Gartner – the Top Trends Impacting Infrastructure and Operations for 2023

Trend No. 1: Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

SASE is a single-vendor product that is sold as an integrative service which enables digital transformation. This trend connects and secures users, devices, and locations as they work to access applications from anywhere. Gartner forecasts that total worldwide end-user spending on SASE will reach $9.2 billion in 2023, a 39% increase from 2022.

“Hybrid work and the relentless shift to cloud computing has accelerated SASE adoption,” said Hewitt. “SASE allows users to connect to applications in a secure fashion and improves the efficiency of management. I&O teams implementing SASE should prioritize single-vendor solutions and an integrated approach.”

Trend No. 2: Sustainable Technology

Sustainable technology encompasses sustainable IT within the context of a tech-enabled enterprise and customer sustainability. This trend involves four key aspects: environmental, social, governance (ESG) and economic. With a recent Gartner survey revealing that 87% of business leaders expect to increase their organization’s investment in sustainability over the next two years, I&O must embrace sustainable technology to support organization-wide ESG goals.

Trend No. 3: Platform Engineering

Platform engineering is the unity of management tools and various components of infrastructure technologies such as application resource management (ARM), application performance monitoring (APM), digital experience monitoring (DEM), and digital platform conductor (DPC) tools. This trend enables user-driven, self-service infrastructure and deployments that extend the principle of continuous integration and delivery, furthering I&O agility, speed, efficiency, safety, and compliance.

Trend No. 4: Wireless Value Innovation

I&O can leverage multiple wireless technologies to extend business disruption opportunities beyond connectivity. Overlaps between various technologies including Wi-Fi, 5G, Bluetooth and high frequency (HF) facilitates connectivity solutions and creates innovation opportunities.

Trend No. 5: Industry Cloud Platforms

Public cloud is not one-size-fits-all. Industry clouds are an alternative to enterprises purchasing a variety of cloud offerings, as they provide a pre-integrated solution that coincides with specific vertical market needs.

Industry cloud platforms are a combination of traditional cloud services with tailored, industry-specific functionality. Organizations looking to accelerate time to value, leverage composability to build differentiating digital products and services and benefit from cross-industry innovations are turning to these solutions. Gartner predicts that by 2027, more than 50% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives.

Trend No. 6: Heated Skills Competition

As digital implementation continues to grow, there is a greater demand for a wide variety of skills within I&O organizations. Yet, there is a limited talent pool available for high-demand skills, including expertise in cloud, automation, and advanced analytics. Simultaneously, some organizations are creating I&O positions within business units, which increases internal competition for skills.