Control and mobility are the two conflicting forces that are likely to change the way we work over the next decade, trend analysts predict. Control does not mean physically restraining employees but controlling data. It is already the most valuable asset of many corporations but, more and more, the data we work with will be “ours” or “theirs”.

The world will diverge into freelances and consultants, who do what they like with their own data, and employees, who work behind tight security on corporate data, according to the Orange Future Enterprise coalition (OFEc).

Mobility, the ability to connect to networks wherever we are, increasingly will mean a separation between working in the office and using data links to work at home or in global teams. But workers using “their” data will not necessarily be in the office. They could be people linked to the corporate database over secure communications links and could gather in offices to work together in socially cohesive teams.

This leads to interesting conclusions about how work could be organised in 2016, says OFEc in its new report. The least appealing vision — the company that controls its data tightly and keeps all its employees in a central location. Dubbed “Disciples of the Cloud”, this scenario envisages employees working to strict shift patterns, with computers monitoring key strokes and assessing productivity every second. It seems like a vision of hell but it would have its benefits.

The buildings would incorporate all the facilities workers needed, from crèches to hospitals. There would also be a definite line between work and play, so away from the campus they would be uncontactable.

Oddly, the best example of a Disciples of the Cloud company today is Google, often derided as new hippies. Google brings its workers into “Googleplexes”, homes from home that are happy, safe and ultra secure. The web giant’s only product is its data and that is kept in a digital fortress.

Tightly controlled company data is a feature of another emerging workplace that has a laid-back, touchy-feely image — the electronic cottage. The only difference between electronic cottages and Disciples of the Cloud is geographical dispersion, the OFEc report says.

Electronic cottages can be anywhere but to the company’s security system, they are within the perimeter and workers are controlled just as tightly when on duty. The appeal is that when workers log off they get their lives back. There is no commuting, no need to conform but workers may feel little loyalty.

The American airline jetBlue shows that this could be the way forward. Its 1,000 telephone sales staff work at home. They have virtually no autonomy or authority but staff turnover is less than 5 per cent and complaints from passengers are only a third of those received by the major airlines. Two further ways of working could appear soon. One is the “Replicant” — workers who create and own their data and can work anywhere. They would exploit the ability of communications networks to assemble ad hoc teams for specific tasks, regardless of geography. They would pick up software tools like magpies from open-source houses, adapting them for their own use. Replicants would also be highly skilled and highly paid but would find it hard to have a private life, given the unrelenting competition for contracts.

The spiralling cost of transportation, triggered by global warming, is likely to restore local food production and manufacturing. Craft values would return, favouring locally produced products over expensive, mass-produced imports. The main disadvantage is likely to be lack of choice. And one man’s community spirit may be another’s stifling conformism.