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By 2013 office workers will access everything they need online, from their own desktop and applications such as Microsoft Office, to accounting software, content management systems and even bespoke applications, predicts Charles Black, chief executive officer of Nasstar.

As a result, the traditional on-site IT department and bevy of support staff will be made completely redundant.

"IT has become a utility," says Black. "And in the same way companies don't have a chief electricity officer to help people plug in and power their devices, so the costly overhead of IT management will be replaced by a simple plug-and-play approach over the internet."

Predictions concerning the end of IT departments and offices have been all the rage in recent years, but Black believes recent data

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breaches and technological improvements are making the technology more attractive.

"There is far less that can go wrong with virtual desktop than on-premise. Just look at recent high profile data breaches we've seen the MoD's laptops stolen and the HMRC data crisis.

"Also, traditionally, enterprises have the cost and complexity of supporting different operating systems and workstations. Hosted Deskop means there is far less to go wrong than a traditional PC."

Among the other benefits envisioned by Black, he also predicts workers increasingly drifting away from the office environment and becoming more mobile.

"We do not envisage the end of office working, far from it, but certainly we would expect this technology to give rise to growth in flexible working, which means less commuting, congestion and more productivity in many cases."

And as for the IT staff: "They can actually put their skills to work developing bespoke applications that are specific to that business or industry so that they can give customers of the business a better experience," responds Black.

Adobe today launched the free online image manipulation tool, Photoshop Express, which allows users to edit and save images using a simple online interface.