As is common this time of year, I’d like to put forward my own projections for 2007. Here are the top five trends that I believe we’ll be hearing a lot about in 2007:

Sourcing Strategies

Software as a Service (Saas) will become the de facto approach for systems deployment. The infrastructure is being proven through companies such as Salesforce.com and Dave Duffield’s new venture Workday. Companies are tired of the “upgrade treadmill” and established vendors like Oracle and SAP will struggle to respond.

Talent Management

Performance Management will be a fundamental aspect in most HCM deployments. Shareholders are increasingly holding their executives accountable for performance, and HR executives will have to step up to the plate. Performance management software will be the most frequently deployed application over the coming year.

Social Networks

Our global, mobile, virtual world will continue to evolve as much of our “water cooler talk” will continue to move to the Web via blogging, tagging, and advanced search algorithms using natural language syntax. VOIP and chat software will continue to expand into more aspects of our business and personal life.

Globalization

While most global companies are now well situated in Europe, there will be increasing movement toward Asia, in particular China. As the Web technologies mature, and as English, the lingua franca for business, continues to expand, it will become increasingly easier to work across global borders bringing more challenges and cultural conflicts.

Workforce

The aging baby boomer population, increasing numbers of immigrants, and ongoing use of offshoring to lower cost environments will continue to have a profound impact on our workforce. Line managers and human resources professionals will need to expand their repertories to develop the facility to manage an increasingly diverse workforce.

Many of these things will not come as a surprise to anyone — life/business, afterall, really is an evolution — revolutions in a true sense are rare.