Companies should plan carefully for tablets

As a technology, the modern tablet remains in its infancy having hit the open market less than two years ago. Still, companies of all kinds in numerous industries have jumped at the chance to add the devices to their mobility programs.

While the move has worked out for some, a recent report from the E-Commerce Times said further maturation of the technology is needed before it can be applied to all areas of a business. Currently, Peter Eckert wrote for the news provider, the devices may not be a viable option for all enterprise environments.

"It is all too trendy to look to the tablet for every business environment, but certain solutions are just too complex or oversaturated with features to be easily ported to the tablet," Eckert wrote.

But that doesn't mean companies should turn their backs on tablets altogether. On the contrary, IT departments should be further investigating to determine if any of their companies' mobility needs can be fulfilled by the devices.

That means looking at a mobile device management program and figuring out if mobile professionals can benefit from having a tablet in hand. While some areas may be just fine with smartphones, the chances are that other employees could become more productive with the computing power and large screen size offered by the devices.

Besides, while tablets aren't yet ubiquitous, Eckert acknowledged that won't always be the case.

"This will change in the future, as the next five years will be dramatic in the progression of tablet capabilities," he wrote.

His main point of contention with the devices in their current state deals more with the applications offered for them rather than the tablets themselves. Specifically, Eckert said improvements must be made to the user interface of tablet apps, as it has proven difficult to translate desktop solutions to the smaller screens of tablets.

Once this hurdle is overcome the possibilities for the devices in the enterprise may be endless.

Despite Eckert's reservations, some companies have demonstrated the benefits of tablets are both real and attainable. According to a recent CIO magazine report, Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has armed its sales team with tablets and began seeing the difference immediately. Specifically, the devices help employees make their sales pitches to doctors in the limited time they are allotted.