There is still no business case for tablets in the Enterprise

iPads and android tablets are getting a lot of attention from IT departments at the moment as they creep slowly into the enterprise, usually by executive order from a marketing executive who demands we be as cool as the next guy, but before you go out and buy a bunch of iPads to put your sales force on I want you to stop and really ask 1 question... why?

The reason I want you to ask this question is because I am yet to see or even hear about a truly compelling business case to put tablets into the enterprise, I would even go so far as to say that people are suffering productivity and financial loss as a result of the incursion of iPads to customer facing staff or executives. To put this in perspective I am a huge advocate of mobility solutions and I know it we'll get there as we push into the new era that it doesn't mean you have a good reason to do it yet and last time I checked you should have a solid business case before implementing any new services.

Lets look at some of the touted reasons for iPads and my thoughts on each point.

• We will see an increase productivity

• This is probably the least offered and easiest to debunk with sensible thought. Its very unlikely there will ever be a time that it is quicker and easier to create a document or other file on a tablet than it is to use a keyboard and mouse. A person cannot perform any where near as many actions per minute with one hand and therefore you will never get a productivity increase for people filling out forms or creating documents. I suggest if you want to see a productivity increase then look to your forms or software and see how you can build better UI which if done correctly would see your productivity go through the roof even on your old machines.
• For those who are considering a move to handwriting recognition which always demos quite well when the salesman does it and theoretically can be done more quickly I suggest you take a careful look at the training costs of have each staff member write a small bible before the tablet will recognize their handwriting to a point where its usable.
• Beware data entry elitism in the organisation. I have seen a few times now where slates are brought in as a time saver to senior staff (say doctors or salespeople) but the impracticality of entering data on the tablet means they they are then spending a lot more time filling out the information later or even worse the organisation is hiring new staff to do the data entry for them on the old keyboard and mouse driven systems after the higher staff member has done the easy tablet bit. 

I want to make a special note here that staff with more influence in the organisation tend to win when tablets are brought in as it forces IT to deliver a simplified experience to them BUT organisations without great software or architecture will pay dearly in giving them that experience and the cost/benefit never stacks up no matter how much that person earns. The costs associated with re-architecting your internal systems should always benefit the customer or operations staff first to maximize your ROI so beware the selfish executive.

• We will increase sales

• This is normally just a plain lie made by salespeople to get a tablet device but you may get a benefit from delivering up to date information to them during a presentation... I don't see why this can't be done on their laptop now as the tablet doesn't give them any additional functionality.
• The argument that a laptop creates a barrier between you and the customer is a fallacious as one a salesperson today should probably not sit directly opposite their customer anyway and if they do then turning the laptop to the side removes the issue and can actually be used to focus the attention of the prospect.

• We will reduce cost because tablets are cheaper than laptops

• This is where are a lot of business cases for table devices are won but the practical experience so far is that tablets become an additional device, not a replacement due to the limitations in data entry. If  you need to update then in my view the sensible interim solution is in fact to the "old style" laptop tablets (check out the sexy new ultrabook versions coming soon) as you can begin building your software solutions to support the tablet experience without losing the productivity of the laptop.

• We will enhance our customer experience

• This is absolutely true, you can of course build a great customer experience on a tablet device but this is rooted in having great applications, not the delivery method. Therefore it's another example where you need to re-write your application suite and related processes before implementing these new devices.

Anyway that's enough on this subject for now. I hope you noticed the pattern: In my view the tablet experience is based in the creation of great software and in particular a great UI. If your executive want to go to tablets then tell them you want to start writing applications which will work great on those tablets and require very little data entry first, no-one saw the iPad coming and so there is some catching up to do before we can put them in the field. Otherwise it's a fat waste of cash.