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Executive’s guide to tablets in the enterprise

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Executive’s guide to tablets in the enterprise
Copyright ©2014 by CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. TechRepublic and its logo are trademarks of CBS Interactive Inc. All other product names or services identified throughout this book are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. Published by TechRepublic March 2014 Disclaimer The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. CBS Interactive Inc. disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of such information. CBS Interactive Inc. shall have no liability for errors, omissions, or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for the interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. TechRepublic 1630 Lyndon Farm Court Suite 200 Louisville, KY 40223 Online Customer Support: http://techrepublic.custhelp.com/

Credits
Editor In Chief
Jason Hiner

Managing Editor
Bill Detwiler

Senior Editors
Jody Gilbert Mary Weilage Sonja Thompson Teena Hammond

Graphic Designer
Kimberly Smith

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Contents
04 Introduction 05 Tablet computers: An overview 13 Seven key factors for your tablet strategy 15 Why tablets don’t make good full-time laptops 17 There’s more to tablet productivity than hyper-portability 19 PCs still prevail over tablets in Africa—but for how long? 21 Here comes the tipping point: Half of PCs shipped will be tablets 23 One in every five tablets will be an enterprise device by 2017 25 Tablet adoption fast track: Application virtualization 27 Teach end users how to be productive with tablets 29 Deploying tablets in the workplace: Don’t write off the pen 31 Employee-sourcing tablet innovation 33 Lessons for any company considering a tablet deployment 35 Business functions where SMBs can introduce tablets 39 Three ideas for tablets in SMBs 41 Five terrible use cases for tablets 43 When big data meets tablets

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Introduction
In its relatively short history, the tablet has gone from a science fiction gimmick to an overhyped novelty to a mainstay of mobile communication and business productivity. Not everyone is a tablet fan, of course—and not every situation or task is well served by the tablet’s functionality and form factor. Yet the tablet’s rise in popularity and adoption as a tool for mobile business users has been phenomenal, thanks in part to BYOD and to increasingly sophisticated design, power, and flexibility. Research analyst Forrester said that tablets “have hit hyper-growth” and predicts that by 2017, sales worldwide will reach 381 million units—with enterprises accounting for 18% of purchases. Definitely a trend to be reckoned with. This guide from ZDNet and TechRepublic looks at the evolution of tablet computing, how the various platforms and vendors are faring, and what to expect in the years ahead. It also examines some of the ways tablets are being used in the enterprise, how they can enhance business productivity, and where they may fall short. Sincerely, Jason Hiner Editor in Chief

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Tablet computers: An overview
By Charles McLellan

Tablets have been around for decades. But now the “post-PC” era—characterised by the widespread use of wireless-connected mobile devices—is gathering pace. As a result, tablets, along with smartphones, have moved centre-stage. The post-PC generation has a “work anywhere, anytime” expectation, which C-level executives (who are often early adopters of mobile technology) are generally happy to encourage. These are some of the forces driving the consumerisation of IT, which often create security, management, and compliance headaches for IT when employees bring their own devices, applications, and cloud-storage services. In this article, we examine where tablets came from, what they have evolved into, how they can enhance business productivity, and how they’re likely to develop.

The history of tablets
Apple’s first-generation iPad may have inspired the recent tsunami of tablets, but the form factor goes back a lot further than 2010 (although, interestingly enough, there is a very early Apple connection). The idea of portable touchscreen devices connected to information repositories, often with advanced capabilities such as wireless connectivity, speech recognition, and artificial intelligence, is prevalent in the science fiction of the 1960s and early 70s (a pre-PC era when computers were anything but portable). Notable examples are the PADD (Personal Access Display Device) in Star Trek, the Newspad in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in the BBC radio series of the same name. The Apple connection comes via visionary computer scientist Alan Kay, who was an Apple Fellow, mostly at the company’s Advanced Technology Group, from 1984 until 1997. Prior to that, Kay worked at the renowned Xerox PARC, where in 1972 he produced a seminal paper titled A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages. This was a blueprint for an education-oriented portable computer, summarised thus: The size should be no larger than a notebook; weight less than 4lbs; the visual display should be able to present at least 4000 printing quality characters with contrast ratios approaching that of a book; dynamic graphics of reasonable quality should be possible; there should be removable local file storage of at least one million characters (about 500 ordinary book pages) traded off against several hours of audio files... A combination of this “carry anywhere” device and a global information utility such as the ARPA network or two-way cable TV, will bring the libraries and schools (not to mention stores and billboards) of the world to the home. One can imagine one of the first programs an owner will write is a filter to eliminate advertising!
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Captain Kirk with a PADD (and Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy).

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Not bad for 1972. (Note: “the ARPA network” is the nascent Internet.) And Kay goes on to specify voice input, a low-power flat-panel LCD display with a resolution of 1,024 by 1,024 pixels, a touchscreen model with an onscreen keyboard and a target price of $500. Apple’s own tablet computing project began in 1987, inspired by the conceptual Knowledge Navigator, its first product being the (roughly) A5-size Newton MessagePad, released in 1993. This wasn’t the first commercially available pen-based tablet, though. That accolade goes to GriD Systems’ 1989 GridPad, which ran MS-DOS. The first purpose-built pen-based operating system was GO Corporation’s 1991 PenPoint OS—a development that spurred Microsoft to enter the fray with Windows for Pen Computing 1.0 (an extension of Windows 3.1) in 1992. Several other landmark devices—notably the first IBM ThinkPad, the 700T—appeared before the next phase of tablet computing, which kicked off when Bill Gates took to the stage of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to deliver the keynote at Comdex/Fall on 13 November 2000. (I remember it well.... I was there.) During the speech, Gates and Microsoft software architect Bert Keeley demonstrated a prototype Tablet PC with a 600MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM, a 10GB hard disk, and a pair of USB ports. This slate-style device ran a beta version of Windows XP (codenamed Whistler) with pen computing extensions and showcased “rich digital ink” that captured onscreen handwriting and drawing for instant or deferred manipulation. Plenty of Windows tablets—both slates and convertible clamshells—appeared between 2000 and the iPad’s launch in April 2010. But despite winning some converts, these devices didn’t take the mainstream computing world by storm. However, tablets, often ruggedised ones, did become established in vertical markets such as healthcare, construction, field service, and retail. Despite Microsoft’s best efforts, the “after iPad” tablet story is one of market domination by Apple, with Android-based tablets, mostly made by Samsung, emerging as the main challengers. A number of alternative platforms and devices, including BlackBerry’s QNX-based PlayBook and HP’s shortlived webOS-based TouchPad, have fallen by the wayside over the years. Microsoft’s latest move was to get into the tablet hardware business itself with the Surface RT and Surface Pro
Microsoft’s prototype Tablet PC, unveiled at Comdex/Fall in November 2000. GridPad: the first commercially available tablet. (Image: DigiBarn Computer Museum)

(Windows 8) devices, which debuted in 2012.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

The tablet market today
Here’s a snapshot of the tablet market at the end of 2013, showing Apple as the leading vendor, with Samsung in second place, and Android as the leading platform, ahead of iOS. In both graphs, the 2012-2013 trend is downward for Apple/iOS and upward for Samsung/Android.

Source IDC

Source IDC

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

By 2017, IDC forecasts that Microsoft Windows will have grabbed around 10% of the tablet OS market share, with Android leading at 59% and iOS in second place at 31%.

Panasonic’s 20” Toughpad 4K Tablet, the biggest and most powerful tablet currently available, is something of an outlier.

A taxonomy of tablets
Tablets come in a number of shapes and sizes, and since the form factor largely determines the use case, it’s helpful to set out the various subcategories. There are no “canonical” definitions here, but hopefully this list isn’t too far off the mark.

