In the 4th of this five-parter on tech predictions for 2023, we look at what industry experts think on topics beginning with the letters 'P' to 'T'.
P is for payments
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| Source: Endava. Bugaian. |
"We also expect the payments sector to become more regulated, especially as buy now, pay later (BNPL) had its first steps with Singapore FinTech Association’s (SFA) publication of the code of conduct for Singapore, and as digital assets become more popular.
"Organisations will need to manage complex requirements concerning finance processes, and manage fraud to de-risk exposure. While small and medium sized companies will likely adopt plug-and-play solutions to manage their payments, larger organisations often manage these changes internally, relying on models like embedded lending, finance and payments.
"Overall, be it payment provider or bank, a strong digital acceleration strategy that successfully guides the implementation and organisation of technology to navigate in an agile manner is essential to keep up with changing customer demands and stay ahead of competitors."
Q is for quicker, better wireless
John Boladian, VP, partner sales Asia Pacific, Cradlepoint said: “As 3G technologies are coming to end-of-life in mid-2023 in Singapore, organisations will be looking to replace legacy network infrastructure. In addition, Singtel announced (in 2022) that it has achieved over 95% standalone 5G nationwide coverage, effectively making Singapore the first country in the world to be fully covered by standalone 5G.
"Given the geography and size of Singapore, many organisations are retaining their wired connectivity or using wireless for failover; however as organisations continue to expand beyond fixed locations and increasingly deploy fleet vehicles and IoT devices to remain competitive in a digital-first world, wired connectivity will no longer be sufficient. This will drive the rapid adoption of wireless WAN, which provides reliable, secure, and flexible connectivity to improve business operations and customer service in areas like emergency services vehicles, transport logistics and unmanned autonomous vehicles."
Boladian added that Cradlepoint has already seen wireless wide-area network (WAN) use cases being trialled as part of the Singtel 5G Sentosa Testbed. Singapore-based OTSAW is an example, he said, using wireless connectivity to enable advanced robots to provide security through last-mile patrol and surveillance, concierge services in hotels and shopping malls, and disinfection of indoor locations during the height of the pandemic.
R is for risk
"The current economic climate means that appetite for risk is extremely low. Despite this, businesses know they need to continue to innovate and digitise if they are to survive, and this involves staying at the forefront of technology. In fact, 95% of businesses we spoke to told us that right-fit technology will accelerate growth for their business*. According to the OECD, research has indicated that 70% of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have intensified their use of digital technologies due to COVID-19," said Paul Flannery, VP of International Channel Sales, Epicor."The role of channel businesses is to position themselves as consultants, as buyers look for experts to provide validation and confirmation, which de-risks their technology purchases. For business technology purchases that will become the core of a business such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing execution systems (MES), warehouse management systems (WMS) and equivalent software services, buyers want to speak to an expert to understand what digital transformation actually looks like in their industry, including best practice, process, and what success looks like.
"Buyers are also likely to want strong project management alongside implementation support, to ensure that the customer isn’t left with an expensive piece of complex technology that they must figure out for themselves. While the rise of self-service options such as e-procurement means some customers are bypassing the channel and even vendor salespeople when making technology purchases, this is not a trend we expect to significantly impact the channel’s opportunity for growth, particularly in more complex sectors, such as aerospace, automotive and manufacturing."
S is for storage
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| Source: Pure Storage. Oostveen. |
Flash
"Advancements in flash storage such as QLC (quad-level cell) and DirectFlash are lowering the cost and increasing density in flash to the point where many organisations are starting to replace their legacy spinning disk storage with flash.
"With increasing scrutiny on environmental sustainability, the energy and space savings that they get from flash is another reason why companies are moving away from legacy spinning disk. In 2023, we expect to see densities in flash storage really take a leap forward, increasing its suitability for tier 2 and even tier 3 workloads," said Matthew Oostveen, CTO and VP, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage.
In a tiered storage framework, workloads are categorised into tiers governed by factors such as how recent the data is, the cost of storage, and speed of access. Traditionally, tier 1 workloads would be saved on spinning disks because they allow expensive but fast access to data, whereas higher-tier workloads might be saved on other types of storage because it is cheaper, or because the access is slower.
