Is it too late to make 2007 predictions 3 weeks into the year? Here are a few on my mind...
Google CRM (Phase 1)
GMail contact management allows consumers to create their own extensible metadata for managing contacts. Google Apps for your domain allows you to share your contacts with others in an organization.
Expect small businesses to start leveraging these features as Google goes head-to-head with Microsoft Live Office (or is it Office Live? I always mix these up) to provide basic CRM needs to small businesses.
Later, integration with Google Pages will enable basic "dialogues" through the web, such as Contact Us form collection.
Wikis will actually be "Quick" to use
The term Wiki has now been stretched far beyond its original intention of being the canonical example of the absolute simplest web collaboration application. Wiki's that require users to login, provide access controls, content versioning, spellchecking, and variable formatting syntax are no longer Wiki's. They are Content Management Systems (CMS).
Corporate Wikis will return to their roots and be accepted as un-structured data. Consumer facing Wikis will outgrow their Wiki lineage and become increasingly sophisticated and complicated, but will unfortunately be forever referred to as "Wiki".
RSS Takes Off
The proliferation of Internet Explorer 7, with its ease of feed subscription, will force more business and consumer users to discover the power of the "
little orange buttons".
RIAs Emerge for CRM
Web-based access to Salesforce CRM will continue to grow, but alternative Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that are designed for low-latency, frequent interaction, offline use will emerge. Customers will have their choice of UI when using CRM, however critical mass adoption of RIAs is still a few years away.
The following are not related to the business web, but here are a few consumer-related predictions:
Wayne's World for The Web - User Generated Content Will Suck More
However, the desire for
15 minutes of fame will not go away and demand for paid Internet entertainment services will dramatically increase.
iTunes Requires A Tune-Up To Continue Growth
The inability to preview entire songs before purchase and access the entire song catalogue on demand will result in either a) Consumer dissatisfaction or b) a business model change that more closely resembles Real Rhapsody.
"Small Is The New Big" - Convergence can only go so far
The Swiss army knife of Phone/PDA/MP3 player will, at best, be an 80% solution for each of the purposes it serves. Expect a return to 100% focused, small, and elegant devices with a price tag to fit.