EdTech Trends That Are Driving Change for 2023

Thanks to the lingering effects of COVID we’ve seen a massive shift in everything that we once knew. This meant unexpected changes in every industry that lead to unprecedented trends. We will be looking at some of the edtech trends within large enterprises, mid-sized enterprises, EdTech, AI, AR, and VR that have been noticed by notable sources.

EdTech’s Demand for Upskilling In-House Talent

According to Mckinsey, EdTech companies are constantly looking to upskill their workforce as remote schooling technologies have become more advanced. Throughout the pandemic, edtech began to boom. McKinsey states that “Venture Capitalists invested $20.8 billion in the edtech sector globally in 2021. That’s more than 40 times the amount they invested in 2010.”

Did you know that private companies are still growing capital at double-digit revenue multiples? According to Mckinsey, EdTech continues to charm venture capitalists because everyone in the education space has become more comfortable with technology being the primary source of education materials throughout the pandemic. These habits are here to stay, online education is the new normal.

Thanks to a demanding labor market and a surplus of jobs needing to be filled, finding and retaining talent has become challenging for many companies. Large employers have started filling talent gaps by investing in workforce education and development programs. Some companies are using these types of programs for their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as well.

With the increasing demand for upskilling and reskilling, EdTech companies are expanding and emphasizing their enterprise offerings. Even companies that were previously B2C have drama­tically increased their revenues from enterprise offerings in recent years. Mckinsey states that to find success within the enterprise space, EdTechs could offer comprehensive workforce analytics. These features, if used properly, could identify skill gaps in the workforce, offer educational content to fill gaps, and provide services to match newly upskilled graduates with positions where they can be the most successful and valuable.

Many EdTech companies have recently turned their investment focus to the Indian market. Mckinsey stated “While the Chinese market accounted for 63 percent of edtech funding in 2020, that dropped to less than 13 percent in 2021. In India, edtech funding has grown from $0.2 billion five years ago to $3.8 billion and 18 percent of global investments in 2021.” English is a widely spoken language in India, so EdTech companies are able to achieve rapid success there.

According to Mckinsey “Despite a dip in 2019, global investments in edtech have registered an average 45 percent CAGR for the past five years and still grew 30 percent from 2020 to 2021. It’s an exciting sector to be in, but players may want to keep a close eye on how it develops.”

Scarce Talent Threatens Technology

Short supply of talent poses a risk to the successful adoption of new technologies. According to the Gartner large enterprise report “This year, 64% of respondents feel that talent availability is the largest challenge to emerging technology adoption, compared with just 4% in 2020 and 14% in 2019.”

Improving and maintaining IT infrastructure security has become an incredibly large priority for organizations as they attempt to mitigate rising threats, specifically with endpoint devices in a hybrid work environment.  According to the Gartner Large enterprise report “From 2020 to 2021, the number of security technologies in deployment rose sharply — from 15% to 84% of evaluated technologies. Also, in 2021, 64% of respondents reported that they have either increased or are planning to increase investments in security technologies, a significant jump from just 31% in 2020.”

Increased Investments in Distributed Cloud Systems

Many Mid-sized Enterprises (MSEs) have invested in cloud computing technologies due to hybrid working. According to the Gartner MSE report, 88% of MSEs plan to implement distributed cloud systems and hybrid cloud computing technologies by the end of 2022, in an effort to move away from the centralized model for existing cloud services.

According to the Gartner MSE report, investments in cloud security are increasing by MSE CIOs in order to enhance employee productivity. Network security is evolving by deploying cloud-based controls to ensure more scalable, integrated, and dynamic security needs of the organization. Gartner states “89 % of the MSEs plan to deploy these technologies by the end of 2022 to have an overlapping set of capabilities to address cloud risks.”

The Gartner report says that MSEs are investing in disaster recovery, cybersecurity, and non-disruptive testing via hybrid cloud storage. The Gartner report also states that “In response to an increase in highly publicized ransomware attacks, 50% of the MSEs plan to deploy hybrid cloud storage by the end of 2021 to enable resilience in their organizations.” CIOs are piloting hybrid cloud storage investments to create seamless data services and mitigate risks in a hybrid working environment.

A Step Towards Clean Technology

Mckinsey says that sustainability emerged for tech around the world, clean energy, and sustainable consumption receiving the highest investment from private equity and venture capital firms. Mckinsey claims that five new edtech trends were added to this year’s edition: industrializing machine learning, Web3, immersive-reality technologies, the future of mobility, and the future of space.

AI Pushing Boundaries in Tech Developments

According to the Gartner report, organizations are investing in more technologies with intelligent data and analytics. Many enterprises are implementing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services, AI IT operations platforms, data science, and machine learning platforms. MSEs are deploying AI technologies to open new service-delivery’s. MSEs are using bots and virtual assistants to increase efficiency.

According to Mckinsey applied AI once again earned the highest score for innovation in the report, continuing the trend from last year. Mckinsey says new tools like AI help in the development of software applications, testing, and improving processes and software quality. Applied AI aids in solving classification, prediction, and control problems to automate, add, or augment real-world business use cases. AI technologies push new ideas of innovation, business adoption continues to grow across use cases.

AR & VR Take Charge

This year’s Gartner report stated that MSEs are investing in digital reality technologies to improve communication and collaboration in hybrid work environments. The majority of MSEs are now testing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to expand both the real-world and virtual surroundings of users. There are significant costs associated with implementation risks, however, CIOs see remarkable benefits to keeping customers and employees engaged in a virtual environment.

New tech like VR, AR, web3, AI, and machine learning, are slowly integrating into education. These technologies Improve personalized learning based on students’ progress. However, learners are more concerned with value-added services such as personalized guidance, interview readiness, and support when it comes to finding employment.

Conclusion

There are many things to consider with this information. Technology is the new normal, so it pays to invest in technology in any way possible. Edtech trends that were consistent throughout all reports are AI, VR, AR, Sustainability, and talent retention.