As tablets become one of the most-utilized devices in the mobile personal computing market, businesses will likely increasingly look to incorporate tablets into their daily operations. How do businesses decide when it is the right time to begin the utilization of tablets? And how do businesses then incorporate such devices into their day-to-day operations?
Businesses will determine when to use tablets based on a variety of potential advantages, as listed following.
Improved productivity - The light weight and long-lasting battery features of tablets may be a more practical device for certain jobs.
Improved data gathering - This may be especially useful for businesses with employees that are "on the road" most of the time.
Ease of use - Today's work force is more tech savvy and able to quickly adapt to new technology/devices.
For now, tablets are primarily considered consumer devices, rather than business devices. However, there are already some examples of businesses and governmental agencies incorporating tablet devices into their operations. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently approved the use of iPads by pilots for chart reading. Also, pre-flight checks, which are currently typically performed on a notebook PC, will likely be done on tablets in the future.
Speaking of the iPad, although not as revolutionary as the original iPad, the iPad 2 has several new applications which businesses may find useful. For example, the iPad 2 includes a front facing camera and a Face Time feature, which is an easy way to videoconference. This feature is also supported on the iPhone and iPod Touch. As such, video conferencing can take place from an iPad 2 to another iPad 2, iPhone, iPod Touch, or a Mac computer. For business with employees frequently out of the office, this may be an especially desirable feature for keeping in touch with coworkers and/or clients.
Another leading tablet device in the market, the Motorola's Xoom, also has several features which may be appealing for business use. Several independent tests by leading technology websites indicate that the Xoom typically is faster than the iPad or iPad 2 in terms of site-loading speed for web sites. Although this is a matter of seconds, this may, over time, be significant for certain business operations.
Businesses looking to purchase tablet devices would be well-advised to test out the two cited leading tablets in the market today. A comparison of the iPad2 and Xoom indicate various advantages for each. The iPad 2 is lighter in weight, lower in price, and features a longer battery life than the Xoom. On the other hand, the Xoom has a higher display resolution, stereo speakers, and larger storage capacity.
Overall, a test run with objective measurements will enable business owners to see if they can achieve improvements in their business's daily operations through the use of tablet devices. If a test run does show improvements, it is likely in the interests of those businesses to make use of tablet devices as soon as possible, especially before their competitors begin to incorporate them.
Check out my article on the success of e-books: The Success of E-Books.
