It’s astounding to think that the year is almost over. In reflecting on key events in 2022, there were several that we think signal broader shifts in the business technology landscape — trends we didn’t see coming. Ok. Here we go!
The Return of Co-Opetition and the Acceleration of Co-Creation
Technology has always been a hyper-competitive industry, with companies locked in fierce battles for customers, talent, investment, and, ultimately, for market leadership. Technology CEOs and founders are notoriously competitive, celebrating their own wins and delighting in the losses of their adversaries. And yet, at various times we see competition among companies transform into collaboration. Years ago, Ray Norda, then the CEO of Novell, coined the term “Co-opetition” to describe this phenomenon. In 2022, we saw a return of Co-opetition in the technology industry.
Microsoft’s announcement of a partnership with Oracle is a prime example. Larry Ellison summed up the revolutionary Azure-Oracle multi-cloud agreement by saying it offers “everything Oracle has and everything Microsoft has.” IBM has completely reimagined its approach to partnering, with new or expanded partnerships with SAP, Microsoft, Salesforce, and AWS.
2022 also saw the acceleration of co-creation, with a host of partnership announcements. Apple and Biogen, Microsoft and Novartis, and, lastly, Google and Pfizer announced co-creation-oriented partnerships in Pharma and Health Care. And certainly, Oracle’s $28b acquisition of healthcare company Cerner, takes the idea of co-creation to a whole new level. In Manufacturing, Microsoft and Honeywell as well as Google with Ford and Kyocera, all developed new partnerships. Make no mistake about it, while co-opetition and co-creation are smart steps by technology providers, the reality is this trend is being driven by customers, who are looking for increased flexibility and deeper partnerships, all with the goal of harnessing the power of technology to drive revenue growth and scale.
The Resurgence of IBM
Arvind Krishna, IBM’s CEO, has led the company back into growth mode, with Q3 2022 revenues reflecting that the turnaround at the company is well underway. With the spin-off of its managed infrastructure business into Kyndryl last year, and building on the acquisition of Red Hat in 2019, IBM is doubling down on hybrid cloud. Its cloud business is growing at nearly 20% a year and it is currently the #5 Cloud Services provider. Wall Street has noticed too, as IBM stock is up 30% since Krishna took over in 2020.
The Acceleration of Data to the Cloud
2022 saw an acceleration of database management systems moving to the cloud. In 2021, Cloud DBMS totaled 49% of the market, and the forecasts suggest that Cloud DBMS will be well over half the market in 2022. And lest you think this is mostly non-mission-critical data moving to the cloud, check out the recent partnerships between Oracle and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Microsoft and the London Stock Exchange, and Google Cloud and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. We anticipate this growth of data to the cloud to keep accelerating in 2023 and beyond.
Final Thoughts
We will continue to provide analysis on these and other key trends during 2023. We’d love to hear from you. Join the discussion on LinkedIn and let us know what trends and events you didn’t see coming in 2022!
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