How tablets will change businesses

About six weeks ago I purchased an iPad with no idea what I would do with it. Now, six weeks later, I use this device more than I have ever used my laptop. I use it to take notes (I’m writing this on my iPad right now), to send and read emails, to read a Dutch newspaper for which I have a subscription, to play chess, to read business papers, to browse the web, and to share pictures of my two daughters with friends and family. It has truly become a device that merges my personal needs for entertainment with my business needs for communicating and staying informed.

So is the iPad just like a computer but more convenient because of its size? Or is it more like a mobile device catered for more serious work than smart phones? I would say no to both. The core reason I use the iPad more than I could imagine is because it functions as an interactive piece of paper. For me, that insight is the way forward for companies successfully implementing the iPad as a business tool.

Senior executives at companies spend most of their time in meetings or reading. Different departments provide them with financial statements, marketing plans, HR summaries, market information, sales figures, competitive activity, and so on. These end up on someone’s desk as papers that he needs to read (or quickly scan) and those papers lead to the strategic decisions he or she needs to make for the business. The senior executive doesn’t use a laptop or web-based dashboards for his information.

And this is where the iPad, and its competitors, come in as I believe the senior executives will use these devices once the information is available. It can simply start by delivering the documents as a PDF loaded onto these devices but soon we’ll see use of the interactivity to give executives better information, faster and easier.

This provides a huge opportunity for providers of, outsourced or in-house, business analytics and intelligence. These providers will get their chance to interact directly with senior executives in ways that was impossible before.

Thanks,

Peter