Gartner wants tablets in enterprise, we agree
Some people think they’re all just toys. They’re for consuming content and not for creation. Great for a middle ground between your phone and your laptop, and so on. Truth is, these things are changing the way the world thinks. Not only that, but the way the world does business. We have discussed how doctors are using iPads as a way to be more productive. They can show patients more information, that’s specific to them and their potential condition. At the same time, information is fed back and forth between the doctor and the hospital through specific apps that lead to a more natural and cohesive environment. It’s all great stuff and really helps everyone involved, but hold on to your seats because we’re about to see more widespread adoption of these “toys.”
My wife is a businesswoman, and an excellent one at that. She isn’t tech savvy by any means, but can work anything from Microsoft Office with the best of them. She has her iPad 2 and loves it. It works for her, and she’s starting to realize how productive you can be with it. However, she works for a national company, so the iPad is of course only used for personal use. It just isn’t as secure as her laptop is. With the slow rate of adoption for corporate phones not coming from Canada, she hasn’t ever given thought to her company ever opening up to tablets of any sort. This changed when she got an email from the Tampa Technology Forum that gave a brief description of Gartner’s feelings with the tablet market. The report “called on enterprises to make a fundamental shift in their thinking about employee-owned devices.” Basically, business’ had better adopt them before they’re left in the dust.
Now this might come as old news to some, but this is pretty much awesome. Most of us have had an idea on where these tablets can take us, and we might see some of the possibilities come to fruition. This isn’t to say that every company will start handing these out like pencils and staplers, but it’s nice to know that there is a real push for more widespread adoption. I’ve already seen plenty of events where the staff are using iPads for communication and control. Why not?It’s thin and light, and gives much more detailed information than a phone with a 4″ screen can.
Gartner Vice President David Willis stated “CIOs are determined not to make the same mistakes they made with smartphones, which were often written off early as expensive and frivolous toys, or executive status symbols.” This is great news, and we can see how they’ve realized their slow adtoption rate to smartphones beyond the Blackberry. But, “In a common mobile-worker scenario, employees may travel with a media tablet during the day, but then return to their laptops in the evening for heads-down data entry or content creation.” So as we already know at this point, these tablets will just supplement their laptops and phones.
Truth be told, these newer tablets are hitting the ground running. It all stems from how popular the phones have become, and if tablets can piggy back on that for awhile, that’s great news.