Phablet. With 6–7" screens, phablets sit midway between smartphones and small tablets, offering a better viewing, reading, and document editing (or even creation) experience. Most leading smartphone vendors, with the notable exception of Apple, now offer a phablet (Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Nokia Lumia 1520, HTC One Max, Acer Liquid S2). Small tablet. For many people, 7–8" tablets provide an ideal combination of portability, (moderate) computing power, and screen readability. Leading examples are Google’s Nexus 7, the Apple iPad Mini, and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 7.0. Medium-size tablet. This is the mainstream tablet subcategory, typified by the full-size iPad, featuring a 9–10" screen. Portable, but not pocketable like a 7–8" tablet, these more powerful devices will often have optional add-on keyboards or docks to support heavier-duty content creation workloads. Large tablet. Still relatively rare, tablets with 10" screens or larger, such as Samsung’s Galaxy NotePRO 12.2, offer the best viewing experience and can accommodate several apps onscreen simultaneously, making for better productivity. The tradeoff, of course, is decreased portability. Panasonic’s 20" Toughpad 4K Tablet, the biggest and most powerful tablet currently available, is something of an outlier. Hybrid/convertible. These are keyboard-equipped touchscreen devices, usually with 10" screens or larger, that have some sliding, twisting, or keyboard-removal mechanism that allows them to switch between laptop and tablet modes. There are many examples, including Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 (with keyboard cover), the Asus Transformer Book T100, and Lenovo’s ThinkPad Yoga.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Tablets of various kinds fill the gap between “mobile communication and content consumption” devices (smartphones and phablets) and “mainstream mobile productivity” devices (hybrid/ convertible tablets, ultrabooks, and 13-15" notebooks). (Image: Charles McLellan/ZDNet)

If we look at tablets in context with other kinds of computers, we can see that they fill the gap between “mainstream mobile productivity’ devices (hybrid tablets, ultrabooks, and 13–15" notebooks) and those that major on “mobile communication and content consumption” (smartphones and phablets). The more content editing and creating you want to do, the more likely you are to require a tablet with a larger screen and a keyboard (either as an add-on or as part of a hybrid device). If your content-creation workloads demand the fastest CPUs, heavy-duty discrete graphics and, in particular, large amounts of screen real estate, today’s tablets are unlikely to be up to the job. Sometimes you’ll be able to hook up to a big monitor, but often you’ll need to consider a larger and more powerful notebook, desktop PC, or workstation. However, given that today’s smartphones pack the computing muscle once associated with “powerful” desktop PCs, there’s no reason why this trend, along with increasingly sophisticated cloud-based services, shouldn’t continue. This would mean that you’d carry one (powerful, richly connected) mobile device and simply access the most appropriate display for the situation you’re in.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

These ideas underpin Canonical’s plans for the Ubuntu Linux distribution, which in the forthcoming 14.04 release is planned to have a flexible user interface that will accommodate smartphone, tablet, PC, and TV screens. If you carry a “superphone,” such as Canonical’s (almost) crowd-funded Edge device, you could bring it into the office, dock it with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and carry on working with whatever apps were open, only in desktop mode.

Tablets as business tools
Tablets have had a few years to work their way into businesses, and a number of surveys

Ubuntu for Android, which runs Android in smartphone mode and Ubuntu Linux when docked on the desktop, is a stepping stone to a fully converged version of Ubuntu that will support form factors from phone to large-screen desktop. (Image: Ubuntu)

have examined how they are being put to use and how they’re being managed. Enterprise content management/collaboration company Alfresco surveyed 308 professionals in mostly smallto medium-size businesses in 2012 and found that 76% used tablets for business purposes. The breakdown of usage is not unexpected, with communication and content consumption prominent.

Source: Alfresco Study: IT Leading Tablet Adoption in the Enterprise (Alfresco, 2013)

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

A high proportion of Alfresco’s respondents (56.4%) worked in IT, with engineering and R&D in second place (10.5%). This suggests that tech-savvy early adopters (64.1% of respondents described themselves as such) were driving tablet adoption in the businesses surveyed. However, despite the high penetration of tablets in IT departments, only 17.3% of respondents said that their company had implemented a formal tablet use policy, and just 25.3% required the installation of security software. Bear in mind that the respondents were mostly from SMBs; it’s unlikely that the 13.1% from enterprises with 10,000 or more employees were working under such an informal regime. Alfresco also asked respondents about the situations when they used tablets, smartphones, and PCs. Echoing our taxonomy discussion above, the results show clearly how tablets fill the gap between more mobile smartphones and more powerful but deskbound PCs.

Source: Alfresco Study: IT Leading Tablet Adoption in the Enterprise (Alfresco, 2013)

Another 2012 survey, from Microsoft-centred consulting services provider Avanade, also looked at tablet usage in business, among other things. A key point to emerge from this study, which canvassed 599 C-level executives in 2012, was that a third of respondents said they used tablets for “advanced” business functions, such as CRM, project management, content creation, and data analysis. Another indicator of the impact of the consumerisation of IT is that 71% of respondents said their company had altered at least one business process—such as IT management, sales and marketing, HR, or customer services—to accommodate the increased use of smartphones and tablets, while 20% said they had changed four or more processes.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Outlook
Examine any ZDNet article about tablets and you’ll usually find a lively debate in the comments section about the pros and cons of the form factor and/or the operating system. That’s only natural when a relatively new style of computing is finding its feet in business—or, more accurately, the intersection between business and home. What’s clear is that tablet computing has a lengthy heritage, has become a productive component of business IT, and will continue to evolve as mobile devices become more powerful, screen and battery technology improves, and software platforms become more flexible. A generation ago, visionaries imagined having natural-feeling conversations with properly intelligent agents on super-connected “carry anywhere” computers. We’re not there just yet, but we’re a lot closer.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Seven key factors for your tablet strategy
By Will Kelly

Whether your organization has implemented Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or your mobile workforce is asking for more tablet-based options, it’s important to formalize your tablet strategy to stay on the cusp of innovation. A tablet strategy for your enterprise enables CIOs to justify the following expenditures: • • • Issuing tablets to more business users Improving mobile security for BYOD and corporate devices Mobile productivity apps

Here are some ideas on where to focus your tablet strategy.

1: Refine BYOD policies and strategies
BYOD is gaining acceptance, and CIOs are being asked to support more employee devices. Smartphones are often the first personal mobile device that enters the enterprise, but with tablet popularity increasing—the iPad Air, Android tablets, and even the Kindle HDX—more of these devices are getting into consumer hands. BYOD as part of your tablet strategy should focus on improving device security and endpoint access via a BYOD cost/benefit analysis.

2: Move data visualization and reporting to tablets
With apps like Roambi Analytics, Roambi Flow, and GoodData for iPad, tablets can become powerful reporting tools for business decision makers. Properly implemented, these tools can free IT staff from having to run reports against corporate data upon business user requests, which enables the staff members to focus on more client-billable or mission-critical projects. CIOs also need to work with the business users to reframe processes and reset expectations so that they begin to look at information on their tablets as “the deliverable” and not another Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

3: Mobilize paper-driven business processes with tablets
The paper form should be a relic in today’s mobile-driven organizations. There, I said it. CIOs can play an integral role in moving forms-driven processes (some of which haven’t changed much since the era of the typewriter) to online forms. Adobe Acrobat XI supports this kind of mobile strategy, and there are startups (like ServiceMax) that take paper-driven processes for the field services industry to tablets and the cloud.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

4: Use a tablet as a tool for CIO/CMO peace
The chief marketing officer (CMO) and CIO don’t have to be natural enemies in the wild. In fact, tablets can be a peace offering between these two executives around the cause of mobilizing the sales team. Tablets are quickly becoming the preferred technology form factor for sales teams when you account for tablets as a platform for the following: • • • Customer relationship management (CRM) access Enterprise resource planning (ERP) access Sales presentations to prospective and current customers

A mobile sales force strategy requires the talents of sales, marketing, and technology. Combining these arms of an organization can build the framework for a dynamic sales message that catches the prospects’ attention and their business.

