The tech industry experienced economic swings in 2022, slowing its long winning streak and bringing it to a halt in some cases. The industry is feeling the effects of a recession, with over 90,000 tech employees laid off and companies continuing to make difficult decisions about navigating choppy waters ahead. Despite this, many businesses will continue their digital transformation initiatives into 2023, focusing on areas like real-time personalization, fraud detection, and AI. Digital channels drive new revenue channels, meet user demands, and foster innovation, but require performance beyond the capabilities of legacy technology and introduce new market competition. Real-time performance enables businesses to provide customers with a seamless and personalized shopping experience, while AI has advanced to the point where it can perform tasks like writing essays, negotiating utility bills, and creating works of art. To deliver on the promise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, vast quantities of data must be stored in real-time.