As we kick off 2023, it’s clear that the digital landscape is continuing to evolve. In the past year, we’ve seen a shift towards a more remote working environment; an increase in the capabilities of AI technology; and a focus on multidevice connected customer experiences. These trends have set the stage for continued growth and innovation in 2023.
As we begin the new year, it’s the perfect time to identify and predict which digital trends businesses will need to be aware of in 2023. As part of this report, we have included a scoring system to indicate how much impact a trend will have on your digital communications. The Portland Impact Score ranks trends from 0 to 10, indicating no impact and high impact, respectively.
1. Continual Investment into Internal Communications Technology
Internal communications is the process of keeping employees engaged, informed and inspired through the sharing of information, updates, and other relevant messaging within an organisation. It helps to keep employees connected to the company’s goals and values, and can be a key pillar in enabling company culture and driving employee advocacy externally.
Following the pandemic, and the growth of hybrid working, technology became prominent to ensure businesses stayed connected and could continue to work effectively and remotely. Teams and processes became digitised, and the vast majority of businesses found this to be far more successful than originally predicted.
In 2023, internal communication and employee engagement strategies will continue to be important for businesses to communicate effectively e.g. developing a newsrooms approach for streamlined messaging, internal intranet, internal instant messaging services e.g. Slack or Teams or traditional email. However, further technology advancements will be launched to empower businesses to collaborate more effectively within a flexible working environment.
An interesting emerging technology that uses AR technology is Webex Hologram. Using hologram technology, Webex is bringing a more enriching experience to online collaboration. Think Star Wars Jedi Master’s Council meets Tom Cruises Minority Report.
Will this greatly impact my business? 6/10 likelihood
This trend is one to watch for 2023. As hybrid working becomes the norm businesses will need to ensure teams are connected in the most effective way to maximise productivity and employee motivation, and are encouraged to advocate for themselves, department and company.
2. Generative AI
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that is capable of creating unique content or outputs based on a set of input parameters. It is a powerful tool that can be used to generate everything from music and art to texts and videos.
In 2022, we saw the emergence of AI generated text capability with ChatGPT, which saw thousands of users testing the platform and using it for a variety of business needs, such as blog or social copy creation, website code generation and auto-response models. Though the technology is amazing, it does come with drawbacks, including inaccurate or even incorrect responses, which is outlined in a disclaimer on the website.
But AI is being invested in and embedded into businesses in other areas. In 2023, we will see a significant increase in the use of AI for tasks such as data analysis, making use of large sets of unstructured data which will improve data driven decision-making; and marketing automation, helping businesses with omnichannel marketing, and customer service.
Will this greatly impact my business? 6/10 likelihood
This trend has the potential to disrupt the way we all work with its amazing technology, AI automation allowing businesses to solve problems faster, cheaper and better will have the biggest impact. However, content generation AI is currently great for smaller copy tasks but it’s still in its early days for full business creative adoption!
3. ESG Analytics and Reporting
ESG analytics and reporting is the process of disclosing a company’s performance in relation to environmental, social and governance factors. These factors are then examined against benchmarks and targets for that businesses’ industry with a goal of companies becoming more transparent and making a conscious effort of improvement within these areas. With the progression of new technologies, companies are increasingly able to collect, track, measure, and report on their ESG performance, which we see as an area of observed investment from companies in 2023.
The EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) recently came into force. This obliges asset managers and other financial market participants to disclose the sustainability impact and risk of their investment decisions and processes. The FCA wants to introduce similar legislation in the UK next year. Therefore, in 2023, as businesses prepare for heighted regulatory pressure, we will see companies investing in ESG reporting and communications to be able to communicate clearly to governmental and key stakeholder audiences their ESG position and ambitions.
Will this greatly impact my business? 6/10 likelihood
A trend that has been inspired by government and consumer pressure, as well as being motivated by a desire for greater transparency. We expect this trend to have a big impact on the market in 2023, with more companies adopting this type of reporting.
4. Digital Omnichannel Experience
Digital transformation in communications is the process of adapting and evolving a company’s digital communication strategies in order to stay competitive in today’s digital landscape. It is the process of delivering your messaging accurately to the right audience, at the right time via the right channel.
This omnichannel experience cannot happen without user of data, specifically owned first-party data. Businesses will need to ensure they are capturing rich information on their target audiences to paint a more detailed picture of their audience personas. With the removal of third-party cookies, businesses will need to be less reliant on using paid for channels e.g. social, web and native ads as the only way to reach their desired audience, as this is short-term and can be seen as ‘renting’ an audience to gain exposure. In the long-term, businesses will want to build an owned community and relationship with their audience, as this can be a core source of insight and cost-effective communication e.g. owned email lists, private groups, social platform followers, remarketing tactics and brand advocates/influencers.
In 2023, everybody, whether it’s a customer, stakeholder, or even internal employee, will expect a seamless experience when interacting with companies online. Businesses can enable this experience both for external and internal comms by using data more effectively that can enable smarter marketing automation, connecting channels more seamlessly, and making content more personalised. Businesses need to move away from siloed channel thinking and towards a more connected owned, earned, and paid channel ecosystem.
Will this greatly impact my business? 8/10 likelihood
In 2023, omnichannel marketing will have the biggest impact on B2B businesses as more adopt a data-driven approach to marketing and advertising.
The digital trends of 2023 are set to be exciting and transformative. From internal communications technology to generative AI, ESG analytics and reporting, and digital marketing transformation, businesses will have a range of tools and technologies at their disposal to improve their operations and stay competitive in the digital landscape. By embracing these trends and leveraging the power of technology, businesses can position themselves for success in the years ahead. It’s an exciting time to be in the world of digital, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds.