Apple’s iPad is probably the first tablet device that is going to be used by the masses. The tablet concept has been around for a long time but no product has made its mark on the market. While iPad is aimed at the consumer market there are many potential business uses for this device. In this post I look at how businesses and professional services can make use of the iPad.

Presentation

iPad is a great device to do personal presentations without causing much distraction. For example, a wedding planner, who meets her client at their homes or at a coffee shop, can use the iPad to show banquet halls, table arrangements, wedding dresses etc. She can then use a spreadsheet to estimate the cost of the wedding by customizing the wedding package based on the clients needs and budget. She can easily pull the location of a banquet hall and give her clients the driving directions. The wedding planner is able to do all these activities without a laptop. As a transferable display the iPad makes the whole presentation much easier. The iPad allows the wedding planner to conduct her presentation in a less intrusive manner.

Working Light

Apple claims the iPad is a product that sits in between your smart phone and your laptop. But, for those business people who use their laptop only for communication, the iPad can replace their laptop when they are out of the office. The highly portable nature of the iPad will make it attractive to the mobile worker who is always on the go. You can take the iPad to places when a laptop may not be appropriate. Lets say that you are waiting to meet a client at a restaurant, until your client turns up you can do some quick work on your iPad. Setting up a laptop in such environment may not be appropriate. The iPad is great for places where you do not have much space to work on, for example, in an air plane. The iPad can be also be very useful in note taking. Whenever an idea comes to your mind, your can quickly sketch it or write a few words about it in your iPad.

Training

One area where the iPad can make a huge impact is in corporate training. The iPad can eliminate the need for manuals and work books. Unlike boring instruction manuals, the iPad can provide a more interactive platform for learning. Companies can save money on printing manuals and books. Training manuals and workbooks can be edited very easily eliminating the need for reprints. Companies can adopt a model where the employees can borrow the iPad throughout the training period. Once the training is over, you can use the iPad to capture trainee feedback in the form of a survey. The iPad can be also used for testing purposes, for example, a MCQ test that covers the whole course material.

Field Work

The highly portable nature of the iPad will make it a perfect device for field work in some industries. While the lack of a stylus (pen) limits the use of iPad in certain work environments where heavy data entry is required (example Health Care) the iPad might find its spot in some niche markets. For example, the fitness industry. A personal trainer can keep track of a client’s progress on his iPad tracking information such as lap times, body weight etc.

Conclusion

As you have seen in the above points, the iPad is well suited for business use. Having said that one obstacle that makes the iPad less impressive for business use is its inability to multitask. This could  pose a problem for power users who may want to run more than one application at a time.

The business potential of the iPad will not be only determined by the features of the device. Future applications that are going to be built for the iPad will play a vital role in deciding how businesses will embrace it.

What do you think? If you are given an iPad how would you use it in your business?

Please feel free to share your opinion. Thank you!