The Year in Tech, 2023: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

by Harvard Business Review, Beena Ammanath, Andrew Ng

A year of HBR's essential thinking on tech—all in one place.

Easy-to-use AI tools, contactless commerce, crypto for business, the mature metaverse—new technologies like these are reshaping organizations at the hybrid office, on factory floors, and in the C-suite. What should you and your company be doing now to take advantage of the new opportunities these technologies are creating—and avoid falling victim to disruption? The Year in Tech 2023: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will help you understand what the latest and most important tech innovations mean for your organization and how you can use them to compete and win in today's turbulent business environment.

Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind?

Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues—blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more—each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow.

Genres: Business, Technology, Nonfiction, Audiobook

192 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2022

Reviews

[Alexandru · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very mixed bag of interesting and dissapointing topics. The biggest issue is that some of the articles are a lot older than 2023. So feels a bit dated.

[Christina Stathopoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to the 2022 edition, another great overview of the latest emerging tech innovations from thought leaders in each space. This annual book release by Harvard Business Review began in 2021. The 2023 edition covers topics such as: tech ethics, metaverse and NFTs, stablecoins and the future of money, contactless commerce, how to attract top tech talent, the mature cloud, say goodbye to cookies, cybersecurity, of course an entire section on AI, and much more! My favorites were the first chapter on ethics as new technologies converge today, and the section on AI which was quite timely given the rapid innovations in the space as of late.

A quick and easy read, I highly recommend checking it out yearly so you can more easily stay up to date with the latest in technology. I give this a 4-star review instead of 5 because most of the chapters are written at a superficial level, which is great for making it accessible to a wide audience. But I would have loved a slightly deeper dive (the book is only ~160 pages so it could have been made slightly longer) or at least next step recommendations from each thought leader on where/how they suggest exploring each topic further.

[Arun Narayanaswamy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Covers a lot of areas at a 10000 feet level related to how world have evolved in tech in 2023, the book will age very quickly as it doesn’t have the depth of what really is happening.
Though I enjoyed the first part where it covers Web 3.0 and touch free transactions, the book goes off topic when it gets to cloud and hiring.
Okayish book to say the least. Not the first hbr book that creates less or no impact.

[Erin Garlock · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually like the Year in Tech, but this year's version was like a bad blog and at times seemed as if written by a chat bot.

[My Doan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a good resource that provides a comprehensive overview of the current trends in technology and how businesses can leverage this knowledge to enhance their operations. Its insightful collection of articles covers diverse topics, accompanied by clear explanations and valuable key takeaways at the end of each section.

This book is a must-read for both technology enthusiasts and business leaders who want to navigate the complex world of technology and drive innovation within their organizations.

[Duncan Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice intellectual read. I wish this book went deeper into the weeds of the latest technological developments / how they work in addition to covering higher level scope and implications. I found relatable chapters as a digital consumer but felt this book was more tailored to a tech CEO than to a consultant lol. Would recommend for anyone looking for a higher level, “spark notes” read of the latest tech developments.

[Lokesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvard Business Review provides a simplified yet informative forecast on the trending topics which would eventually take root in the years to come. A brief touch on Metaverse, NFTs, Stablecoins, Contactless Commerce, Cloud, AI grants a broad viewpoint indeed. A short read for sure, with compressed yet profound impact.

[Ibrahim Cesar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shallow. The first chapter about how NFTs create value and stablecoins didn’t survived 2022. What can it say about 2023? A book with different authors and areas suffers from that. The cloud chapter is ok, again from a 10.000 overview as other pointed out. But sadly too much speculative and surfing in the hype disguised as researched and in depth.

[Dr. Tathagat Varma · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the rare HBR books that has nothing new to offer...maybe it was written for non-tech execs who have not the faintest inkling of what tech can do for their business!

Tech people should skip this.

[Nara]

The last chapter on privacy stands out, as it not only delves into ethical challenges but also unfolds potential country-specific hurdles. Otherwise, it is a fine overview of the progress of technology.

[Manish Choudhary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Top level fluffy stuff. No matter. I thought at least they'll talk about the trends and where the tech seems to be heading, or add the new discoveries in tech, that's not talked about in news.

So much ethics content, why not make a seperate article for that, and leave the overall yearly review.

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty standard HBR book. As such, it tackles a serious topic, but does so in a an oversimplified manner so that the contents will be easily digestible.

"The Year in Tech" books are issued once a year and contain HBR's best predictions for the coming year. It has become a personal tradition to read these around the beginning of the new year. The short and concise nature of the books makes this an easy and rewarding task.

This year's version does not offer any deep insights or make any risky assessments. It does however focus the reader's attention on a few areas within the tech sector that are currently of significant importance

[Dmytro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast, “disposable” reading. This years selection of articles is not the best. HBR could pick better content.

[Alex Otanez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers a lot of great detail, not sure anything is new or eye opening

[Carlo Martinello · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part (NEW FUNDAMENTALS) was interesting, then the book became less insightful.
It can be skipped, unless you are really interested in some specific topics treated within (example AI)

[Skyler Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this book up primarily for the AI articles. The content is light but it’s good for what it is.

[John Ennis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brutal

[Holger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much more superficial than the 2021 edition - a bunch of blog posts.

Aged very poorly.

[Julius · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. A couple of decent ideas but if you’re attracted to this book you probably already have read about many of these ideas before and in more depth. The articles were way to brief and generic. As if someone wrote cliff’s notes for the cliff’s notes.