5: Create a mobile productivity app strategy
A variety of office productivity app options are available for the iPad and Android tablets. While Quip shows some promise, Microsoft’s apathy toward migrating a functional version of Microsoft Office to iOS and Android makes business-grade Office options for tablets seem further out of reach. When I thought it couldn’t get worse, Google hobbled the excellent Quickoffice app to work only with Google cloud services. The choice can be rather confusing right now, and CIOs can help serve their mobile user community by establishing some standards for both corporate document access, creation, and editing from tablets.

6: Implement Android in the enterprise
I’m an iOS user, but I would be negligent if I didn’t mention the recent improvements in the Android world. Android devices, particularly Android tablets in the enterprise, have made inroads in the areas of security and usability. CIOs with business users who want to use Android devices now have a growing list of virtualization options from the likes of established players, including VMware and startups like Nubo Software.

7: Audit customer support/access for tablet users
While I typically focus on tablets in the enterprise, CIOs also need to consider how their organization’s customers interact with their online properties and services via tablets. When you audit how your external customers interact with your organization, it might mean more HTML 5 and mobile app development entering your organization’s project pipeline in the year ahead.

Conclusion
CIOs driving a tablet strategy for their organization can help the business users they support benefit from the latest in tablet and mobile app innovations, thus contributing to a competitive advantage for workers vs. the doubts, uncertainties, and bureaucratic gridlock that beset some mobile strategies.
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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Why tablets don’t make good full-time laptops
By James Kendrick

Regular readers know I use tablets, many different tablets, with keyboards for getting work done. I am happy with this method as it works well for me. As good as this is, there is no way I’d use a hybrid as my only computer due to the compromises that go along with that. It seems that the Holy Grail in mobile for many people is the quest to find that one system that can be their full-time computer and tablet. The lure of having one single device that meets all computing needs is powerful, but not very practical. I used to be looking for the same thing, but I’ve come to realize that a tablet/laptop hybrid is not going to be both a great tablet and a very good laptop. I’m still going to need a good desktop system or notebook on my desk in addition to any hybrid solution I use. The hybrids are going to fill the role of a secondary system at best. That’s good enough for me, I love having a solid secondary system I can use when needed. These are highly mobile and often that’s a preferable setup to use. What it won’t (and can’t) do is become a primary PC that meets all my needs. Like virtually every hybrid out there, the lack of a full complement of ports, the small display, and the undersize keyboard will not offer the versatility I require to have it serve as my only computer. I believe that is true for most folks, including many of those searching for a single hybrid device to meet all their computing needs. I don’t think there is, nor will there ever be, a single device that can be my only computer. The reason is simple—for me the attributes of a good tablet (size, weight, etc.) are at odds with those required to make a good laptop. I’ve used tablets with screens big enough (e.g., 12+ inches) to also be a decent laptop, and those failed miserably at the tablet functions. Your mileage may vary, but for me, a tablet with a screen larger than 10 inches is too big to be comfortable. I don’t like holding a bigger tablet in my hands for very long. While the 10-inch display can make for a fine secondary computer, it’s not big enough to be a main computer. The display is too small to use all the time, and more importantly it forces the keyboard on the hybrid to be too small for full-time use. To be clear, I use 10" tablets all the time in my work, and usually with a hybrid keyboard of some type. This works fine for me, but only for reasonable periods. I couldn’t use this all the time as my only computing setup without compromise, and I don’t think many others could either.

Your mileage may vary, but for me, a tablet with a screen larger than 10 inches is too big to be comfortable.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

The attributes that make for a good tablet fail as a full-time laptop, and vice versa. I don’t believe it is possible for a single hybrid device to adequately serve all tablet and laptop needs for most folks. The mad search for the perfect device to fill all computing needs is just that—a mad search. It’s sort of like I’ve been saying for a long time about mobile tech in general. There will never be a perfect mobile device because everyone’s needs and likes are different. What is perfect for me may be trash for you. We like different things so your perfect device may be impractical for me. And that’s okay. That’s why we have choice, which is always a good thing. I don’t think choice will help most shoppers find the perfect hybrid that can meet all their needs. Tablets and laptops are too different to meld them into that perfect device.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

There’s more to tablet productivity than hyper-portability
By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

In the course of a few years, tablets have shifted from being a niche device into a mainstream product for enterprise and consumers alike, and they’ve helped boost productivity in a number of key work areas. But what is it about tablets that makes them such colossal productivity boosters? Forrester Research analyst JP Gownder said that it is the “hyperportability” of these devices that boosts user productivity. “In our Forrsights Hardware Survey,” he said, “we asked IT decisionmakers who either support tablets today or plan to support them soon, why they would do so. IT decision-makers’ No. 1 answer, at 62 percent? Because tablets are a ‘more portable form factor than the traditional laptop.’ This response eclipsed end-user preferences, ease of use considerations, and other possible answers.” Another factor that Gownder attributes to productivity boosting is what he calls “device hand-offs”—passing a piece of work between multiple devices and using cloud storage to integrate desktop, notebook, smartphone, and tablet. This means that work is no longer tied to a particular device or place. While I believe that both these points are valid, there’s another aspect to tablets that help them boost owner productivity, and that’s how low drag they are to use. What do I mean by “low drag”? Essentially, that tablets have certain attributes that make them far better suited to certain tasks than any other device currently available. Here are some of the aspects of the tablet that I see as low drag: • Fast start-up—High-end tablets such as the iPad or Nexus 7/10 can be up and ready for action as soon as you press the power button or flip open the cover. • Ease of use—I’ve not come across a well-made tablet that’s difficult to use. Even tasks that people find complicated on a PC—such as setting up Wi-Fi—are easier on tablets. • Focused apps—Full-blown applications such as Microsoft’s Word, Excel, or Outlook are crammed with distractions. If getting words on the screen and sorting through your pile of emails are your goals, the cutdown apps found on tablets are far better.

Tablets have certain attributes that make them far better suited to certain tasks than any other device currently available.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE



Dive in, dive out—Fast on/off, combined with focused, easy-to-use apps, makes tablets ideal for those tasks where you dive in, do a bit, then dive right out again. This allows big jobs to be broken down into smaller, more manageable jobs, and jobs can be done while on the move.



Focus on triage—The last thing you want to do is spend hours sitting at your desk triaging your email and social media life. Tablets offer a quick and easy way to do this while on the move.

In my experience, both personally and based on what I’ve seen and read about, tablets have represented a massive productivity boost for individuals—who get more done in less time and feel they are wasting less time by being able to be productive in places that they couldn’t be with notebooks—and for enterprises. The tablet has changed the way we work, and I think that we’re just beginning to tap into what this remarkable device has to offer. The notebook is no longer the king of productivity—the tablet is. Long live the tablet.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

PCs still prevail over tablets in Africa— but for how long?
By Hilary Heuler

From his desk against the wall, Nadir Dinani, sales manager at PC World in Uganda, greeted a steady stream of customers who were flocking to his Kampala shop looking to buy brand-new computers. “Schools are buying lots of computers for their students, assembling networking labs,” he said. “Big government institutions and NGOs have funds. Students are coming to buy for their personal use.” Asked about sales for 2013, Dinani smiled. “We know it was a good year.” Dinani has been working in the industry since 2010, and he said that since then, the number of PC retailers in Uganda has boomed. If PC World’s success is typical of computer shops across the continent, it’s dramatically out of step with the rest of the world. “Computer sales in free fall,” cried the headline of a Wall Street Journal article last year, describing the worst decline in the history of the PC market. Research firm Gartner reported that global shipments dropped a spine-tingling 10% in 2013, as consumers took more and more of their computing to tablets and smartphones. But in Africa, the personal computing industry is in its heyday. Analyst firm IDC reported in January that shipments to East Africa had risen by 3% in 2013. In individual countries, the numbers were much higher: Uganda saw PC shipments rise by 20.1% last year, and Ethiopia by a staggering 31.7%. Since IDC tracks only legitimate, taxable sales and does not take into account the “grey market,” the company admits that the real figures are likely to be significantly higher. The starting point for such growth is, admittedly, quite low. As of 2012, only 4% of Ugandan households owned a computer, according to the International Telecommunication Union, and in Ethiopia the number was only slightly over 2%. Still, the numbers point not only to a growing middle class in Africa, but also to an increasing awareness of the value of a computer. “People are starting to learn the computer. Now they are growing their businesses using computers and it’s helping them a lot,” Dinani says. “They know now how to use a computer and how to keep reports for their small businesses in their personal PCs.”

