Planning to take on this year in new and innovative ways, our Chief Product Officer, Todd Bashor, shares his 2023 predictions on technology, the customer experience, new horizons for remote-first work, and hopes for more collaboration.

Businesses will rise to meet growing customer expectations for smooth and quick resolutions

Technological advancements, including virtual assistants and machine learning, have significantly improved the customer experience in the last couple of years. These leaps in service have raised customer expectations in that they demand convenience and ease when seeking a resolution.

In 2023, businesses will be able to meet this challenge by implementing various AI tools (i.e., virtual agents, AI-assisted routing, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, etc.) that can produce quicker responses and solutions when customers raise their hands. Additionally, I expect companies to look to deploy more self-service processes, such as customer service portals, native mobile applications, and better knowledge bases, as the customer digital brand experience becomes more automated.

We'll see breakthroughs in separating home and work lives as companies will empower employees to thrive in the remote-first environment

At NewRocket, we are proud to be a remote-first company at the forefront of learning and improving this new way of working. While on this frontier, we've recognized a growing difficulty separating work time from home time. This isn't a surprise, as the physical distance between work and personal space is now gone.

In the following year, I expect businesses to focus on providing techniques to their employees to separate work from home. This type of training will become commonplace as organizations look to have a happy and healthy workforce.

Business leaders will focus on creating better collaboration methods to engage employees in an increasingly virtual workplace

Hybrid and remote work policies are here to stay. With that, businesses will continue to look for ways to create a digital office to engage their employees and strengthen organizational culture.

My NewRocket dev teams have been using a web conference tool that includes a Codewords game. We occasionally meet to play this game, which creates camaraderie, healthy competition, and a shared experience.

The human element of working remotely is essential to teamwork and productivity. These types of activities will become more common as team leaders look to strengthen the connection of their
teams. Look for innovation in the number and types of options to increase virtual engagement among employees.

Companies will face an important decision on digital transformation investments

As industries continue to shake out the new normal of work, employees will be left in limbo on how to best do their jobs. Whether in a traditional, hybrid, or remote setting, the technology-receptive sectors will put additional resources behind digital efforts, albeit with a more watchful eye.

These efforts will lead to greater operational efficiencies and improved employee satisfaction as technological advancements in personalized intranets, remote collaboration, and machine learning can help alleviate painful job duties that deteriorate workers' job satisfaction.

I can't help but feel excited about the future. In the meantime, I urge all to celebrate what we achieved in 2022 and to take time to rest and recharge. There's lots to accomplish next year!

Todd is a seasoned technologist and innovator with over 20 years of experience in developing strategies that solve complex technical and business issues. Connect with Todd on LinkedIn.