With half of the year in the books, we have enough information under our belts to be able to name some of the big trends when it comes to tech in 2023. These are just a few of the ways in which the tech industry is changing, and they are big hints as to what the future will look like, even if some of them may fizzle out. And though there are some obvious winners, there may be a couple surprises, too.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Did anyone expect anything else to top the list? AI has seemingly been all anyone can talk about lately, whether it’s in the tech world or a mainstream world that usually spends more time talking about reality-show stars than world-changing advancements in data-driven algorithms. And there’s no sign that our fascination with — and increasing dependence on — AI will slow down anytime soon. Expect to see AI (and its all-important subset, machine learning) to become more integrated into all sorts of software, from chatbots and voice assistance to fraud detection, automation, and pretty much anything that could benefit from more efficiency — which, let’s face it, is everything.

Convergence of edge computing and Internet of Things

IoT has proven that it’s more than a fad, and with that has come greater demand for real-time data processing and reduced latency. Meeting that demand is edge computing (basically the concept of processing high amounts of data geographically closer to their use), improving response time, saving bandwidth, and offering potentially better IoT device management and security.

Modernization of applications

This one is a perennial need that never seems to go away. Software doesn’t usually age like fine wine, and eventually software infrastructure needs to be upgraded to modern standards if a company wants to remain competitive. So upgrading or rebuilding legacy systems from scratch has become a huge priority for many, many organizations. The result of a modernization effort? More efficiency, more security, more scalability, less wasted time and money, happier customers, and a healthier bottom line.

Cybersecurity and privacy 

You only have to read the latest business news about attacks from hacker groups like Cl0p to know that cybercrime hasn’t gone away — and that the data breaches are getting worse and even affecting major companies and governments once thought invulnerable. That trend, and an increasing public awareness of why cyberprivacy is important, mean that we’re secure in our feeling that encryption, threat detection and data safeguards will grow ever more important this year.

Extended reality

Whether you still call it VR, AR or MR, XR (which encompasses all of the above) willbe an exciting area of exploration, especially now that Apple’s VisionPro will be hitting store shelves soon. Beyond the gaming and entertainment uses, extended reality is already making an impact in health care, construction, education, navigation, retail, manufacturing and more.

Microservices architecture

The concept of containerization may seem simple — bundling an application and all its dependencies, like configuration files, binaries and libraries, in a single, independent “container” — but the results can be profound, saving memory, increasing overall efficiency and making the architecture of a project much more scalable and resilient.

More DevOps work (especially with CI/CD and security)

Delivering software is a never-ending process, as we all know by now. And in 2023, the concept of continuous integration/continuous deployment continues to be increasingly powered by automation, reducing the burden on people and harnessing the power of computers to make building, testing and deployment much more efficient and less error-prone. Customers get better product updates faster, and satisfied customers are loyal customers.

In addition to integrating more CI/CD processes, security has become a bigger focus for many DevOps professionals. Remember what we said about the need for cybersecurity being greater than ever? DevOps professionals have heard the call, and, considering the quickly evolving nature of breaches like the MoveIt exploit, realized that it only makes sense to incorporate more security into the existing DevOps model of continuous integration/continuous delivery. Expect to see security play an increasingly important role in your DevOps teams’ workload from now on.

We could go on, as technology is changing faster than ever before. But the above seven trends are all having an impact. Expect to see each of these trends talked about and acted upon more and more over the next year.