Laptops and desktops
Eager to tap into a new market, manufacturers have been racing to provide the cheapest laptops available in Africa, pushing prices lower than ever before. “I don’t even know how they are surviving,” said James Mutua, a research analyst at IDC East Africa. “They are pushing some products very cheap, with low margins.” Toshiba offers PCs for as little as $220, he said, and cutthroat competition with Lenovo may force it to drop prices even further.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

All of this attracts African customers who might not otherwise consider investing in a computer at all. But there’s another factor that makes Africa stand out from the rest of the world: the conspicuous absence of the tablet. “When you check more mature markets you see tablets cannibalising the PC market,” Mutua said. “In Africa, except for South Africa, you don’t see the cannibalisation.” Kenya, East Africa’s biggest computer market, shipped around 450,000 PCs last year compared to only 160,000 tablets. Mutua said that’s mainly because the price of tablets remains high compared to the cheapest PCs. In addition, customers may not see the point. “I think people don’t realize why they need a tablet.” Consumers might not see the need yet, but telecom operators like Safaricom and Airtel are determined to open their eyes. The highly portable tablets, on average, pull in a higher revenue per user when it comes to data. “People who have tablets consume more data than those who are using PCs,” Mutua said. Kenya’s Safaricom has a target of selling roughly 150,000 tablets by the end of the year, and it has been deploying its extensive network of distributors to do so. “In 2012 one of the biggest channels for PCs was telecom companies—if you would go to Orange shops, you would go to Safaricom shops and Airtel shops, you would see more PCs. But currently they are doing more tablets and smartphones, because with telecom companies it’s about data.” Another blow to the PC market came from the abrupt exit last year of Samsung. In the fourth quarter, it stopped shipping its inexpensive PCs to East Africa, preferring to focus exclusively on high-end products. This will undoubtedly mean fewer sales in the short-term, Mutua said. “The space that they left, these other vendors, Toshiba and Lenovo, will take advantage of that to push even more of their products. So the cutthroat competition will continue.”

Cannibalisation
Since it will take time for mobile operators to change consumer spending habits, serious cannibalization of the PC market is unlikely to happen in Africa within the next three years, Mutua predicted. Operators like Safaricom are working with manufacturers to develop inexpensive tablets that can compete with the likes of Toshiba, but prices are still too high. “Until they get a variety of products retailing at around $150–$200, I think that’s when we might see changes,” he said. But some can already see those changes on the horizon. Dinani noted that all 375 of Uganda’s MPs were recently given iPads. “Now all the MPs are using tablets instead of computers,” he said. And it isn’t only public servants who have started coveting the sleek slabs. “They keep bringing offers to attract customers in Uganda to go for a tablet instead of the big, heavy laptops,” Dinani said, pointing to a display of discounted Lenovo tablets. “It’s portable and easy to use. People are showing their interest, and customers are buying and trying them.” Retailers like PC World are watching closely. The mighty PC is still king of the jungle, but its days may well be numbered.
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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Here comes the tipping point: Half of PCs shipped will be tablets
By Steve Ranger

This year, almost half of all personal computers shipped will be tablets, signalling the latest milestone in the apparently inexorable rise of slates and the decline of old-school PCs. According to a report by researcher Canalys, the worldwide PC market (which it defines as covering desktops, laptops, and tablets) grew 18% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 of this year, despite desktop and notebook shipments continuing to decline. Tablets accounted for 40% of all PC shipments in the third quarter, less than half a million units behind global laptop shipments. The researchers forecast overall tablet shipments will hit 285 million units in 2014 and 396 million units in 2017. Apple has maintained its position as top tablet vendor throughout 2013, and the launch of the iPad Air and new iPad mini will strengthen that in the fourth quarter, according to Canalys. It also notes that Apple’s desktop and notebook business has remained stable while other vendors have seen their shipments deteriorate. (Recent figures from Gartner show that Apple—once considered to be niche player —is now among the top five PC vendors in Europe.) However, Apple’s focus on protecting its margins will see its PC market share begin to erode, the analysts predict, as it continues to focus on selling high-end, high-price machines rather than mass-market devices. Nonetheless, it remains one of the few companies actually making money out of the tablet boom right now. The tablet phenomenon has hit planet PC like a runaway comet: Many vendors are still scrambling to work out how to deal with the damage and avoid it becoming an extinction level event. Canalys said 2014 could bring a flurry of acquisitions, mergers, and failures as PC hardware vendors of all sizes struggle to maintain their desktop and notebook business while attempting to succeed in a tablet market that is characterised by large volumes and low margins. “The idea of the traditional PC has really gone away,” Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling told ZDNet. Established PC companies have struggled to come up with rivals to either cheap Android devices or Apple’s pricier iPads. To date, Windows-based tablets have met with little success, while the limited margin on lowend Android devices leaves PC makers with little room to manoeuvre. The rise of Chromebooks is giving them pricing headaches in the laptop market too. The analyst group forecasts that Windows 8.1 and Windows RT devices will take 5% of the tablet PC market in 2014, up from 2% last year. Microsoft has been making a major push with its Surface tablet PCs and is in

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the process of acquiring Nokia’s device business to give it more momentum in smartphones and tablets, but Canalys said it needs to prove to channel partners and consumers that it is in the market for the long haul. “How we see it playing out over the next few years is very much like what we’re seeing in the smartphone space. We see Android taking up a larger percentage of total shipment volumes if you are looking at tablets, notebooks, desktops. We see Apple continue to have a shrinking market share, but stable shipments in the premium end of the market, and we see Windows getting squeezed in the middle,” Coulling said. Canalys research analyst Pin Chen Tang said Microsoft needs to balance the competition with its vendor partners and embrace a “challenger” rather than an “incumbent” mentality when it comes to tablets. “To improve its position it must drive app development and better utilise other relevant parts of its business to round out its mobile device ecosystem,” he said in a statement, noting that addressing the confusion around Windows Phone and Windows RT is the first step. “Having three different operating systems to address the smart device landscape is confusing to both developers and consumers alike.” But it is Android-powered devices that will really drive growth in the market and are forecast to take a 65% share in 2014 with 185 million units. A new wave of “small-to-micro” device manufacturers are using the cost and time-to-market advantages of their Chinese supply chains and are “eating up tablet market share,” the analyst warned. And while the big vendors such as Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo have all entered the tablet price war, with entry-level products at less than $150, Canalys noted that, “With vastly different cost structures these vendors will continue to find it extremely challenging to keep pace with local competitors, especially in APAC and Latin America.” Nonetheless, Samsung, Android’s best-known cheerleader, continues to lead in tablets, showing strong year-on-year growth thanks to its broad portfolio. The company notched up 27% share of all Android tablet shipments for the third quarter. So where does this end up? Expect even more variation and experimentation in tablets and form factors as the market fragments. The market will be characterised by ultra-cheap Androids, reassuringly expensive iPads, and Windows machines trying to plot a path in between. Expect to see, for example, much more aggressively priced Windows tablets now that Windows 8.1 has given manufacturers the option of smaller screens.

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One in every five tablets will be an enterprise device by 2017
Liam Tung

Enterprise adoption of the tablet is expected to pick up significantly in coming years, according to analyst firm Forrester. The company’s 2013 global business and consumer tablet forecast update predicts that business adoption for internal and customer-facing purposes will drive tablets to become 18% of all tablets in use by 2017. Forrester also forecasts tablet sales will rise from 122 million in 2012 to 381 million a year by 2017, suggesting tablet sales in the enterprise of 68 million a year.

