2012 Predictions: Increased user mobility will drive virtualisation of legacy applications

Increased agility will be a critical success factor for organisations looking to weather the continuing economic turmoil in 2012. As organisations look to flex staff numbers and locations to match changing business needs, and users themselves choose to become increasingly mobile, IT departments will be asked to deliver 100% web-based access to all IT applications.

While they can turn to native cloud applications such as Google Apps for collaboration and productivity solutions, many organisations also depend heavily on specialist business applications, often customised to their specific needs.

Virtualisation will be a key technology in allowing legacy applications like these to be delivered over secure internet connections to the browser, with providers like Accenture already offering SAP as a virtualised online service. We expect to see a wider range of older packaged software offered this way, as providers offer the facility to enable existing in-house systems to be accessed through a range of browser devices. Companies such as Citrix and Ericom are now providing the capability for in-house Windows applications to be accessed remotely on devices such as the iPad and the Google Chromebook alongside cloud-native applications.