Over the next decade, experts estimate that the flow of information in the workplace will increase to the point where workers must rely on powerful technology tools to get their jobs done. These new tools will allow workers to be more productive, allowing them to communicate across various media and devices, enabling smarter, yet easier, ways for them to find and share information with others.
Imagine this: an office, where people are always switched on, always connected; where less information is more; working smart is the norm. From information overload to security issues to intuitive collaboration, Microsoft’s initiatives could hold the answer. Could the company’s upcoming Center for Information Work (CIW) prototype be the panacea?
Located at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, the 3,500-square-foot Center for Information Work (CIW) features experimental technologies that Microsoft envisions reaching the market in the next five to seven years.
“Anyone walking into the CIW will get a powerful experience of Microsoft’s ‘People-Ready’ vision for business: that an organization’s people, when equipped with the right software, are the key to driving business success,” says Jeff Raikes, President of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft. “The innovative concepts and evolving technologies on display come from throughout Microsoft, but every one is focused on empowering workers to deliver greater value to their organisations.”
The CIW creates an immersive experience for attendees, who play the part of employees in a fictitious company, Trey Pharmaceuticals, tasked with solving a specific business problem using software-based productivity tools. In this setting, visitors work individually as well as in teams to resolve scheduling issues, compliance tasks, supply-chain partnerships and other business process challenges.
Through the experience of using prototype technologies demonstrated in the CIW, customers emerge with an in-depth sense of how future software could help empower information workers in areas such as individual productivity, business intelligence, team collaboration and workflow.
| CIW Agenda – 1.) Simpler security: Hard-to-falsify characteristics such as fingerprints, voice print, retinal scan, handwriting or typing patterns will quickly authenticate users. Advances in identity management tools will enable users to securely pass authentication credentials without the need for cumbersome username and password policies . 2.) Seamless synchronization: A new generation of devices will use wireless technology and operating protocols to automatically provide a seamless set of synchronized data and user interface preferences when devices are in proximity or when a user signs on to a networked device. The clear benefits are no more disparate, duplicate, redundant data floating on your notebook, desktop, mobile phone, reams of paper or the internet. 3.) Natural interfaces: Technology such as gesture recognition, voice, pen and ink, and smart work surfaces will further expand the range of ways people can search databases, online and offline sites by voice-based interface. These interfaces will directly result in a reduction of Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) caused by hammering the keyboard and mouse. 4.) Information management: Pattern-recognition capabilities will enable the software to simulate the “common sense” that humans use to recognize what information is helpful and relevant, so that search results are more targeted and disruptive background activities (alerts, notifications, etc.) do not interrupt employees while they are focused on other tasks. 5.) Unified communication and collaboration: Microsoft Round Table collaboration and communication device is a recent example of a technology incubated in the CIW. A 360-degree camera delivers an immersive conferencing experience that extends the meeting room across multiple locations. New smaller-form-factor computing devices such as Tablet PCs, ultralight PCs and Smart phones allow employees to contribute and analyze information without leaving their workstations and thereby reduce overall costs to the company. |
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