By Allison Kutz, Lindsay Richardson, and Jennifer Rossbach, Sales Consultants
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Less
than three years ago, Apple introduced a
new concept to the world: The Tablet. It’s hard to believe that in only 32
months, the iPad induced an entire new
way to do business. Because of their mobility and ease-of-use, tablets have
grown in popularity to keep up with the increasing “on the go” lifestyle, and their
popularity isn’t expected to decrease any time soon. In fact, global tablet sales are expected
to increase drastically within the next five years, from 56 million tablets
to 375 million by 2016.
Tablets
have been utilized for every function imaginable in today’s world. With over 730,000 active applications
available for the iPad, these tablets are educational devices, portable book
collections, gateways into social media, entertainment for children when Mom
and Dad need a minute on their own, and so much more. It’s no wonder that 74%
of those who own a tablet use it daily, 60% use it several times a day, and an
average of 13.9 hours per week are spent tapping away.
Tablets
have become a critical part of a user’s personal life; but why stop there? Businesses
today are taking major strides in implementing these devices, with the hopes of
benefiting from efficiency and productivity gains. Limo and taxi drivers use
tablets as payment devices instead of traditional cash transactions. Retail
outlets use tablets to find the exact merchandise customers are looking for. Professors
use tablets to teach their classes, and business professionals demonstrate
solutions and review reports from tablets.
Since an
overwhelming majority of tablet users have started to use their personal iPads,
PlayBooks, Galaxys, etc. in the workforce, organizations have had to make a
change. In many cases, companies are
willing to make that change. In fact, 79%
of companies are making new investments in mobility this year. Gartner reported that 90%
of organizations are expected to support corporate applications on personal devices
by 2014.
It’s not
just companies that are changing. Business professionals have become accustomed
to tablets making their personal lives easier, and want that same effect in the
workplace. Professionals no longer want to waste time manually entering data in
their computer, or worse yet in a notebook, especially when the data has to be
later transcribed to an online system.
The
response: the Bring Your Own Device phenomenon. According to Gartner, BOYD
is “an alternative strategy allowing employees,
business partners and other users to utilize a personally selected and
purchased client device to execute enterprise applications and access data.” Employees whose companies embrace this trend
are more efficient because they get to use devices they are already
accustomed to.
Tablets
change the game when it comes to how sales professionals perform their
jobs. Sales reps can easily store and
access customer information and analytics using tablet applications, such as Oracle
Fusion Tap. This method is much more enticing for sales reps than spending time
logging interactions on their (what seem to be outdated) computers. Forrester & IDC reported that on
average sales reps spend 65% of their time on activities other than selling, so
having a tablet application to use on the go is extremely powerful. In
February, Information
Week released a list of “9 Powerful Business Uses for Tablet Computers,” ranging
from “enhancing the customer experience” to “improving data accuracy” to
“eco-friendly motivations”. Tablets
compliment the lifestyle of professionals who strive to be effective and
efficient, both in the office and on the road.
Three Things Businesses Need to
do to Embrace BYOD
Make customer-facing websites tablet-friendly for
consistent user experiences
Develop tablet applications to continue to enhance
the customer experience
Embrace and use the technology that comes with
tablets
Almost 55
million people in the U.S. own tablets because they are convenient, easy,
and powerful. These are qualities that
companies strive to achieve with any piece of technology. The inherent power of
the devices coupled with the growing number of business applications ensures
that tablets will transform the way that companies and employees perform.
