Reader Forum: Build an enterprise adoption strategy for the iPad

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but maintain some editorial control so as to keep it free of commercials or attacks. Please send along submissions for this section to our editors at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com or tford@rcrwireless.com.
Apple Inc.’s iPad grabbed 85% market share in Q4 2010, according to ABI Research. Some companies have bought hundreds of iPads for their field teams knowing that it will make them productive, in some cases without a use case in mind.
The iPad certainly helps with employee productivity, but there are other benefits such as enhancing employee morale, attracting top young talent, increasing revenue and impressing clients, of course. For example, with one of our clients, they were able to boost their revenues by six figures within six weeks of deploying an iPad application.
If you are ready to deploy iPads to your employees, but aren’t yet sure of what that will look like; this guide will hopefully help kickstart that process with some interesting examples and strategic initiatives.
Start by thinking about the one application that will help with overall adoption
Presentations can become boring and sometimes a one-way conversation. What if you had an application that allowed you to share the same information, but also allowed your client to navigate to and interact with the content? The same old information is now considered new. With the right application, you can now very easily access sell sheets, demo videos and e-mail the appropriate documents when you’ve caught their attention – all from your iPad. This type of application ensures every one has the latest content and reduces publishing costs, which benefits the entire organization.
Getting all the key information in front of you rather than going to 10 different places
You’re a large company that owns, sells and services various aircrafts. As an executive, you want insight to your largest aircraft opportunities, client-specific charts, yearly progress and financials and service information on hand and easily accessible. For example, if you are talking with your client and they bring up an issue, with an iPad and the right application; you can now use a social collaboration tool to quickly get feedback from the home office and immediately come to the table with a resolution. The ability to see the complete picture with a user-friendly solution allows for intelligent conversations and helps the executive focus on the most important issues to their clients.
Take advantage of the native hardware
Tablets provide portability, but it is the ability to integrate with the native hardware that opens up the ability to create innovative solutions. For instance, you can use GPS to fill in addresses, plan routes with directions or leverage the camera for information overlay. This type of integration provides a powerful way to increase the effectives of the solution as well as its usability.
With the iPad 2, you can even project most of the content directly from the device. All you need is a HDMI connector and a projector.
Additional benefits
Providing an iPad to every field and/or sales representative is also a great way to attract younger talent within the organization. The impact of a rep walking and showing content to a client is not only impressive to the client, but rather showing the content in a visual manner may also make the same content look different and keep your clients attention a little longer. The effects go well beyond just productivity of the employee but rather to the overall brand image of the organization.
Tips to keep in mind
–Discuss the most frequent pain points with the field team before picking the best first use case.
–Develop a strategy or hire a mobile/cloud services expert.
–Think about how you will deploy and manage these solutions once they are in the field.
–Think about data security and whether you provide the devices or ask them to buy their own.