Tablet Computers Bring Change to Business

Tablet devices are making their presence known in the workplace, whether from the CEO’s office or an employee’s desk. No matter how they get into the work environment, tablets are quickly positioning themselves as an irreplaceable work tool, but each business needs to evaluate how they benefit their operations. 

It’s not as simple as it would seem. What compelling reason can a business have for spending large sums on expensive tablet hardware?

To discuss and address these changes and how businesses can best implement tablets in their environments, the first TabTimes TABLET STRATEGY West conference was held in the San Francisco Bay Area, on February 20, 2013. The event showcased more than 20 different speakers, including leaders from Fortune 500 companies to small and mid-sized enterprises. 

More than 120 attendees were on hand to discuss and share ideas on how tablet computers can benefit their business operations.

Topics included device deployment, app development, and how best to integrate a tablet device into the corporate IT infrastructure. Specific use cases were discussed and shared about how mobile workers – such as Real Estate agents, medical equipment sales representatives and physicians – can all benefit from the ability of having direct connections with their business information centers.

Despite the overwhelming task of understanding business users’ needs, tablet computers are being adopted at rapid rates, even with the lack of a killer application or clear use cases. It’s even contrary to the fact that there’s not yet a piece of software that depends on the unique form factor or capability found on tablet computers to provide business functionality not found elsewhere.

Technology is typically a disrupting factor in society, whether it’s social or corporate, and once again with the advent of tablet computers technology, is changing how we look at things. The key is to understand how tablets fit in, and what a business’s operations needs are. So while there is not a business need, there is an employee need. 

Employees are getting more mobile. Information is required much faster as operations are trying to cut costs to razor thin margins. As these things change, how users engage their digital tools must change as well.