Is there a Spot for Tablets in the Office Environment?

Remember about 10 years ago when all of the tech experts were predicting that most work would be done on a touch-screen device, prompting many professionals to purchase the latest and greatest tablets? Although tablet sales have not kept up over the years, they are still perfectly usable for personal purposes—maybe just not in the workplace. Still, we have to ask, is there a place for tablets in the office environment?

The Current State of Tablets

The modern tablet is a much different beast from those from 2014, even if the form factor is largely the same. They look like clipboards with a touch screen, and they typically run a mobile operating system. Like other computing devices, the specifications have dramatically improved over the years. The greatest draw that tablets have for most businesses is the plethora of applications available to them, something which gives them the flexibility to support just about any business out there.

To dig a little deeper into the specifications, tablets used for business should have at least four gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes of storage. The Apple iPad is widely considered to be the best tablet for business, as it features the Apple M1 processor. With the software optimization Apple delivers, it is seen as an improvement over the capabilities of the best processor found in an Android-run tablet, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. These are touch-screen devices, so you should pick one with at least a 10-inch screen; however, you can get plenty done on seven or eight-inch screens, too.

How Do You Use a Tablet for Business?

A recent poll indicates that about 40%, or two-fifths, of respondents claim to utilize some sort of tablet for their job. In an interesting twist, many businesses that use tablets aren’t housed in the two largest markets for tablets: the United States and China. Businesses in Europe, Australia, and South America are more likely to use tablets than the former. Here are some of the reasons a business might choose to use tablets:

• Taking notes
• Managing social media
• Creating task lists
• Point-of-sale
• Scheduling

It’s worth noting that these are the same purposes that many folks in the United States use smartphones for. Tablets provide businesses a cost-effective way to enhance mobility within the office. One such innovation is to use a tablet as a portable point-of-sale device. These are generally fueled by Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) point-of-sale (POS) systems that are hosted in the cloud and deployed to a mobile device–in this case, a tablet or smartphone. Thanks to the applications available on Apple and Android devices, many tablets can perform business-related tasks that you might normally think would only be possible on higher-end devices.

Breaking Down the Competition

While the iPad has been the best tablet on the market for consumers, Apple has still managed to double-down on the device as a personal productivity tool. Similar to the smartphone space, Samsung is Android’s go-to choice for tablet development. Microsoft’s Surface tablet is also a great option for businesses, but it comes with a higher price tag and is generally considered to be more in-line with a touchscreen PC than a tablet. Each of these devices have operating systems that work well with other computing platforms and generally offer businesses wonderful opportunities to increase their mobility and productivity.

What’s In Store for the Tablet?

How much you get out of your tablets will depend on the applications you run on them. Here are some of the different types of applications you might choose to leverage for your tablet:

• Managing money (Quickbooks, Wave)
• Inventory management (Sortly, Delivrd)
• Human resources (Namely, Bambee)
• Point-of-sale (Square, PayPal Here)
• Time tracking (Gusto, HotSchedules)
• Communication & collaboration (Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams)
• Customer relationship management (Spendgo, Salesforce, Nimble)
• Project management (Trello, Basecamp)
• Document management (eFileCabinet, Hightail)

Find Tablets That Are Right for Your Business

If you want your business to get the most out of its tablets and other mobile computing devices, we urge you to contact us at Macro Systems. We can provide you with the expertise and knowledge you need to make the best decisions possible for your business. To learn more, call us today at 703-359-9211.