Technology Vendors 2023 Predictions

Things move fast in the Tech industry.

Technology vendors continue to be one of the fastest-growing areas within the digital technology space spanning Advertising Technology, Marketing Technology, Software (SaaS), EdTech, and more.

Despite the headlines of redundancies, many businesses will continue to gain momentum and find more pockets of expansion. 

Challenges facing businesses in 2023, mean we’re likely to experience tighter budgets and a greater need for retention of current customers and consolidation of technology to drive data-led and KPI led measurements. 

This presents opportunities for many technology vendors as they respond to the market. And, judging by previous years, the industry's ability to adapt (and thrive) will be called into play. 

Prediction: A huge emphasis on First-Party data

The AdTech and digital marketing industry saw a significant change in the last 12 months, with ad targeting and measurement being one of the most important, given that the majority of their campaigns are built on cookies. Google’s decision to move towards a cookie-less future, has meant companies need to find new solutions.

Google announced recently that 2024 is the year that third-party data and the cookie will be gone. As a result, marketers are looking to find new ways to collect data, and it’s looking like will be a huge emphasis on first-party data.

Whilst the UK and Europe have been on the front foot of the changes in many ways, largely thanks to legislation from the EU to privacy, the US is not far behind with the changes. 

First-party data allows for better insights into consumers’ interests and will result in publishers and advertisers being able to target and personalize customer experiences more efficiently.

Many brands have started to understand the value and importance of a personalized approach with their audience, and so far, it’s looking like contextual advertising might be the new approach.

Contextual advertising is a targeted advertising approach that utilizes content and keywords on a website when deciding when to display ads and to whom. As a result, ads are placed on web pages based on the content on the page, as opposed to what you have previously been looking at, which is the current advertising method used with third-party data.

For instance, if someone reads about the latest football news, adverts for football-related products will be displayed on the page.

There are many advantages of there being a shift from third to first-party data and contextual advertising. For brands and advertisers, first-party data is great as it’s not subject to privacy regulations. It’s easier to manage brand reputation as adverts are displayed solely on the basis of keywords, regardless of what consumers have previously been watching, reading, or interacting with. 

Prediction: The Rise of Connected-TV 

2022 was a difficult year for MarTech, predicting what would come after COVID and lockdown was hard. Video content continued expanding across the global landscape, with TikTok and video cementing itself as a consumer favorite and with it, more brands and agencies turned to video ads. 

With more than 68% of TV viewing already coming from streaming devices, connected TV (CTV) is one of the most upcoming and talked-about mediums. Asa Netflix and Disney+, two of the largest streaming platforms, are soon to start advertising offerings, there is no doubt that interest in CTV marketing is going to boom in 2023 and address existing challenges.

Many businesses are predicting CTV to be at the beginning of something big, similar to how mobile was 10 years ago, and “ignoring CTV in 2023 will be akin to rejecting social media in the mid-00s.” With this comes lots of exciting advancements for the platform and ways that it will be integrated into everyday life as agencies push creative offerings of digital ads - AI, QR codes and creativity will be at the forefront of advancements in 2023. 

CTV is driven by real-time data. As a result of this, CTV can provide better, more accurate targeting opportunities, due to them being based on location, household, and device level. There will also be more opportunities for programmatic advertising to expand and deliver personalized, dynamic adverts. In line with the abolishment of third-party data which we discussed earlier, CTV could be another viable solution to this for many companies. CTV presents a compelling eCommerce opportunity, based on the fact that people search for a product on the same device they viewed it.

Prediction: Increased use of AI and ML

In H2 of 2022, revenue slowed in the tech area, seeing companies reduce their workforce with 121,000 workers being laid off as the markets aired on the side of caution. 

There has been much debate about how software spend will look in 2023, whilst some are optimistic, predicting an increase in software spend, most industry experts are predicting that SaaS spend may decline in 2023.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) became increasingly popular within digital marketing, as an answer to the growing challenges that publishers and advertisers encountered when attempting to predict future consumption patterns. As a result, AI is becoming increasingly popular in the tech space, particularly within MarTech SaaS and platforms.

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry will be worth $93bn in 2023, up 12% from 2022, according to GlobalData’s 2023 TMT Predictions.

It is predicted that AI will become a standardized feature within SaaS platforms and will also become heavily relied on for content creation. Brands can leverage AI innovation to enhance product and marketing customization, additionally, their understanding of their end-users and target audience needs can be enhanced through data-driven analysis.

Looking back at contextual advertising, this will be able to utilize the power of AI in order to deliver ads that are more appropriate and in turn drive higher engagement. It is also expected that AI will lead to more advances in programmatic advertising.

As costs reduce, AI and ML tech is becoming more accessible- for companies, as well as more mainstream. It’s a key capability that is now integrated into many existing tech tools, such as CDPs, MAPs, DAMs and many other core Martech tools that use AI to automate and enhance capabilities.

If you’re looking for your next role in Sales, Customer Success or Account Management role, please get in contact with the following consultants. 

UK

• MarTech and SaaS: James Everett, Swaran Sandhu, Raphaelle Jones
• AdTech: Will Bellinger, Ryan Stewart, Marnie Senior
• Customer Success: Courtney Gresty, Lucy McKean
• Ad Operations and Programmatic: Wahida Rahman, Charlie Wardle

Europe 

• EMEA Sales: Dorothea Christmann
  
  

US

•  MarTech: Richard Morris
• AdTech: Daniel Bolter, Riley Larson, Anil Gopalpur, Artavia Taylor, Rilea Fusco

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