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The following predictions go hand-in-hand with my last blog called “Five 2012 Predictions for the Workplace” – because you can’t talk about the workplace without talking about technology.

Mobile Apps will surround and embrace us – Mobile collaboration apps that keep us in community over time and space will become simpler, ubiquitous and fill in even the tiniest gaps in our common interconnectedness.   And they’ll begin to be encouraged by forward-thinking corporate IT departments.  The challenge will be to learn the behaviors and establish protocols for when you will NOT be reachable.

Video will keep us connected – Streaming visuals of content and people will become an increasingly important part of communications and conferencing in the distributed workforce.  Almost all laptops and Smart Phones now come with built-in cameras.  Relevant remote conferencing tools all have video.  In 2012 these will be used a lot.

Natural interfaces move from nice-to-have to a requirement – Simplified, intuitive interfaces like touch screen, motion capture and voice recognition will go main stream.  Seems Apple is out in front of this one (um, again).  The super simple iPad touch interface is the best around and has sparked the realization that all net access should be this easy.  Siri on the iPhone 4S (along with the awesomely accurate built-in voice-to-text recognition) will drive customer demand for voice interface on all digital devices.  And a nod to Microsoft for the motion recognition interface of the Kinect gaming console which has huge potential for e-learning.

The network access device has already been designed – The form factor of the iPad will drive standardization of what the network access device will become.  Tablet prices will drop to $100 (but not for the iPad) and Apple will have some true rivals in terms of interface, power and apps.  Tablets and Smart Phones will become the key net access devices (see next prediction).

Smart Phones rule – Smart Phones will replace feature phones giving everyone, particularly those in developing countries, access to all the computers and all the data on the planet.  Those who don’t now have a computer will skip straight to the Smart Phone.  Powerful and unpredictable changes will come from this.  For work, Smart Phones will continue to support – and drive – mobile work.

WiFi everywhere – WiFi will continue to become the way the net is accessed – as opposed to copper wires.  There are profitable business models for making WiFi free but they have only been deployed in limited ways.  I would like to predict that WiFi will be free everywhere in 2012, but that will take a few more years.  But imagine the productivity when the net is accessible everywhere at anytime for free.  Some smart cities like Raleigh, Houston and Denver (called Muni-Fi) are investing to fill in the gaps between the Starbucks.  It will pay off for them.  Within the office, secure WiFi will be the new standard.

The Cloud progresses…slowly – The potential of Cloud computing and storage is now barely being tested and in 2012 it will continue to slowly grow.  Some large organizations will migrate email and other productivity apps and storage to The Cloud, but it will be limited.  Some highly publicized cyber attacks and government subpoena threats will keep uptake sluggish.  But The Cloud is here to stay and will continue to be a growing part of all net computing.

IWMS truly embraces SaaS – In 2012 some big IWMS will finally embrace the idea that SaaS is the best way to deliver- and price - their product.  i.e. Salesforce.com for the corporate portfolio.  The big players do it now, but they’ve only dented the surface of the traditional software sales and support model.  If they realized the money that could be made, they’d redirect some serious development dollars to making the online experience simple, engaging and productive.

Social Media becomes a business App – Social media will stop being “hot” and become more a part of everyday work.  Some of the frivolous Facebook-y aspects will be left in the “Social” universe, and work will embrace the attributes that drive collaboration and connection.

Tech Agnosticism begins to show up – Corporate IT will begin to make their network access and architectures device and platform agnostic enabling anyone to work with any device they bring.  In fact, with Cloud computing, SaaS and the desire by employee to bring their own tech to work, IT’s role will be significantly redefined over the next five years.

"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." -William Gibson