5G, AI, Quantum, Edge computing, Cybersecurity – we hear all these terms but which ones should we know more about? Futurists such as myself never tire of predicting which technologies might be the ones to watch, and what impact they might have on your business or industry. I’ve prepared a short no-nonsense view of what’s hot for this year and the trends to watch.

Generative AI: We’ll see industries as broad as medicine and manufacturing data use this incredibly powerful and transformative technology.

5G networks are commonplace now. But it’s not all about speed. 5G brings scale and increased computing power.

When we see more and more devices need to be connected to the internet, then the Internet of Things or IoT will need scale, not speed.

We’re also going to see the rise of private 5G networks that will outperform traditional Wi Fi in manufacturing environments, or airports where speed and security are paramount.

Edge computing, where a server is literally installed at the 5G base station will mean that autonomous vehicles can provide more options for safety and security.

The need for companies to take cybersecurity more seriously down to the employee level will become even more of a priority in 2023.

We’re seeing sites and infrastructure being constantly targeted and the weakest link seems to be employees and passwords. While the use of two factor authentication is not new, in 2023, we’re likely to see more firms mandating passwordless access.

The future of work is now a constant discussion item and while companies keep tinkering with the number of days per week they want us in the office, we’ll start to see successful companies make the office a destination, a place to earn the commute, and leverage smart technologies and reimagined existing processes to support a human centric approach to work.

Just as we’ve seen generative AI enter the average citizens vocabulary, new very use cases for Quantum computing will start to emerge.

One obvious downside of Quantum computing is that anything currently secured with 2023-level encryption will be simple to decrypt and decode.

The the potential of Quantum and how it could impact various industries such as finance and healthcare are not far away.

Extended reality that takes us beyond augmented and virtual reality will take is just that bit closer to a Metaverse we may all want to be a part of by combining real-world objects with virtual ones literally before our eyes.

Non-fungible tokens or NF T’s are likely to emerge beyond the fascination with cartoons of board apes and be used for things such as ticketing, reducing ticketing, fraud, and the problems with ticket resale, while providing a unique souvenir of the event.

We’ll also start to see NFTs used for tokenising employee contracts, providing additional employee benefits via a unique asset.

2023 will be full of surprises. But if you start looking at technologies I’ve mentioned here and become more digitally curious®, you will already be ahead of your competitors.

Why not book me to come and provide an overview of these technologies and more at your next internal or client events with content perfectly tailored for your business?