A new video has been posted on Office Labs (link) showing some ideas about how future workers will work and collaborate. It’s a good video to watch to get you creative juices flowing. Not just to see the Microsoft vision behind how people will be working but to see how emerging technologies could be used in the future.

Many times we see a new technology introduced and we fail to capitalize on it because we do not integrate it with other processes/technologies in the workplace. Personally, I have struggled for a while on why someone would want to integrate a video projector into a cell phone.  In the video, we see a GPS equipped cell phone with a built-in projector gives its owner directions to the gate at the airport terminal.   Simple idea, but think of all the possibilities. Workers on a offshore platform being able to project and overlay schematics on piece of equipment or visual notification when a worker enters a safety zone.

Taking a few steps back to the present day, think of our portal and how we can start marrying it with other technologies in the workplace.  Using social networking technologies to capture knowledge gained during the troubleshooting process.  Bringing in location based services to bring relevant alerts and information to the nearest worker.   The more we learn and try to integrate our technologies, the more value we will get from our existing investments by having our systems surface information in a timelier manner.

Chris Van Dyke