Image: Forrester

The rise in enterprise tablet buying could be good news for Microsoft Windows if Forrester’s predictions come to pass. Microsoft’s Surface RT and Pro tablets have not swept up enterprise customers as quickly as Microsoft hoped, but Forrester has a positive outlook for the broader category of Windows 8 tablets, pointing to its own survey in 2012 that found 20% of information workers would prefer Windows 8 on their next tablet. However, Forrester’s telecoms and mobility workforce survey of 600 workers last year showed that more people used Amazon’s Kindle Fire as their primary work tablet than a Windows slate: 9% reported using an
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Amazon Kindle Fire as their primary work tablet. Meanwhile, a Windows 7 tablet was used by 5%, Windows 8 Pro was used by 2%, and Window RT was used by 1%. Apple dominated with 52% of respondents using an iPad as their primary work tablet, 25% used an Android device, and 4% reported using a BlackBerry PlayBook. Forrester also forecasts that the total installed base of tablets will reach 905 million by 2017, rising from 327 million tablets this year, to 654 million by 2015 and 795 million by 2016. By 2017, one in eight people in the world will own a tablet. Tablets will be distributed unevenly, Forrester predicts, with 60% of online consumers in North America and 42% in Europe forecast to own a tablet by 2017. Penetration rates in developing economies will not reach 25% in aggregate by then. Despite some estimates that the cumulative share of Android tablets has already surpassed Apple’s iPad, Forrester expects Apple’s iOS to “maintain a lead, albeit at a diminished plurality of market share” due to its healthy ecosystem of apps.

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Tablet adoption fast track: Application virtualization
By Patrick Gray

Even as tablets have become increasingly commonplace, many IT leaders still struggle with how to implement the devices at their organizations. Off-the-shelf software for tablets is no longer a rarity, but it does little to address existing enterprise applications. In most cases, issuing the device itself is the easy part of a tablet deployment. Determining how to upgrade or modify your back office applications to leverage tablet technology is far more challenging and costly.

Newer virtualization technologies allow for individual applications to be virtualized and presented to the user in a corporate “app store” of sorts.

Virtualization to the rescue?
One shortcut to getting existing applications on tablets is desktop and application virtualization. Like the virtualization technologies that most

of us are familiar with in the data center, desktop virtualization moves an end-user desktop, complete with OS and applications, into the data center. Desktop virtualization largely predates widespread tablet adoption, having made headway in niche markets where thin clients or generic workstations accessed centralized applications using technologies like Citrix and Windows Terminal Services. Extending this concept to tablets seems relatively obvious, especially if you already have a virtual desktop infrastructure in place. Rather than enhancing or replacing existing applications, throw the appropriate client on your tablet device and suddenly you have access to your complete application portfolio, all with the centralized management and provisioning that comes from moving the desktop into the data center. Newer virtualization technologies allow for individual applications to be virtualized and presented to the user in a corporate “app store” of sorts. On the backend, these applications run on what amounts to a shared desktop image, limiting patching and maintenance to a small pool of images rather than requiring that each user be provided with an individual desktop.

One small detail
Virtualization certainly provides a rapid way to get enterprise applications onto tablets, with one major caveat: You’re stuck with the traditional desktop user experience. Most enterprise applications assume screens significantly larger than the typical 5–10” tablet screen and are keyboard- and mouse-centric. Contrast your typical SAP or Oracle screen to the average tablet application, and this problem quickly becomes obvious. There are a few mitigation strategies around the problem of putting desktop applications on tablets. The first is to simply acknowledge and ignore the problem, assuming that the cost savings of virtualization vs. tabletnative solutions outweigh the usability hit. Combine this with the fact that virtualization vendors like Citrix are

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adding tablet “enhancements” to their clients, which attempt to “translate” some tablet-style interactions like finger-based scrolling into desktop applications, and virtualization may be “good enough.” Virtualization also opens your fleet of tablets to traditional desktop development tools. A custom application for iOS and Android may be a bridge too far for your organization, but a C# front end, built using traditional desktop tools but with a tablet-optimized UI, may be more palatable.

Testing virtualization
The good news about virtualized applications on tablets, and the UI challenges the technology presents, is that it’s relatively easy to test and demonstrate. The big three vendors—Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware—provide the usual demo licenses of these technologies, but I would suggest an even easier route for a quick-anddirty proof of concept: GoToMyPC. The ubiquitous and familiar remote desktop tool is a Citrix product and contains some of the same UI enhancement technologies as its virtual desktop client. Put GoToMyPC on a desktop with your standard enterprise applications, install the client on a tablet or two, and you have a virtual desktop proof of concept that will make any usability problems (or lack thereof) glaringly obvious, without spending a dime or provisioning any complex technologies. Desktop and application virtualization just might be a way to start using tablets in your organization, with a modest investment compared to custom development or application upgrades. While not without caveats, it’s easy to test and based on proven technologies that may already be implemented at your company.

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Teach end users how to be productive with tablets
By Patrick Gray

Tablets are frequently cited as a boon to productivity. We assume workers will become more mobile, accessing email and calendars on the go, quickly responding to documents while on the move, and happily collaborating over a slate in an ad-hoc meeting. I’m not aware of any formal studies, but from what I saw the last time I walked up the airplane aisle during a flight, tablets might not be offering the purported productivity benefits.

Crushing candy
The most noteworthy use of tablets I observed on this flight was the Candy Crush game. Like Angry Birds, I personally don’t get the attraction, but apparently, I’m in the minority. Other users appeared to be watching movies. In fact, the only borderline productive use of tablets I observed were a few people reading a book or newspaper. While I’ve often enjoyed forgoing work on an airplane to catch up on some reading or watch a film—and I certainly don’t mean to suggest that anyone who isn’t working during every instant of downtime is an idler—it was interesting that precisely zero tablets of the dozens on the flight were engaged in productivity applications. This contrasts with laptops, the majority of which appeared to be running the stalwarts of corporate life: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Tablets gone wild
Occasionally, I’ll also observe someone going through elaborate gyrations to use a tablet to create a document or send an email. Special keyboard cases are deployed, and judging by the confused looks and checks of various batteries and indicator lights, they aren’t 100% reliable. I’ve also tried to use tablets as a collaborative tool in meetings and, as with all technology, experienced occasional frustration when what seemed like a good idea turned into several minutes of checking network settings, restarting applications, and growing more embarrassed and infuriated as a simple task turned overly complex.

Picking the right tool
As technology becomes increasingly available, we’re often tempted to deploy the nearest technology tool at hand to accomplish a task. My wife often laughs as I attempt increasingly elaborate search engine queries and smartphone gyrations, forgetting that a simple telephone call could quickly solve my problem. A similar risk exists for tablets. They’re relatively new and highly capable in several areas, and we’re occasionally tempted to view them as a solution for any task, even when it involves using a cramped keyboard and suboptimal applications to revise a document—a task that might take only moments on a laptop.

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For enterprise IT organizations, we often spend a great deal of energy and care in assessing and selecting a technology, and then we leave it up to the user community to figure it out. As use patterns for these devices are still developing, it’s imperative that we put as much care into studying how our user community is leveraging these tools and provide adequate instruction and guidance on how to best use them. To modernize the old saying: Give a man a tablet, and he’ll play Candy Crush. Collaboratively teach a man how to be productive with a tablet, and he might actually do some work.

