From the moment it was released back in 2010, Apple’s iPad has been marketed as a business tool as well as a device for gaming, entertainment and basic internet needs. On August 21 – thanks partially to the success of the tablet – the company became the most valuable in history on the stock market. A recent USA Today article interviewed Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe who said that 72 percent of businesses that use a tablet are using the iPad.
The popularity of tablets and smartphones in employees’ personal lives is helping to fuel bring your own device (BYOD) strategies in the workplace. Small devices are adding a new element to business tools and simplifying everyday tasks.
“Tablets are fundamentally reinventing business software and, in that process, business itself,” Howe said to the source. “We sometimes forget we’re only two years into the tablet revolution – the equivalent of 1980 in the PC era – and yet the tablet is already the center of new software development.”
A new Cisco survey of 600 IT leaders in 18 industries found that 78 percent of employees have a mobile device they use for work and enterprises participating in BYOD initiatives save $2,500 annually per-employee that telecommuting one day per week.
BYOD policies and the savings that go along with them go hand-in-hand with the increase of business programs available. Third-party developers have created applications that turn tablets into VoIP services, unified communications and e-commerce systems, plus act as a conduit between mobile employees and the office thanks to cloud storage.
Personal devices are becoming important tools in the office and in the field but, without the proper infrastructure and security systems setup, adding tablets to a company network can skip the benefits and, instead, cause harm. Businesses should consider contacting an IT consulting firm like CTI Technology to ensure a complete solution is deployed.
The popularity of tablets and smartphones in employees’ personal lives is helping to fuel bring your own device (BYOD) strategies in the workplace.
