Gartner predicts that, by 2020, using a combination of tools including app and desktop
virtualization, workspace aggregators and responsive design, workers will have access to a unified workspace. We define “unified workspace” as a digital computer environment that allows for continuous experience across the devices and platforms that users access throughout the day.

By integrating features specific to certain platforms, information will be consumable and will be able to be manipulated in different ways, depending on the modality of the user’s choosing. By integrating virtual personal assistant (VPA) technology, interactions can take place without any physical interaction between user and device. Therefore, access to the unified workspace, which is increasingly critical for many highly mobile roles, will extend to screenless devices and wearable technology.

Building the unified workspace that can allow this continuous experience will require a concerted effort to join multiple user-facing technologies — outlined in “Hype Cycle for Unified Workspaces, 2016.” In addition, endpoint strategy, application development, and security and enterprise architecture teams must collaborate to create a responsive environment that can accommodate new models of interaction and a broad landscape of device technologies and platforms. A key ingredient in this architecture will be modularity that allows for extending the unified workspace to take advantage of emerging interaction models, device types and operating systems with minimal integration effort.

Source : Gartner – Predicts 2017: Mobile and Client Platforms