2023 Crystal Ball Gazing: The Emperor Will Need Clothes

Don’t say. Show.

If there ever was one crisp line to capture the essence of what’s in store in 2023 for both buyers and sellers of Industry 4.0 solutions, it could well be this.

Staying true to our New Year Predictions format, two disclaimers hold:

1. For those looking for more general technology predictions, there is no shortage of well-researched examples published around this time of the year by the likes of Gartner, Forrester, and Verdantix — we encourage you to seek these out directly; and

2. We are equally not venturing into the macro market factors, as these alike are abundantly covered by financial and even popular media.

Instead, let us offer you 4 predictions that are focused on digital transformation of heavy asset industries. As always, let us know what you think by dropping us a line by email at contact@cognite.com, or by joining our user community on Cognite Hub. 

New buzzwords die before taking off

This is sobering to see! The last thing needed is one more nonsense buzzword to fill conference stages and drive keyword bidding in vendor SEM programs.

We’re delighted to see industrial metaverse fade out before taking off, reducing the noise level, and allowing us to collectively focus on making digital twins work for us instead.

Learn more: Open industrial digital twin

We look forward to many other buzzwords joining the fate of the industrial metaverse – a sober development we can all collectively accelerate by insisting we are being shown more customer value, rather than presented with new layers and layers of jargon.

Data lake and DWH projects lose their smokescreen

Billions are invested in cloud data warehouses and data lakes. Most data ends there, unused by anyone for anything. It turns out that dumb inaccessible data storage in the cloud is of no more business value than its predecessor: dumb inaccessible data storage on premise.

The inescapable fact coined by Forrester remains: “data has no value unless the business trusts it and uses it.”

2022 was a pivotal year. As we enter 2023, we are delighted to see acceleration towards honesty and openness around the cloud data discussion. For industrial enterprises, this means attention turning from (centralized) data storage to simple access to complex industrial data. How do we really unlock the potential and value of our data to all our data consumers?

Learn more: "Googling" your industrial data: fixing search for SMEs

CIOs may not be the first folks you think of in the context of user experience, but there is a class of CIOs who are really acting outside of the(ir) box on this one – and we predict many more will follow in their trailblazing path of what has all the hallmarks of true industrial transformation success.

The innovation is actually simple: Focus on the most common and most universal user need, and make it awesomely simple.

Watch. This. Space.

Better yet, get in touch and ask to see it yourself.

If the previous prediction is unorthodox for its focal persona, so is this one alike. Through 2022, we've had the pleasure of partnering with some incredible VP Operations/VP Operational Technology champions at our customers. 

What sets their thinking apart from the mainstream is their data-first and platform-first approach. In short, how they apply “IT like thinking” to core manufacturing business operations, thus avoiding getting blinded by digital lighthouse success that cannot be scaled.

Want a deeper dive? This has to be your next read: "Why understanding the modern data stack is priority #1 to digitalisation executives in industry"

Now that you made it this far, you may be wondering about why we chose the title "[...]The Emperor Will Need Clothes"?

The answer is simple.

Don’t say. Don't add more buzzwords. Show. Show the user experience your SMEs can build and deliver on every time.

If 2022 was the year of realizing the emperor has no clothes, 2023 will be the year of wardrobes that deliver true business outcomes.

From all at Cognite, we wish you a safe, efficient, and sustainable New Year 2023!