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Deploying tablets in the workplace: Don’t write off the pen
By James Kendrick

The tablet is entrenched in millions of homes and is now moving into the workplace. It started with workers bringing them in on their own and now corporations are beginning to deploy them to employees. Tablets have benefits over other computing devices, including the pen option, which is seldom mentioned by those deploying them. Digital pens go well with slates. At the very least they add a new dimension to other benefits of the tablet. Using a pen with a tablet is as natural as using a pen with paper, but keeps everything digital with all the benefits that come with that. While pen use is not for every company, it’s a mistake to overlook considering them for tablet deployments. Pen options are available for all three tablet platforms, making it worth considering no matter what tablets are being deployed. There are numerous third-party pens for the iPad, from simple capacitive models with big, spongy tips to others with writing tips like standard pens. If Android tablets are to be incorporated, Samsung Galaxy Note slates have pens integrated into their design. Windows 8.1 has pen support in every facet of operation and makes the most sense for tablet programs in the enterprise.
(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet)

It’s all about options
Why should IT departments consider offering pen support with tablets? Quite simply, it’s another facet of tablet use that can be leveraged by workers and the company in beneficial ways. Most workers likely haven’t used a pen with a tablet, but with exposure to the benefits they may warm to using it in short order.  One of the basic functions a pen opens up is that of taking notes in ink. When you think of taking handwritten notes you probably think of executives in the boardroom scribbling on the screen. With tablets as economical as they’ve ever been, that image should extend to employees at all levels.  Those in charge of deploying tablets should understand the advantages digital handwritten notes have over both typed notes and traditional paper notes. First and foremost, the ability to search digital handwritten notes

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is powerful. Notes don’t have to be converted to digital text, the ink can be searched directly. That means you can always find needed information in an instant. Try that with those stacks of paper notepads. Equally important, handwritten notes can be automatically backed up to major cloud storage services. No more losing that important piece of paper. Having all employee notes in the cloud means they aren’t lost when the worker leaves the company. All project notes are saved no matter what happens in the workforce. Pen input can be useful for a lot of work functions. This is true for any task that involves tablet use while walking around a job site. Warehouse functions comes to mind in this regard. Workers involved in taking inventory can also use the pen to make things easier. There are many situations in the enterprise where using a pen makes good sense. That’s not to say that a pen is always better than using a keyboard with a tablet. Sometimes using a tablet by touch is the best way to go.  It’s worth considering the options when planning to deploy tablets in the enterprise. This includes allowing workers to use the pen when it makes the most sense. To ignore the possibility may not be in your company’s best interest. Those thinking about bringing a tablet to work in BYOD situations should think about the pen, too. It extends what can be done with the tablet, so why limit yourself?

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Employee-sourcing tablet innovation
By Patrick Gray

When it comes to corporate management and technology, I’ve long been a believer that many companies ignore one of their best resources: their employees. Particularly in enterprise IT, employees outside IT are often regarded as incapable “others” who present a hassle for IT rather than an opportunity. While this used to result in little more than poor relations between IT and other business units, with the rapid influx of consumer technology into the workplace, it’s becoming dangerous. Workers ignore IT policy from what they perceive as the “department of ‘no’” and bring new devices and technologies into the workplace. Rather than treating this new trend as a disruption to be squashed, combine it with the concept of crowdsourcing to produce tangible benefits. Crowdsourcing is the relatively recent concept of outsourcing some task to the public, allowing a largely anonymous group to do anything

Like most disruptive innovations, crowdsourcing was touted as a solution to every problem and has since lost some of its luster, but the fundamental concept of seeking innovation outside of traditional internal silos is valid.

from completing market research to designing an entirely new product for a company for pay. The concept is simple in that it presumably attracts a wide and diverse body of content knowledge, taste, and passions that can be applied to a business problem. While your engineering department might be able to wield 50 talented minds, “the crowd” can provide tens of thousands and include people from outside disciplines. Like most disruptive innovations, crowdsourcing was touted as a solution to every problem and has since lost some of its luster, but the fundamental concept of seeking innovation outside of traditional internal silos is valid.

The tip of the sword
In many companies, employees are the tip of the tablet sword, bringing in personal devices and integrating them into their workflow without corporate sanction or support. I see an increasing number of tablet devices appearing in meetings at the various client sites I visit, and it’s always interesting to speak with people who use them to find out how they’ve leveraged the device to improve productivity. In many cases, they’re doing so without demanding broad access to internal resources. Many of these executives look at tablets as a modern equivalent of the old Day Planner. A portable device that lets them view their week on a large screen and update it in real-time is a godsend. Other people have far more interesting uses for these devices, from collaborating over documents to capturing and rapidly disseminating whiteboard brainstorming sessions. Some technically advanced people I’ve met have even coded rudimentary applications that send data to corporate spreadsheets or internal systems. Just as many uses of crowdsourcing center around gathering market knowledge, the cadre of tabletsavvy users in your organization can provide firsthand details on how tablets can be used in your current IT
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environment without any cost other than the time it takes to find and speak with these individuals. If you want to take this process to the next level, consider a “hackathon”-type concept, where a specific time period is allocated for anyone in the company to produce a service or product that can be leveraged by the entire company. Traditionally, hackathons have been targeted directly at IT, developers in particular. But there’s no gospel that says the concept can’t be extended toward process, workflow, and application innovation rather than just writing code. Some of the best organizations promote these types of events widely across the organization and have generated marketable innovations and even new products, with many of the results coming from employees without any direct IT responsibilities. There’s also a strong PR-type benefit to tapping into employees for technology feedback, as this activity breaks down the stereotype of the monolithic, department-of-no IT organization, and it presents an entity that’s willing to listen to employee concerns and implement tools to make people more productive. While it’s not a very good idea to “employee source” your next enterprise software application, gathering use cases, integration ideas, and productivity tools is an excellent way to leverage a free resource: employees armed with tablets and developing creative ways to use them at your company.

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Lessons for any company considering a tablet deployment
By Patrick Gray

I recently visited a Nordstrom store to buy a couple of shirts. This retailer is generally known for excellent customer service, but it hasn’t been regarded as a vanguard of technology. In the past, I’ve been frustrated by what seemed like an ancient point-of-sale (POS) system that took ages to enter any nonstandard transaction. On this visit, however, the clerk pulled an iPad out of his pocket that was equipped with an aftermarket barcode and credit card reader. While this is nothing new at the Apple store or the thousands of businesses using tablets as their cash registers, it was interesting to see a more conventional mainstream retailer employing what amounts to a tiny tablet.

Solving problems
When it came time to pay for my purchase, the process was fairly familiar to anyone who’s shopped at a tablet-equipped store. The clerk swipes your card, you awkwardly sign the screen with a finger, and then you’re asked if you want a printed or emailed receipt. I tend to opt for the former, since my email address is a bit long, and in a small store, it’s easy to print a receipt to a centrally located printer. At Nordstrom, I expected the clerk to walk to a centralized printer, but instead, he walked to a nearby receipt printer, discretely positioned on a pedestal out of the way. Looking around, I noticed quite a few of these pedestals, apparently allowing the clerk to walk only a few paces from anywhere in the store to produce a receipt. I assumed he’d select a printer on the device from a long list, but he merely scanned a barcode on the printer and out came the receipt. While this is not particularly complex technology, it struck me as a novel way to solve the problem of selecting a printer, a task usually fraught with complex device names that are meaningless to anyone outside IT. As mobile devices come equipped with a growing number of sensors, it becomes easier to build human-oriented interfaces to problems like this, where creativity accomplishes more than complex technology. The receipt looked exactly like every other Nordstrom receipt I’ve received. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I carefully compared it to an older receipt. This seems to indicate a painstaking effort to duplicate the existing document, or perhaps the tablet acts merely as a front end to the existing infrastructure rather than attempting to duplicate business logic on the mobile device.

