BANGALORE, INDIA: The top seven technology trends for 2012 are:

1. Cloud Computing will be driven by low investment projects such as application development and testing

Although global customers have been discussing cloud computing and the probability of adopting a cloud strategy, we have seen very little adoption in the last year. The year mainly focused on creating consensus among CIOs and CTOs to analyse the impact cloud computing can have on businesses.

However beginning 2012, we are expecting low cost cloud based projects to pick up, especially those which do not necessitate heavy investments. For instance, cloud computing can play a role in applications that need to be developed from scratch and eventually tested as such an activity does not demand locked infrastructure. However, we are yet to see traction with legacy applications that need to be moved to a cloud environment.

2. Usability now in enterprise applications from just end user applications

For the uninitiated, Usability refers to making products more convenient, practical and functional; and this principle is now being applied to software applications as well. Until now, Usability as a concept used to be associated only with those applications that were focused on end-users.

However, with enterprise applications like CRM, Business Intelligence, ERP etc becoming accessible on mobile devices customers are increasingly looking at infusing the element of usability for enterprise applications as well to garner higher and faster adoption of such applications in a corporate environment.

3. Content Management being monetised

Initially organizational content such as documents, videos, web based applications, mobility applications was delivered only through traditional technologies. But increasingly content delivery and distribution is undergoing a transformation.

The boundaries between e-commerce and content management are shrinking and companies are thinking in terms of how their content can be delivered across various devices and how this delivery can be eased creating a business value out of it. Hence companies are putting focus on how content can be managed within the organization, how it can be distributed and how it can be monetized.

4. M-Commerce

In the wake of explosive mobile phone penetration, mobile commerce and Near Field Communication will see a surge in 2012 and serve as pivots for an intelligent ecosystem towards customer delight. For instance - Advertisements on mobile phones customised to a user’s location and preference will become mainstream.

If a user while strolling on the road does a Google search to find the nearest restaurant, the advertisements from the nearest restaurants will show up on his mobile screen to satiate that specific customer need.  On the other hand, mobile payments will revolutionize the transactions scenario. Tightening the biggest challenge of security on this platform will ensure that user concerns are allayed thereby making this platform much more popular than web based banking in the near future.