Tablets are beyond cool

Tablet computers are not only cool gadgets; they are going to be genuine game-changers for business, say analysts.

The tablet market, spurred mostly by the Apple iPad, is set to leapfrog desktop sales by 2015 and maybe even as early as 2013. Gartner says tablets will sell at least 20.4 million units by 2015.

The switch to tablets is expected to boost employee mobility, enterprise agility and competitiveness, present new ways to increase revenue, and provide new opportunities to solve complex problems.

However, security and connectivity are likely major obstacles, and companies may be disappointed when all the promised bells-and-whistles fail to materialise. Employees may also find it difficult to break away from the chains that bind them to their desktops.

Cliff Court, CTO of Grapevine Interactive, notes that many companies are starting to evaluate the true business value of tablets.

“They are asking questions around how to approach the management of these devices, their secure use within the business, and what software should be allowed on them,” says Court.

He believes that with the proliferation of tablets from a variety of manufacturers, organisations have been left wondering whether tablet technology can make a difference to the way they do business.

Explaining how the gadgets can change the game, Court says: “An example of this is in the day-to-day process of completing an order during a typical client meeting. Using a tablet, the order form details can be captured directly onto the screen while sitting with the customer, with the immediate ability to display product brochures and live stock levels, if there are queries during the process.

“Once complete, the tablet can be handed over to the customer for a signature on the device itself - using either a finger or stylus as a pen.”

He explains that the executed deal can then be immediately transmitted over the mobile network to a company's systems for fulfilment.

“Compared to current manual methods for getting orders signed and then captured into ordering systems, the new tablet-based mechanism will dramatically streamline these everyday processes, and it will be clearly noticeable on the company's bottom line.”

Court believes the effective use of tablets, suitably aligned with corporate strategy, will enable companies to find new ways to increase revenue, while, at the same time, lowering their cost of sale.

However, he notes that many businesses will, nonetheless, be nervous of wholesale adoption of tablets. Companies have previously been disappointed when a new solution or device promised the world, only to fail when the practical realities of business and technology intertwine.

“Tablets are no different and there is no doubt their implementation will require careful consideration. For one thing, care will have to be taken in the management of this new category of device, with a strong focus placed on how security and other policies are applied to tablet users who access company systems,” he says.

Analyst firm Gartner recently issued a report saying the sooner organisations start using tablets, the better. In its report, “iPad and Beyond: The Media Tablet in Business”, Gartner called on organisations to provide employees electronic products to make a fundamental change to their business.

Tablets supplement laptop and smartphone products, says Gartner. They provide opportunities to solve complex problems, and give companies the upper hand in the competition for the enterprise.

According to David Willis, Gartner's research VP, chief information officers should avoid repeating the mistakes made with the smartphone, which, in earlier times, was seen as an expensive and important tool, and even an executive status symbol.

The Notebook Company also recently acknowledged that tablet sales, spurred mostly by the Apple iPad, are set to leapfrog desktop sales by 2015, or earlier.

Forrester also points out that tablets are going to surpass desktop sales by 2015, and maybe as early as 2013, if the trend keeps up. Tablets will sell upwards of 20.4 million units by 2015, it says.

The iPad, after being released in April last year in the US, was only officially launched in SA in January. By that time, the Samsung Galaxy Tab was already available through subscriptions with mobile operators.

Competition heated up considerably with the rapid release of the second-generation iPad in April, and as a result, the prices of both the original iPad and the Galaxy Tab were reduced. The WiFi- and 3G-enabled iPad 2 devices currently start at R5 600.

While SA still waits for the official local release of the BlackBerry PlayBook and others, several tablets have arrived on local shelves. Some of the tablets available in-store include the Acer Iconia A500 and Huawei Ideos S7. The offering from Huawei is the most competitively priced tablet to date, retailing between R3 200 and R3 600.

Stephen Ambrose, MD of WWW Strategy, agrees there is no doubt that tablets and other mobile devices will fundamentally change the way companies do business.

According to Ambrose, the major benefit of using tablet PCs is ubiquitous connectivity and the ability to operate from anywhere and at any time.

However, he says the gadgets will not change the way organisations use technology to do business, but will move the company systems much closer to the customer, and enable employees to be more mobile and more responsive.

He also argues that tablets will not change the role of the standard computer. “In fact, it will grow in the context of tablet and mobile computing. Traditional computers will become even more essential in the management and operation of tablet computers.

“The big trend here is mobility and flexibility, which is what tablets offer. The long battery life, ease of use, and compact form factor will enable functionality right in front of customers and clients that was not entirely possible before the advent of these devices,” he explains.

In June, Gijima promised that all 3 700 of its employees would receive iPad 2s in the next six months through an agreement with Apple distributor Core. Gijima cited the trend into the 'consumerisation' of IT as the motivation for this move.

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck called the decision a “brave and adventurous step for a large company to take, but also one that will be a great proof of concept of tablets as enterprise tools”.

But he added: “The downside, however, is massive. A virtual keyboard is not an ideal working environment for anyone producing complex documents or working on even simple spreadsheets. The extent to which the iPad still has to be synchronised with other devices and with iTunes is also a major obstacle, although one that can be overcome.

“In short, it is a device that is very cool for consuming information and media, but awful for producing and managing same, and complex to bring up to the functionality of a laptop.”

Security will also present a challenge in the enterprise move to tablets, as IT departments are already facing the challenge of multiple consumer-style devices connecting to their networks.

Ambrose also believes connectivity will be a big issue, as users will expect responsiveness and availability to be on the same level as actually being on the company premises.

For organisations to deploy their company-specific applications on tablets, Ambrose says they will need to re-engineer their systems to allow vertical single function applications that allow specific jobs to be completed on limited functionality devices like tablets and mobile phones.

“The predominant deployment mode will be via the app store mechanism, in place currently, but eventually these will be side-loaded (directly loaded) and pushed to the device by the company to devices specifically set up for use on the company's systems,” notes Ambrose.

Court proposes that businesses require a robust tablet management system that allows companies to operate their own app stores, where only company-specific applications are approved for use by the organisation's tablet users.

“Such a system will offer the added benefit of allowing for the enablement of company policy on usage - including the ability to remotely shut down tablets and application usage in the event the device has been lost or stolen.”