Which treasurer on the beach is playing a video game onher iPad and which is accessing her treasury system to approvepayments? It's getting harder to tell, even if you get a glimpse ofthe screen, because the user-friendly features of the personalvirtual world are spreading to the workplace.

Treasury systems vendor IT2 is following Microsoft's lead andbuilding its new version 8.0 to offer the touch-screen experience,says chief technology officer Paul Higdon. “Users will see livetiles that change color and intensity according to alerts, policyviolations or work waiting to be addressed,” Higdon says. Microsoftis bringing touch screens to Windows 8 and Office 13 this fall, andIT2 will be touch-ready to capitalize on those latest releases, hesays.

Watch for treasury portals to start offering the kind oftechnology common in computer games. “We're investing in bringingvoice, touch and presence control to our CEO treasury portal,” saysMichael Daley, senior vice president and group product manager atWells Fargo Bank. If a treasury executive's device has thosecapabilities, treasury tasks can be done by giving a voice command,touching what you want to do on a screen or waving a hand toindicate commands without actually touching a screen or keyboard,Daley explains.