For engineers, delivery of the all-digital experience is often the name of the game. In 2023, capitalizing on tech innovation to optimize manpower and instill trust in people-centric experiences is what’s going to make or break an organization.

Now that businesses are past the big COVID scare and into the Great Resignation aftermath, the push for digital excellence heats up. As professionals, we all strive for quality, but the realities of the past years and the complexity of technology have placed many challenges for organizations and triggered friction points for engineering teams. 

IT teams have become every organization’s lifeline to deliver digital transformation, but also an emergency first-aid to make everyone feel safe and at home in a world defined by remote work and cybersecurity. Some teams have cracked under the pressure, while also faced with higher user expectations, talent shortage and rising costs of software development.

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2023 is going to inherit many of these challenges, especially as employees keep on quitting. Here’s what engineering teams can do to take matters in their own hands and better prepare for 2023.

Champion technological progress within your organization

Almost every enterprise now understands the need to go digital-first. As the expert, you can be the voice of change within your organization. By advocating for new technology to be adopted by your business, you can open many doors for your company and for yourself. On one hand, you’ll be given the opportunity to lead innovation—and we all know engineers love the freedom to problem-solve—and drive business growth. On the other, it would be a great opportunity to upskill and specialize in the latest technologies, ultimately—if you deliver on that challenge—advancing your career. The more you can help with digital transformation and adoption of the latest and greatest tech, the better opportunities you would have.

To fully gain the trust of decision-makers and get their buy-in, however, engineers have to stay on top of key tech trends and be able to make a strong case for the business benefits of implementing new technology. Some technologies to consider staying up to date with are composable applications, cloud-native platforms and cybersecurity.

Leverage AI for productivity and smarter decisions

Optimal velocity and rapid development have always been a focus area for every strong engineering team, but the definition of that has evolved over the years. Responding more rapidly to business needs via AI and smarter decisions is a fantastic opportunity for teams to accelerate their ability to deliver without expanding capacity. That is a real challenge for many teams in the current economic environment. 

AI technologies have significantly evolved in the past few years, but what we expect to see in the coming years is an increasing variety of the application of these AI technologies to meet business needs and customer expectations. This is an area where business and technology come closer than ever before and the richer business perspective the engineers have, the more impact they can make in leveraging the AI technologies for solving business problems.

Hyperautomation in particular is a great example of a manpower multiplier that streamlines testing and DevSecOps, allowing IT teams to continually release digital experiences that are error free. Another one is business rules engines that tremendously alleviates regulatory compliance, taking pressure off engineers. 

Understand business goals, not just the technology behind it 

With the increased digitalization of businesses and governance across the board, IT has transformed from a being supporting function to a function that is front-and-center when it comes to growth. Enhancing the digital capabilities of the organization has become a critical factor for success during the COVID crisis and that pattern continues. 

So, thinking about the impact you can have on business, IT professionals who can complement a strong IT skillset with business acumen will have a clear competitive advantage in 2023. This combination of skills has evolved from being somewhat exotic to becoming a must for organizations. As the quest for delivering customer-centric digital experiences is exacerbated by the lack of senior experts, we’re seeing more and more engineers training in product management and marketing and vice versa. 

Get into the mindset that your role extends beyond building software. Understand how your work can contribute to the larger goals of your organization and that will empower you to excel at your job.

So, when you plan the next steps in your career, do spend some time thinking about the outcomes.

This post titled “How IT teams can prepare for the tech challenges of 2023” was authored by Lilia Messechkova, VP, Enterprise Products, Progress.

About the author

Lilia Messechkova has 15+ years of experience in the tech industry in creating digital business solutions, leading global teams, and achieving strong business results. As Vice President of Enterprise Products at Progress, she leads a team of 120+ people and is responsible for the overall vision and strategy of four products, including Progress Sitefinity and Progress MOVEit. 

Lilia joined Progress in 2011 as a software developer and has held different leadership positions since then. Throughout her career and as part of different international companies, she has successfully led many projects on complex software application development, with teams located across the globe. Lilia has a bachelor’s degree in Informatics and master’s in E-Business and E-Government from Sofia University.