and drive rapid experimentation. Similarly, they foster innovation by providing services ranging from fundamental infrastructure to advanced functionality such as quantum computing and natural-language processing. Furthermore, efficient scalability allows you to easily respond to changing business needs.

Given the hazards associated with the present geopolitical environment, as well as the fact that the average cost of a data breach in 2022 will be $4.35 million, I believe cybersecurity will be a major worry in the following year.

Between 2020 and 2021, the global volume of cyber attacks increased by a factor of three, with a triple-digit increase year on year.

There is no sign of a slowdown in sight. Malware and phishing are common threats, as are more complex attacks such as denial-of-service and SQL injection, and high-profile incidents continue to generate news.

Recently, Optus, an Australian telecommunications giant, had a catastrophic data breach in which malicious actors disclosed private data from 10 million accounts, creating irreparable reputational harm and putting pressure on the company's market share. Similarly, Revolut, Uber, and Samsung all experienced data breaches in 2022.

Because of the increasing number of occurrences, governments have increased their vigilance, enacting rules and enhancing existing safeguards in the areas of technology, cybersecurity, and data privacy. GDPR, CCPA, and PSD2 are simply the start of this journey. The next series of rules will undoubtedly stimulate interest in cybersecurity for organizations that are not currently fully committed.

Prioritizing digital acceleration is critical for resilience development.

As we move into an uncertain future, I believe it is critical to have technology at the forefront of your plan. While it may be tempting to reduce innovation in the short term, this is a basic mistake because your competitor is unlikely to stand still.

According to McKinsey research, companies that prioritized innovation emerged stronger post-crisis, surpassing the market average by more than 30% in previous crises.

So, whether your objective is to grow and dominate the market or to cut expenses and maintain your position, digital acceleration is critical.

Taking advantage of the five trends I've discussed here will help you make the biggest impact in your business in the coming year and ultimately prosper as the digital story unfolds.