Learning from retail
Your company may not be in the retail business, but this particular example has a few interesting lessons for any company considering its own tablet deployment. First, Nordstrom has selected what amounts to

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commodity hardware vs. an expensive specialized device. While optimized hardware has its time and place, it would be simple to stock a half dozen pre-provisioned replacement devices in each store, likely at a lower cost than sending in a technician if a device breaks. In addition, the simplified UI of most tablet devices may already be familiar to a large portion of your user base. Training on complex, customized systems can be expensive to create, execute, and support in the long run, but an interface that follows the conventions of modern phones and tablets will speed up the deployment of a new enterprise application. Finally, I was impressed by Nordstrom’s novel use of barcoding to select a receipt printer. Whether you’re deploying tablets or not, relatively basic technologies may be able to streamline a common usability challenge—in this case, co-opting the familiar barcode scanning task to easily identify the right printer for receipts. In IT, we tend to focus so narrowly on technical challenges that we occasionally miss opportunities like this to simplify user experience. Nordstrom is certainly not the first retailer to deploy tablets, but it’s also not the usual technology company one associates with this type of deployment. Tablet devices and a bit of creativity present the opportunity to deploy flexible, highly mobile applications with a familiar user interface and commodity hardware. Whether you’re selling clothing or deploying oilfield workers, tablets are increasingly worth a look.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Business functions where SMBs can introduce tablets
By Will Kelly

The small to medium business (SMB) has entered an era where employees can perform a growing number of business functions from their iPads or Android tablets. These growing mobility options can spell productivity and cost savings for time- and resource-strapped organizations. Here’s a cross-platform look at some business functions where SMBs can introduce tablets.

Shipping
For SMBs that ship and receive goods as part of their business, tablets means package tracking is always accessible. FedEx Mobile (Android/iPad) is perhaps the best-known tablet app for managing shipping. Figure A shows the FedEx Mobile app on an iPad. UPS also has a UPS Mobile app (Android/iPad) for SMBs that depend on it for shipping. While these apps are available on smartphones, a tablet running one of these apps means you can have the app open if you have to call customer service.
Figure A

Accounting and invoicing
While a financial controller friend may argue with me on this point, tablets can help SMBs with accounting and invoicing. You may not be crunching complex formulas and pivot tables on your tablet (at least not yet), but there are accounting and invoicing apps appearing that can help you better manage your finances. A number of financial institutions are releasing mobile banking apps. Check with yours to see what services it offers mobile users. Some enable you to scan your checks into their mobile app for deposit, plus other productivity and cost savings for their mobile customers. Beyond mobile banking apps, cloud-based accounting systems—such as Freshbooks Cloud Accounting (iOS/ Android)—now have their own free mobile apps.

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Cloud-based invoicing and tablet apps can improve the workflow around sending and tracking invoices. Invoice2go has done mobile device invoicing better with mobile apps that provide robust features and a consistent user experience across Android tablets and iPads. It’s available in three pricing plans. Figure B shows a blank invoice in Invoice2go on an Android tablet.

Figure B

Contract and document signature
Contracts are one more thing an SMB needs to manage and track as part of its business. Tablets and cloud apps can offer a more secure and streamlined workflow solution, a definite plus for time-strapped organizations that may not be as organized as they should be. DocuSign (Android/iPad) is one such solution. It enables tablet users with DocuSign accounts to sign documents securely. Users can even extend the workflow to send the signed documents to recipients. Adobe EchoSign (Android/iOS) is another eSignature option for tablet users. Users with an EchoSign account and the app can sign contracts and other documents securely. 

Document reviewing
Paper-based document reviews are a waste of paper and, for SMBs not working in a traditional office, require the extra steps of having to print the document out, annotate it, and then scan the document into a PDF to allow coworkers to review the comments. iAnnotate PDF (Android/iPad) offers tablet users powerful yet flexible annotation tools that mimic paper-based reviews. The app also seamlessly integrates into iPads and Android tablets, making it easy to open file attachments from email or from a cloud storage account.

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Adobe Reader (Android/iOS) is a free solution that rivals iAnnotate PDF. With either app, you no longer have to worry about deciphering your coworkers’ awful penmanship. Figure C shows a document open in iAnnotate PDF on an iPad.

Social media management
Managing a social media presence for an SMB can slip through the cracks with everything else that’s going on with running a business. Taking social media management to tablets is now possible with HootSuite (Android/iPad). It can offer SMBs a more mobile option for managing their social media presence beyond the web browser on their corporate PCs. Figure D shows the HootSuite Getting Started page on an Android tablet.

Project management
Options to use tablets in project management and

Figure C

collaboration abound for SMBs right now. These apps make it easy for a wide range of team members to interact with project schedules and task information, adding transparency to processes that growing companies need to have. We’ve previously covered top project management apps for the iPad, LiquidPlanner, and OmniPlan. Other SMB-friendly options for mobile project management include Wrike (iOS/Android), Teambox (iOS/Android), and Podio (iOS/Android). These are fully accessible to tablet users, meaning they can fully collaborate on tasks and projects with the rest of their company.

Wireless display kiosks
SMBs that have a retail storefront can use tablets as display kiosks to give customers more information about their goods and services. With iPad apps like Yooba - Interactive Kiosk Display, Kiosk Pro, and myKiosk for iOS, you can turn an iPad into an attractive interactive display. Android tablets can also be put to work as a display kiosk with apps like Signagelive and TargetR Digital Signage.
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Figure D

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Tablets and apps are only part of the total display kiosk solution. There’s a growing market for secure hardware to lock the tablet down as a retail display. Some great examples of these sorts of hardware kits including Armodilo, a manufacturer of secure tablet kiosks, and even Griffin Technology, a well-known accessories vendor that has its own iPad Kiosk. Visit iPadEnclosures to see some examples of how much of the industry has sprung up around kiosks. Besides display kiosks, tablets are becoming an increasingly popular option for replacing expensive point-ofsale (PoS) solutions.

Conclusion
Solutions like eSignatures and annotating documents provide SMBs another level of protection over business information. Ultimately, moving business tasks to tablets enables SMBs to be more responsive to changes, whether employees are in the office or out with customers. 

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Three ideas for tablets in SMBs
By Patrick Gray

The tablet revolution has been an interesting one, in that it’s turned the traditional evolution of technology upside down. For decades, the latest and greatest technologies were first available to the largest companies that could afford the significant price tags these new tools demanded. With tablets, however, the industry-changing iPad was targeted directly at consumers vs. previous business-centric devices. Smaller businesses sit in between the Fortune 500 behemoths and consumers and are in many ways well positioned to use tablets in their businesses. Here are a few ideas on ways to employ these devices in your company, besides the obvious content consumption and email tool.

You can use a tablet to display timed advertisements, local information, directories of services or people, or even use it as a makeshift kiosk at a trade show.

A cheap terminal
Tablets have created an entirely new market for point-of-sale (POS) software, and many small businesses and the consumers who frequent them have encountered tablets and smartphones replacing the traditional cash register. While POS applications are nothing new to many businesses, tablets can be deployed for any application where a low-cost, connected, and interactive device is appropriate. You can use a tablet to display timed advertisements, local information, directories of services or people, or even use it as a makeshift kiosk at a trade show. Most of these applications used to require purpose-built hardware and software. But with a commodity or customized mount and a web application to display content, you can deploy any terminal or kiosk-based application you can imagine.

Tablets in the field
Once again, the combination of low cost, portability, connectivity, and the ability to run applications that might be as simple as a series of web-based forms makes tablets ideal for field service. If your company has a significant field sales or service force, a low-end tablet could replace a stack of service manuals with little more than a memory card loaded with PDF files. Or it could be connected to existing dispatch systems and offer complex service management. Many of the leading cloud-based CRM applications are now offering tablet applications. If your small business already uses a tool like Salesforce.com, a tablet and free download can equip salespeople with access to your CRM tool without the cost and complexity of a laptop. Combine this with the preinstalled email applications on most tablets, and you may be able to get away with tablet-only reps in many cases.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Entering the app market
If your company has a product or service that would benefit from tablet-based access, tablet software development tools are beginning to mature to the point that they’re within reach of even the smallest businesses. Similarly, freelance and small development shops are broadly available to help take a concept through to a fully executed tablet or smartphone application. Before calling the nearest development shop, make sure you consider a tablet application as you would any other new product release. How will the application generate revenue? How will you support it? Does it complement or cannibalize your existing products? If you follow the same process you would to produce any new product, the actual coding portion of tablet development is increasingly becoming a commodity that can be purchased on the open market. While larger companies struggle with questions around managing tablets and integrating them into complex IT infrastructures, smaller companies can benefit from tablets that offer strong functionality at relatively low cost, and often with less complex maintenance and management than a PC. Like any technology purchase, consider a small pilot program and take the time to develop a thorough use case that ensures tablets will solve a business problem you’re facing, rather than add another disused technology that requires costly care and feeding. With some creativity, tablets provide opportunities to SMBs that didn’t exist before and allows them to exploit technology in ways their larger brethren are still struggling to implement.

