Technology industry outlook

The emergence of new technologies is sending shock waves through the middle market business environment, with organizations quickly evaluating how to leverage innovation to enhance efficiencies, improve the customer and employee experience, and reduce costs. Everyone is talking about AI, and many companies—including those in media and entertainment—are set to ride that wave. In addition, telecom companies are working to satisfy the appetite for more high-speed connectivity with 5G-supported edge computing. How disruptive will the advancements in natural language processing, generative AI and the expansion of 5G infrastructure be to the middle market? Only time will tell, but the data-backed trends suggest the impact will be significant.

With a possible recession looming in 2023, 2022 was an interesting year for talent and the technology sector. With some of the nation's largest tech companies announcing layoffs and hiring freezes, middle market technology companies will find themselves in a newfound position of strength when it comes to locating and hiring talent.

Technology has always been a driver of change and innovation. As technology companies strive to innovate, race to be first to market and compete for market share, the fight for top tech talent has been increasingly competitive. Until recently, middle market firms have seemed locked in a losing battle against large public technology companies for talent. However, with climbing interest rates and stubborn inflation, many public tech companies have turned to layoffs as a means of managing profitability and share prices.