Technology has become all-encompassing and surrounds us with almost everything we touch. Anywhere we turn—from cars to gaming consoles, digital books, and appliances—technology is advancing. Every day, consumers are using all facets of technology, are more technical than they have ever been, and expect more from all their devices. We, the users, are driving this change and demanding these new technological advances mostly to simplify our lives or better communicate with others. Consumers are in control of this change and it is affecting, transforming, and shifting business communication methods. Here are three important trends to watch and what to expect as we move into this technology-converged business and personal world.

Technology Becomes More Interactive

There may be a day where the keyboard and mouse will become the archaic way of inputting information into computing devices as we are seeing big changes where the adoption of other input methods are becoming more mainstream. Instead of a mouse or a stylus, touch has become the everyday input method for mobile devices. With the advancements of voice technology, voice command applications in cars or Siri for the iPhone, will become standard ways of communicating with technology or inputting information. At the same time, output has also turned into an audible response instead of output to a screen or printed page. Not that any of these technologies are new, but the implementation of this technology, combined with the power of untethered access to the cloud, has made this basic form of “voice & audible communications with technology” possible. It is the most pure ways of communication—voice action (input) paired with audible reaction (output) with no required keyboard, mouse, pen, paper, or printer.

Windows 8 – Simplifying the UI with Metro, Personalization, Tiling, and Swipes

Microsoft is banking on its new user interface for Windows 8, as also seen on its mobile, Zune, and Xbox platforms, known as Metro. Microsoft's design team says that the Metro UI is partly inspired by signs commonly found at public transport systems. Metro places a large focus on typography and has large text that catches the eye.

Figure 1: Metro Screenshot

Microsoft says that Metro is designed to be "sleek, quick, modern" and a "refresh" from the icon-based interfaces of Android and iOS. What Microsoft wants is to have a common interface between all platforms, making the user experience much easier. With the convergence of consumer with business, Microsoft believes that this shift will take away the humdrum attitude towards the desktop by simplifying the user experience and making it more modern, fun, and hip. At the same time, it begins to shift the desktop to a new level of personalization and customization, like we see on mobile devices. We will also see a new transition that begins to empower the user in the business world, as well.

Later this year, InfoTrends expects to also see Microsoft adding its Kinect platform into Windows 8, which will merge their innovative interactive gaming experience into the desktop. Two years ago, we talked about how we should be watching innovations that come from gaming platforms (back then it was Kinect was known as Project Natal) as they could merge these technologies into business platforms. Like Siri on the iPhone, we can expect to see voice commands, gesturing, and video collaboration coming from this new platform.

Personalization Becomes a Stronger Theme – It’s Still All About Me

Like many of the platforms we see today, there is a great importance placed upon personalization. Especially on mobile devices, we set our preferences and customize our screens, icons, and ringtones to make the device unique. We are still seeing individuals wanting more control over their own environments, and these users are still picking and choosing what they want and implementing their own mini environments on their own. This started with the “consumerization” of IT (also known as BYOD—“Bring Your Own Device”), where users purchase technology for personal use (i.e., purchasing their own smartphones and using them for business purposes, as well). Equally, applications like Dropbox, Evernote, genius scan, and other applications are being purchased by individuals, but are also being used for business because they cannot wait for IT to make purchasing decisions; individuals want to be in control of their content without the barriers of VPNs or corporate policies.

These “prosumers” want to be continuously connected to their information and they want their devices to be instantly on. The two worlds of consumer and business are colliding. We will see this trend even more on the desktop when Windows 8 launches and users are able to make their desktop their own. We already see this empowerment strategy in the way SharePoint gets deployed in organizations that allow users to customize their own repositories. This new user empowerment will allow individuals to be more productive, but it also creates a cause for concern on how to control devices, users, applications, and information. CIOs and business owners will have to strike a balance between being more productive versus a chaotic mash-up of devices and repositories, or they can deploy tools that manage these new user environments.

Apple Mashes the Best to Deliver Better - the Apple Television

Apple’s strength has not been invention, but taking the best technologies and putting them together in an ecosystem to deliver a better experience. We can imagine Apple will do the same with their Apple TV that is to be launched later this year. We have heard rumors that Apple will be announcing the real Apple Television, and we expect big game changing ideas to transform the television experience. Looking at what has come out in business technology, gaming, phones, and entertainment devices, this is what we would expect: Take the best technologies and marry them into one amazing device – camera, facial recognition, voice recognition, gaming platform, iTunes, augmented reality, interactivity, and with a personalized experience.

Therefore, when looking at technology, it is important to track consumer trends as well as business trends as they continue to merge.

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Each year, InfoTrends’ analysts think deeply about the year ahead and predict what we believe to be the pivotal trends that will shape the market. These predications are published in our annual Road Map reports. The preceding article is an excerpt from InfoTrends’ 2012 Managed Print Services Road Map. To learn what other trends InfoTrends is predicting for the year ahead visit our online store or contact Stephanie Tose at 781-616-2103 or stephanie_tose@infotrends.com.