Four Trends for Business Success in 2023

A new year is always accompanied by new challenges, new competition, and new technologies. The constant cycle of change requires acute awareness of industry-wide transformations. But, in a world inundated with new technologies and trends, what should businesses prioritize in order to succeed?

We believe the key for the coming year is to keep it simple by securing the foundation of your business before embarking on future ventures. Read on for our top trends to assure business continuity in 2023.

#1 TALENT RETENTION

‘The Great Resignation’ was a prominent topic this year. The ripple effects of which are still impacting the workforce with a voluntary quit rate holding at 25% higher than pandemic levels (McKinsey, 2022). The looming financial implication of employee replacement (one-half to two times an employee’s annual salary, according to Gallup) is just one of the reasons we recommend implementing a thorough retention strategy in 2023.

The Great Resignation and its impacts are a double-edged sword in the workplace. While departing employees present a significant financial and resource loss, the impact on remaining employees to take on some if not all of their departed colleagues’ workloads furthers this concern. These pressures are ushering in a new era dubbed ‘The Great Retention’ or the ‘Retention Revolution’ where businesses are looking to implement new strategies and technologies to improve the employee experience (Forbes, 2022).

With the right technology, you can deliver transformational workforce experiences straight to your employees’ desktops. Technologies like Workforce Optimization, Workforce Management, and Desktop & Process Analytics offer a simple yet mighty way to empower employees to do their best work by analyzing and automating day-to-day operations through scheduling, forecasting, and engagement. These technologies eradicate common employee frustrations by ensuring fair workloads, support, and downtime.

In the digital age, employees and customers alike can choose to pick a business that provides them with the best tools and experiences. We believe a lot has been learned from the ‘CX era’ and that many retention strategies can be applied to our workforces. After all, consumer value can only go so far without happily-engaged employees to deliver successful customer journeys.

#2 AUTOMATED QUALITY ASSURANCE

Speaking of the customer journey, many businesses have implemented intelligent self-service technologies to handle their customer inquiries, since the start of the pandemic (Nice, 2022).  

As you know, new technologies bring new risks for error and require continuous maintenance. Testing your customer service technologies can help catch pesky bugs and flaws lying in wait before your customers discover them, improving the customer experience and protecting your brand image and reputation.

Manual testing exposes your CX technologies to human error and requires a substantial time investment, unless you are blessed with an abundance of resources. This has created opportunities for Automated Assurance Testing, an almost maintenance-free technology that has self-healing AI-driven tests (Spice Works, 2022).

A Quick Look into the Types of Automated Assurance Testing

• ‍Load Testing allows you to proactively test your systems in preparation for high-demand cycles or significant upgrades by identifying key weaknesses and providing comprehensive reports and data to enable speedy resolution, preventing issues like lengthy wait times or critical system failures.
• ‍Regression Testing is ideal for businesses looking to undertake major upgrades and updates and assure quality CX post-deployment. Regression Testing provides peace of mind that manual testing cannot, ensuring no flaws are left undetected in your systems.
• ‍Health Checks give you a snapshot of your CX performance compared to industry best practices, highlighting the areas in which your performance needs to improve to maintain a competitive edge.
• ‍CX Monitoring is specially designed for customer-centric businesses and deploys automated technology testing of IVR, NLU, UC, and chatbot systems by replicating real-time customer interactions with your business.
  

When it comes to CX, there is very little room for error without repercussions. Leveraging these automated testing solutions secures your spot in the CX era and helps you avoid embarrassing and costly mistakes (and gives your IT team a much-needed break!).

#3 NETWORK UPGRADES

On the topic of IT Teams needing a break, now that many of us have settled into hybrid work, have you noticed latency issues during meetings when there’s a particularly busy day at the office or when your household is using more devices than usual?

From smart lightbulbs to home security, there are more internet-enabled devices using wireless connections than ever before (Nine devices in an average household). Network requirements in-office and at home are rapidly changing and the same network that supported pre-pandemic needs may not be able to support the demands of the modern hybrid workforce.

Wi-Fi 6 is the new generation of wireless networking that offers businesses more than a reactive upgrade and can be considered a proactive, future-proof upgrade (The Verge, 2019). Boasting a speed of 9.6 Gbps, a whopping 6.1 Gbps faster than WiFi 5, WiFi 6 is the perfect solution to accelerate networks that have multiple devices connected.

The recent wave of digital transformation in business has increased loads on networks everywhere, and with many businesses still planning or in the middle of their transformations, demand for improvements is at an all-time high. This is why we suggest prioritizing—and most importantly, modernizing—your network in 2023.

#4 ACCELERATED CLOUD ADOPTION

The popularity of the cloud is not surprising, as rapidly-evolving technologies in increasingly-dynamic workplaces require the flexibility and scalability it provides for business continuity. However, discussions of cloud adoption popularity often ignore the fact that businesses tend to initially shift portions of their operations to the cloud, leaving key components on legacy technology or hosted on premise, making it difficult to maintain a competitive edge. The last few years have taught us that although it’s impossible to predict the future, it is critical to always plan for the future with every business decision.

Another important cloud-related trend to note that we have previously written about in ‘The Implications of Cloud Migration and How to Navigate Them’  is an emerging group of cloud customers that are dissatisfied with their migrations. Migrations are no small feat and without the right strategy and partner, you can encounter a variety of problems along the way.

A re-migration, although unfortunate, is an opportunity to refresh and re-strategize with the right partner. If you’re interested in the types of cloud migration and best practices for finding a migration partner, be sure to read our tips for managing cloud migrations.

REFRESH, REJUVINATE, REFOCUS

One key takeaway is that 2023 is the year to focus inward and ensure your business is supported in the best way possible. Many companies have undertaken massive—and sometimes hasty!—transformations and upgrades in recent years that may need some rectifying or maintenance.

Consider this coming year the Year of Self Care for your business and operations. If you're looking for a self-care partner, contact us today to discuss the future of your business.