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

Five terrible use cases for tablets
By Jack Wallen

Tablets have a bright future. Not only are they incredibly cost effective, they epitomize portability and userfriendliness. However, there’s no way around the fact that a tablet is not a full-blown computer. Thus, they have limitations and can find their way into usage situations where they simply do not belong. Here are five of those use-cases I found over the past year to be the worst ways to utilize either an Android or iOS tablet in the business, home, or public sector.

1: Trading firms
Although tablets are and will be the go-to tool for power users on the go, the tablet format is simply not powerful enough to be used by trading firms. Typically, a machine used for this industry needs to be very powerful, capable of working with clock accuracies within microseconds, and able to adhere to tight security policies. Typical day traders also make use of multi-monitor setups to enable multi-tasking of a nature that would send the average human seeking shelter in the nearest asylum. I’ve had to talk a few traders down from wanting to employ tablets as their primary on-the-go tools. Not only can you not ensure the security of the devices, they tend to fall short of the power necessary to meet the needs of such a demanding industry.

2: As a wireless router for a business network
I get it. There are times when you simply don’t have any other options. But using a tablet as a wireless router is not the best bet for business. First and foremost, you’re looking at the possibility of outrageous data overages. Sure, one laptop using a tablet as a hotspot is fine—but when you start connecting multiple machines to that tablet, the data usage skyrockets. On top of that, the issue of heat buildup is a big concern. Don’t believe me? Set your tablet up as a hotspot and then connect five laptops. Give it about a half an hour of normal network usage, and then pick up that tablet. Over time, that heat buildup can get serious. Let that continue, and you might well find yourself with a non-functioning tablet. When you add the heat buildup with the serious lack of security (especially on a business network), you have the ingredients for a disaster.

3: As a serious developer tool
If you’re looking to simply write or debug some code on your Android tablet, feel free. It’s a great tool for coding on-the-go. But if you’re looking to use that environment as a serious developer platform, think twice. I have come across a few developers doing their best to turn their tablets into their developer tool of choice. In a perfect world, it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, the reality is that most tablets are simply underpowered for serious code compilation. On top of that, if you’re developing in languages like C or C++, you won’t be compiling and running that app (with ease)

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

on any ARM-based device. Of course, if you’re developing specifically for a tablet, you could make a go at using your tablet as a development environment. But when it comes to anything larger than an app, you’ll be glad you’re working on a desktop or laptop.

4: iPotty
I shouldn’t even have to bring this up, but I do. If you have to turn potty training into a digital playground, you are doing something wrong. Tablets are not designed to distract infants while they learn to do their business. Give those children a chance to grow up and learn that the tablet/toilet combination is best used when old enough to appreciate the time alone to read the news or play a game—after they’ve already mastered the art of “the business.”  On top of that, should your child become agitated, one swift slam of those awkward hands and your tablet glass is gone.

5: Jewelry (wearable technology)
I once saw a young man wearing a tablet around his neck as if it were jewelry. On the screen of the iPad was a slideshow app to display various social networking streams. This, of course, was a marriage of so many bad ideas. For one thing, the image stream wound up displaying an image most certainly not suitable for public consumption. In addition, wearable technology was actually designed to be worn. The tablet was designed to be held, not turned into an accessory. Please, do not attempt this at home, in public, or at your place of business.

Conclusion
Tablets are becoming a tool with many uses. In fact, I would venture to say the tablet has far surpassed the usage of the laptop. However, that doesn’t mean tablets can be used for everything. Use common sense and don’t try to put yourself in a situation where you risk security, data, or your pride.

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

When big data meets tablets
By Will Kelly

Big data and mobile devices might seem like natural enemies in the wild at first glance. However, today’s current-generation tablets, especially the iPad, with its Retina display and ever-growing processor and memory specifications, make it possible for mobile workers to use Wi-Fi or 4G-connected tablets as dashboard front ends to tap into big data residing in the cloud or on backend servers. “We shouldn’t underestimate the new opportunities forged from big data and mobile. It’s not just that customers are taking charge, demanding companies provide them a truly personalized service,” said Gabriel Hopkins, a senior director at FICO. “It’s not just that companies now have more data and better tools to make sense of that data than ever before, enabling them to engage better and more profitably with their customers. “We’re seeing wholly new paradigms and types of interaction, across a wide variety of industries,” he said. “Doctors can monitor patients. Banks can connect with customers to resolve issues and avoid inconvenience in real time. Decades-old paradigms are changing to the benefit of consumers and switched-on enterprises.” I spent some time recently examining big data on mobile devices, and here’s what I found.

The use cases for big data and mobile devices run the gamut from mundane business operations to the sensors of the Internet of Things.

Big data and tablet use cases
Corporate and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) tablets can play an important role as a data collection and reporting endpoint for big data. In fact, the combination can save the IT department from having to run reports on corporate data at every request, because now reports can be canned for users and run from their tablet with a few taps. The use cases for big data and mobile devices run the gamut from mundane business operations to the sensors of the Internet of Things. “The big data use cases of tomorrow go way beyond the data center,” said Sara Gardner, senior director software product marketing for Hitachi Data Systems. “Analytics are going where no data center app has gone before and to consumers who are not your traditional business intelligence users—think power plant workers, doctors, railway engineers, for example. Mobile delivery is needed to get the right information into the right hands at the right time, and new classes of visualization apps are required to ensure the information is readily consumable.” Gardner said, “A great example is in how Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and Penske Racing collaborate to win races. There are 200+ sensors in the Penske race cars and the data generated, combined with the data harvested from track sensors, provides race car drivers with critical insight into their race performance. Immediate

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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EXECUTIVE’S GUIDE TO TABLETS IN THE ENTERPRISE

feedback and easy consumption is key. That data is delivered to them both during and after the race through mobile tablet and embedded display in the car steering wheel.” However, Gardner also warned against going overboard. “The Internet of Things will generate an astronomical amount of data,” she said. “It won’t make sense to pull every byte back into the data center. Smart ingest at the edge will be required. Intelligent filtering and analysis embedded in the very fabric of the machines and infrastructure generating the data will be required to meet the scale and velocity demands.”

Evolution in technology or marketing?
I’ve never come across so many mixed reactions among potential sources as I did while researching the topic of deploying big data apps to mobile devices. This caused me to take a few steps back. But when I spoke to Dwight DeVera, senior vice president of arcplan, a business intelligence and big data platform vendor, he was quick to blame PR and marketing people for trying to channel the hype around mobility and big data. The convergence of mobility and big data could indeed be ground zero, where marketing and PR messages obfuscate the solution. “I’ve been doing a lot of talking with our customers,” DeVera said. We are moving to this world of what I call a mobile first strategy. Sales of tablets are exceeding PC sales.” Looking at the technology, DeVera is confident that mobile big data can be done. It just may take some getting used to. “The problem is the people,” he said. “Making big data available on mobile devices will be more of a change management exercise than anything. We, as vendors, contributed to this problem, because the #1 feature out of all the vendors is the ability to export to Excel. As a community of vendors, we have failed to kick users off their download data habit, and that is something that is 100% incompatible with the mobile tablet world.”

Conclusion
The convergence of mobility and big data is still emerging, with mainstream use cases beginning to overtake the niche use cases as connectivity, application architecture, and other technology factors evolve. However, people need to evolve with the technology for big data on mobile devices to reach its potential as a business solution and productivity tool.

Copyright ©2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

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