In 2012, the business landscape and modern work styles will be determined more than ever by global connections between people, machines and their environment. In this review of key business technology trends for the coming year, I predict that business technology in 2012 will enable businesses to transform the workplace, provide more effective customer service, and create opportunities that benefit society as a whole.

The future has never looked so bright for companies and government institutions, who want to use technology to promote growth, solve problems within their sector and enrich people’s lives on a global scale. The following is an overview of the 10 most important technological trends for 2012 that will affect companies and their employees.

1. The Influence Of Smart Networks

With every new smart device and every new intelligent software application that is added to the network, all computers and devices within that network will become inherently smarter. All these devices will benefit exponentially from every new connection. Whether it is about connections between people or between machines: new opportunities will be created that offer a solution to social problems. Examples are the use of ICT for reducing the high costs within healthcare and solutions for smart energy management. Given the importance of the network, any form of interruption will have far-reaching consequences. As a result, the demand for carefully designed and effectively managed network connections within the global IP backbone and fast wireless networks will only grow.

2. To The Business Cloud And Back

The business cloud will reach maturity and provide significant benefits such as a drastic reduction in investment costs, greater business efficiency, and more efficient resource use. Cloud computing services will offer companies powerful new opportunities to easily move workloads between their internal data center and the cloud of an external service provider. Whether it is a public, private or hybrid cloud, the business cloud will play a crucial role in ‘mobilizing’ business applications. This will greatly improve the mobility of staff and pave the way for new business applications.

3. Large Data Volumes, Great Insights

Now that the right tools are available to manage huge data collections, companies will tap into huge amounts of information to increase their pace of innovation. The role of Chief Information Officer changes to that of Chief Innovation Officer. The CIO will be tasked with assessing data quality and developing strategic applications that create new business opportunities and enable fact-based decision making. This improved decision-making will have a positive effect on the operating result. Predictive analysis based on huge amounts of data from different sources will become an increasingly important tool for companies. Companies that use the knowledge contained within their data correctly,

4. The Social Enterprise

Companies have now fully embraced the internet, but will become even more social. The ability to tap knowledge at all levels of the organization becomes the new standard. Using the right tools, such as HD video for richer collaboration and intelligent crowdsourcing, companies can generate, find and exchange information faster, easier and more effectively than ever. This allows them to increase their pace of innovation and improve productivity so that the benefits will accumulate. A workforce that spans several generations will be able to use a truly limitless work style thanks to the use of technology. Work will be considered as an activity that is no longer tied to a specific location.

5. Video Technology Is The Future

Video technology will be highly regarded in the coming year due to its popularity among users and the ease with which it is available on tablets, mobile phones, and laptops. Thanks to the availability of ultra-high bandwidth and the combination of global IP networks with wireless 4G LTE networks, video technology will become the favorite medium of business communication. This technology will be used for everything from team meetings to quarterly assessments and on-demand information about strategic projects. With the emergence of contact centers that use video technology as a business-to-consumer application for customer support, video technology will make its definitive appearance.

6. Customized Services

New opportunities for personalization will encourage companies to innovate and enable them to shape their business processes and models in a new way. With multifunctional information kiosks outside traditional store locations, intelligent routing to the right contact center employee and ‘click to chat’ windows, companies can serve their customers more effectively. Also, the business cloud will offer the possibility to offer more intelligent applications and to integrate these within the physical environment. In this way, companies can personalize their customer service to increase customer satisfaction.

7. Consumerization Of IT

IT departments are increasingly feeling the influence of end-users. Many companies try to improve the experience and productivity of staff by adapting their IT policies to employees who bring their productivity tools, such as smartphones and tablets, to the workplace. Companies rely on experts to support mobile workers with cloud computing applications that work equally securely and reliably on portable devices and are integrated with traditional desktop applications. Business applications will be increasingly available through business app stores that are just as accessible as their counterparts within the consumer market.

8. M2M2P – Machine-to-Machine-to-People

Thanks to machine-to-machine communication, people will deal with things differently, whether it concerns the management of energy consumption, product stocks, fleet or business-critical assets. However, the human factor will continue to play an important role, ensure innovation and lead to important new solutions. For example, portable monitors will allow 24/7 monitoring of important patient characteristics, but this information will ultimately be used by healthcare providers to examine and treat patients.

9. Compliance Is Becoming Increasingly Attractive From A Commercial Point Of View

There is increasing evidence that companies that comply with security standards such as those of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) are less prey to data leaks. Compliance will, therefore, be high on the corporate agenda in 2012. Given the difficult economic climate and increasingly strict government guidelines, more and more companies will be interested in a meticulous, holistic security approach, so that they can respond to new opportunities quickly and safely. Companies and government institutions will deal with their network of partners differently. More and more organizations will give preference to partners who can demonstrate that they use a comprehensive, standards-based and sustainable security plan.

10. Energy Savings Ensure Business And Social Benefits

For many companies, energy efficiency and in particular a reduction of CO2 emissions will be important objectives. That is high time. In 2012, the public and private sectors will jointly invest in more efficient lighting, energy-efficient air conditioning, ventilation and heating systems, and other energy-efficient technology. Companies will look for flexible ones, which offer on-demand capacity for peak loads and reduce the power supply as soon as they use falls.