Cisco Identifies Key Technology Predictions and Trends for 2023

Top Tech trends for 2023 

• Sustainability and responsible AI: creating concrete impact
• Security: Quantum cryptography on the rise
• Network: Full-stack observability (FSO) and Internet of Things (IoT) increase business efficiency and resilience

In 2023, the economic climate will continue to be shaped by reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Many companies are therefore looking to the future for innovative technologies that can help here. Today, Cisco outlines the seven technology trends for 2023 in the areas of security, increasing network efficiency, sustainability, and AI.

Reem Asaad, Vice President, Cisco Middle East and Africa said: “The dominant theme throughout these trends is the pace of technological evolution that is continuing to accelerate. These technology trends are on the rise in our region and are shaping the future of every business across all industries, driven by ambitious national visions that are putting technology at the heart of governments’ initiatives in the Middle East and Africa. Today we are at the intersection of a vast potential such technologies hold, and the challenges that should be mitigated through robust security measures.” 

“One of the key highlights we’re witnessing today more than ever is that businesses need to consider the social context of their actions. Increasingly, we see a focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in the region. Whilst we realize that achieving sustainability is complex and multifaceted, what’s certain is that technology continues to play a pivotal role in driving ESG agendas for governments and enterprises,” she added.  

Sustainability and AI 

1. Sustainability 

Net Zero will drive common standards to meet sustainability goals with advancements in Power Over Ethernet (PoE) design and hardware to transform data centers for a more sustainable future. Networking and APIs will become more advanced within data center platform management to monitor, track, and change the use of energy. IT vendors and equipment partners will be more transparent in their reuse of hardware (circularity) to move the needle with the sustainability processes. 

1. Responsible AI 

In 2023, we will see multiple, highly publicized instances of artificial intelligence used by some individuals and organizations to achieve unethical and socially destructive objectives. Industry, governments, academia, and NGOs will come together to begin hammering out a framework for governing AI in an ethical and responsible manner to mitigate potential harm. This framework will be based on principles such as Transparency, Fairness, Accountability, Privacy, Security, and Reliability and will ultimately be applied to model creation and the selection of training data as defining principles of AI systems.

IT Security Trends

1. Quantum Cryptography 

Transmitting keys is a fundamental risk to security, as they can be harvested and decrypted later. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is poised to be particularly impactful because it avoids any distribution of the keys over an insecure channel. In 2023, in preparation for a post-quantum world, we will see a macrotrend emerge with adoption of QKD in datacenters, IoT, autonomous systems, and 6G.

1. Application and API Security 

As modern cloud-native applications are becoming drivers of business, protecting the underlying application environment is critical. In 2023, developers will get more and more support from various development tools that speed up development cycles and allow them to manage and secure distributed application architectures with an emphasis on delivering exceptional, secure digital experiences. We will also see continued movement toward tools that allow security experts to collaborate seamlessly on these outcomes.

Business Efficiency and Resilience 

1. Optimizing Multi-cloud Architectures

As deglobalization and issues around data sovereignty accelerate, in the year ahead we will see a noticeable shift in how companies leverage multi-cloud architectures. While 89% of enterprises are adopting a multi-cloud strategy for a variety of reasons (geopolitical, technical, provider diversification), the benefits come additional complexity in connecting, securing, and observing a multi-cloud environment. We will see a big move toward new multi-cloud frameworks such as Sovereign Clouds, Local Zone Clouds, Zero-Carbon Clouds, and other novel cloud offerings. This will create a path toward more private and edge cloud applications and services ushering in a new multi-cloud operating model.

1. Full-Stack Observability tied to Business Outcomes 

The problem with monitoring has always been too much data with too little context and business correlation. The evolution of application monitoring toward full stack observability will increasingly provide a view relative to business context. When applied systematically, this will drastically speed up response and optimize business operations in real time. In 2023, business context will become widely recognized as an integral part of monitoring and visibility outcomes.

1. Internet of Things (IoT) makes supply chains more resilient

Enterprises and logistics providers will increasingly utilize IoT to bring full visibility into their supply chains in 2023. IoT and other technologies will not only play a larger role in bringing resiliency and efficiency into supply chains but will also improve cybersecurity and IT/OT network management. As a result, enterprises and logistics providers will reconfigure supply chains around predictive and prescriptive models including smart contracts and distributed ledgers. This is a major transition toward more sustainable business practices and circular supply chains.