According to NTT's experts, this year 2023 will be dominated by 5 topics. Here are their comments on those topics which span the security, cloud and telecoms space:

CLOUD 

Amit Dhingra, Executive Vice President at NTT Ltd. Network Services discusses how multi-cloud adoption can help businesses to remain resilient in times of uncertainty

If there’s one lesson that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that large-scale change can happen without warning. If your?network?is unable to adapt quickly and efficiently, you’ll be left by the wayside. This is why multi-cloud adoption is going to be a top priority for CIOs and IT leaders in the coming months. 

Migration to a multi-cloud architecture is becoming a critical strategy for many organizations. Deciding what to host where, while managing costs and supporting network agility, is now part and parcel of the deployment of applications and services, both on- and off-premises.  

In fact, according to our research, more than 90% of organizations around the world now place the migration of network functions to the cloud and cloud-first network solutions, among their top three expected changes to network characteristics. In 2023, shifting to a modern, cloud-based, software-defined and data-driven network infrastructure will become critical to the overall success of a business.  

SUSTAINABILITY

Vicky Bullivant, Senior Vice President, Sustainability at NTT Ltd. Shares tips on how businesses can address the climate challenge

 “With a rapidly increasing digital space comes increasing demands on technology and therefore higher levels of energy consumption. The question is, how do businesses manage the need for more energy with greater environmental sustainability demands coming from consumers, stakeholders and employees. I believe this will be top of mind for IT leaders across the world in 2023 and beyond.

An organization’s carbon footprint is often measured once a year and manually, which is about as useful as only checking your investment balance annually. There is a better way: digitalizing your carbon footprint and monitoring it as closely as your profit line. This is how to ensure your business is agile enough to rise to the climate challenge.

Businesses should start by implementing modern technologies and practices. This allows them to become proactive in dealing with the climate-related challenges and respond at lightning speed while measuring the impact confidently. In this way, organizations can make informed decisions in real time without waiting for an annual report before they act to save our planet.”

TELECOMS 

Shahid Ahmed, Group EVP, New Ventures and Innovation at NTT Ltd. discusses the increase in P5G adoption and Managed Service demand 

“This year has seen the rapid adoption of private 5G, as organizations continue to seek faster, more secure, and more dependable networks to support and accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

In 2023, as the promise of Industry 4.0 technologies such as factory digitisation, machine automation and IoT continue to influence how organizations innovate, we can expect to see greater levels of Private 5G adoption. At the heart of this evolution lies the fundamental shift towards a more integrated and modernized network, where applications form an inherent part of the network infrastructure. This modernization, brought about by the enhanced Private 5G architecture, promises significant business benefits for enterprises.

As a result of this revamp, we will also see a greater reliance on Managed Service Providers (MSPs) next year; as 8 in 10 senior executives say they will consider outsourcing parts of their network technology within the next two years. This lends itself to a new era of network modernization – one in which networks are being relied upon to enable business growth, rather than just optimizing existing infrastructure.

There are still many new use cases to be discovered that can take advantage of the speed, latency and reliability of a private 5G network, actualizing the transformative benefits of its inherent ability to integrate, system controls, and scalability as well as the significantly improved security. I expect we will see this concept expand in 2023 and beyond.”

NETWORK AS A SERVICE

Amit Dhingra, Executive Vice President at NTT Ltd. Network Services discusses the role of Network as a Service and how it will help companies stand up against the competition

“The adoption of hybrid and distributed networks with multiple connected devices is increasing significantly. Yet, despite heavy investment, just two in five businesses are very satisfied with their current network capabilities.   

In the era of network modernization, the majority of executives rely on networks to enable business growth, support AI for IT operations (AIOps), and increase security. However, many of the solutions that are currently in play will become standard within just two years, meaning that to keep up, companies will need to continue implementing new solutions.

In 2023 and beyond, organizations continue to turn their attention to a network as a service model to overcome this. Security in particular – which is one of the top 3 trends driving network modernisation - needs to be considered a key part of planning the network process, rather than an afterthought. This approach will give businesses the flexibility to scale up and down while deploying effective AIOps and automation solutions.”

SECURITY

Vivek Daga, Managing Director, UK & Ireland at NTT Ltd. discusses a rise in cloud-based security solutions and identity-based security...

“Network architectures have shifted significantly during the pandemic and this shift shows no signs of slowing down. This is accompanied with challenges is the security domain. For example, distributed hybrid work models present a larger and more vulnerable attack surface for malicious actors.  Executives across the world are working hard to tackle this. In fact NTT’s Global Network report 2022-2023 discovered that network security and compliance risks are top of mind for 90% of them.

As we move into 2023, keeping up with these network changes and prioritising security as part of the planning phase will be business-critical. It’s likely we’ll see many organizations move to more centralized, cloud-based security solutions, such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and a managed endpoint security model in order to protect their network. After all, new network architectures create new security needs, and a corresponding shift from perimeter-based security to identity-based security will enable organizations to add functionalities that provide added protection to any network.”