Hyperscaler storage
"With potential for a global recession in 2023, it is no secret that companies are moving quickly to tighten their belts. While the tech industry witnessed a surge in cloud adoption owing to digital demands brought on by the pandemic, recent headwinds have already impacted several industries in the APAC region and caused a slowdown in IT spending, such as healthcare, construction and government services," said Sunny Chua, Singapore GM, Wasabi Technologies.
"At the same time, inflationary pressures continue to rise and hyperscalers are keen to maintain margins. Put bluntly: $/GB rates for cloud storage have stopped trending down; there have been no price reductions among leading providers since 2017, nor can businesses expect reductions in the near future. Instead, hyperscalers have simply opted to introduce lower-cost storage tiers, which in reality involve additional steps and expenses to realise the promised cost savings - from data transfers, to new data lifecycle and management policies.
However,
with businesses running on even tighter budgets in 2023, such
lower-cost storage tiers will no longer suffice. Hyperscalers can expect
to experience increasing
pushback from customers over usage fees, like egress charges and API
call charges for storage. Coupled with that, the call for lower costs
has sparked a movement towards cloud financial operations (FinOps) tools
as customers seek support to closely monitor
and optimise their cloud spend.
"Should hyperscalers meet these growing
demands with a stalemate, businesses will surely opt for alternative
providers that are willing to (cater to their needs)."
T is for training
Coaching (digital)
Dr Jonathan Passmore, SVP of Coaching, CoachHub said: "All indications are that the economy will slow, inflation will rise and organisations will look for transformational change as they implement the lessons of digital and hybrid working. During continued instability, digital coaching will support organisations delivering transformational change and offer employees a well-being and support framework that replaces traditional, in-office support.”
"In 2022, we saw a move to facilitative learning vs teaching, which will continue in 2023. This is largely because allowing students to take control of their education makes them more likely to invest in the process and learn more effectively," noted Tony Wang, Co-Founder & CRO, Agora.
"Next year, we’ll see more use of extended reality (XR) technologies to give learners a safe space to grasp new or challenging concepts, and have more engaging learning experiences. In addition, there will be more AI usage to give more personalised learning experiences - tailoring content to a learner’s knowledge and personal objectives. For example, an AI could skip a few modules for an individual to allow a more extensive and less sequential learning journey than someone who lacks the fundamental skills needed for that subject."
Coding
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| Source: UiPath. Hunter. |
"Organisations of all sizes will break through artificial intelligence (AI) deployment roadblocks by adopting simplified, no-code platforms that let non-technical employees train machine learning models," Hunter said.
"Bringing AI into production has been historically difficult for many organisations due to factors such as the scarcity of data scientists, slow model development, and clunky deployment options. Enter no-code machine learning platforms, which let business users without coding or modelling experience train sophisticated models through simple drag-and-drop interfaces. This not only frees up data scientists’ time, it also lets business people quickly apply their knowledge and expertise, resulting in faster development and better-performing models.
"Many of these platforms can integrate with modern automation platforms, so, once models are
developed, they can be brought quickly into automated workstreams. This lets AI flow through the
enterprise to support better, faster decision-making everywhere."
Looking ahead
Hunter added that even as organisations are adopting Industry 4.0, Industry 5.0 is already knocking on the door, bringing new implications for digital skills requirements. "Industry 5.0 brings benefits for industry, workers and society, and will be good for the planet by favouring circular production models and supporting technologies that make the use of natural resources more efficient. It involves adopting a human-centric approach to digital technologies that includes artificial intelligence, and upskilling and re-skilling workers in digital skills," he said.
"This means that old roles will disappear, and new ones will take their place. Human resources will need to focus on hiring and training a new calibre of digital-friendly worker, with less focus on the transactional and repetitive, and more on delivering the greatest value from automation efforts."
Explore tech predictions
*Epicor surveyed 1,350 IT decision-makers in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, in the manufacturing, distribution, building supply, automotive and retail industries. The interviews were conducted in English from April 1 to 22, 2022 by PSB. The findings were released by Epicor in its annual Industry Insights Report.
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