Tablets at Work: The Challenges Ahead - Mobiledia

Tablets are playing an increasingly visible role at work, but questions of how they fit in -- and which ones suit the demands of business best -- are still up in the air.

This post is sponsored by the Enterprise Mobile Hub and BlackBerry.

Tablets are proving a hard nut to track as mobile devices gain more traction in the enterprise market, and their unique capabilities are bringing special challenges to IT professionals, ranging from their place in the growing cadre of business tools to managing security.

These sleek, interactive devices entertain and engage us in living rooms, cars and waiting rooms, and are now following us into the workplace -- and the competition is heating up to provide full-functioning devices that keep our attention both at work and at play. Tablets are more than just laptops without screens or smartphones with larger screens, and IT administrators are scrambling to better understand and accommodate these devices' unique place.

According to an ABM study, which surveyed a small sampling of corporate executive managers, 83 percent of respondents reported tablet usage is meaningful, but only 43 percent say they have the understanding and the resources to charge into tablets on their own. It is as if the future of tablets is a little blurry. The devices stormed the market barely three years ago and sales have soared, but the idea of how they can complement a suite of business tools is only just emerging.

Preparation will be key. As enterprise IT professionals are working to implement plans to provide for a growing influx of tablets in the workplace, employees are embracing the trend of bringing their own devices to work, putting pressure on businesses to respond.

Tablets aren't simply mini-laptops, so it isn't as easy as extending laptop policies to these new devices. In addition to creating a solid business strategy for office equipment, IT professionals have to consider how personal tablet devices will fit into the scheme as well.

Tablets -- Not a Smartphone, Not a Laptop

Tablets certainly have their advantages. People find them less cumbersome for on-the-go use, when compared to a laptop, and their note-taking, appointment functions, e-mail updates and online search capabilities are impressive. In addition, tablets almost universally offer better battery life than your garden-variety laptop, making them a more powerful mobile resource.

And unlike smartphones, tablets come in all shapes and sizes, from the iPad to multiple Android devices, with their six- and seven-inch screens, to models with 10-inch displays or larger. But all tablets have some things in common.

First, they feature touchscreens and they don't have integrated physical keyboards, although many will connect to external keyboards via Bluetooth. Some let you use a stylus, or offer docks with keyboards to turn the tablet itself into a small computer, complete with an external keyboard and mouse completing the package. And tablets often are reliant on apps for their software, since they often don't run the more robust productivity and word processing programs that offices have built their systems on for decades.

Tablets are often an additive cost for companies -- they aren't saving the cost of a laptop or PC, since tablets aren't able to completely replace them. In these tough economic times, many businesses are putting off this extra gadget purchase, betting the current equipment can work for the near term. Meanwhile, the technology isn't waiting and cutting-edge corporations are taking a closer look.

In this light, tablets will need to prove usefulness beyond being a tool for managers to look up facts and access files over the Internet during meetings, check e-mail and compose short messages. Inspectors, sales people and others who work on-the-go make a better case for the use of tablets because of their portability, but in an office setting, they have to offer more to gain traction.

The Current Offerings

According to research firm Strategy Analytics, almost 25 million tablets were shipped in the second quarter of 2012 alone, an increase of 67 percent over the same period in 2011. More than two-thirds were from Apple, with most Android devices making up most of the rest. Microsoft is also now gunning for the market with its new operating system, Windows 8.

Apple's iPad and tablets featuring Google's Android operating system offer enterprise capabilities as well as emphasize media uses like Web browsing, book reading and movie streaming, while BlackBerry and tablets expected to run the upcoming Windows 8 OS, are more akin to a very mobile computer.

Apple's iPad may reign supreme for personal users, but there is room for BlackBerry, Android and Windows 8, especially if they can show manageability and security, to challenge the leader in the enterprise setting. As far as connecting to other devices, the iPad can print only to an AirPrint-enabled printer, and then only if the app supports printing. A Windows 8 machine can print to any printer it can see on your network and it can also transfer files across the network, like any other Windows machine.

The iPad has the edge as far as apps go. While Google's Play offers a solid sampling of tablet apps, Windows OS trails substantially behind the competition. But the full version of Windows 8 runs all software from Windows 7, including the recently announced Microsoft Office 2013, which will work well with the touchscreen, giving an advantage when it comes to integrating into an office environment.

What's Coming Next?

Microsoft's Windows 8 OS is expected to be available for consumers next month, and the platform that is the norm on personal computers is getting a lot of attention and exposure from handset and tablet makers. And the Redmond, Wash.-based company is touting its own Surface tablet, expected to be launched for the holiday shopping season, adding to the buzz.

Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, ZTE and Samsung are hinting about plans to use Windows 8 in a slew of tablet offerings, which have the potential to shake up the tablet market in general as well as the devices' enterprise use. For example, Dell reports it is targeting its Windows 8 tablet to the education, healthcare and government markets, including features like a card and fingerprint reader.

Apple makes some bold claims about the iPad in the enterprise market, pointing out 94 percent of Fortune 500 companies have deployed or are testing it. Early adopters range in industries from healthcare to manufacturing, likely boosted by CEOs and workers who have personal experience with the iPad and use it for business. Of all the tablets, the iPad is probably the biggest beneficiary of the BYOD trend, since so many consumers have one.

Apple pioneered the tablet market, and its third-generation device debuted to massive excitement and sales when it came out in March. Now, rumors are swirling about the iPad 4, expected by most to arrive this spring, and its enterprise options will be crucial to continue its popularity and growth.

Not many expect a price deviation from the previous iPads, which would place the most affordable version at $400. Though the late Steve Jobs decried the use of a stylus, there are reports the iPad 4 could feature the tool, making it more desirable for those workers who use tablets as clipboards to click off patient, service and sales call information. Other whisperings suggest a greater use of haptic feedback, the slight buzzing that makes the touchscreen more responsive. While this could have personal-use applications, it also could be a good enterprise feature.

This summer, Google launched the Nexus 7, a smaller 7-inch screened device running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software, a big step above the Honeycomb OS that held back previous tablets. Just a year ago, many predicted Android tablets would give iOS a serious run for its money, but Android tablets failed to make a much of dent into the iPad's lead, something Google said it plans to "double down" and achieve. A lot is riding on the Nexus 7 to start to turn the tide for Google and Android in the tablet wars, though it still faces challenges.

In enterprise, Google faces the extra challenge of IT professionals having difficulty with the complexities of managing the wide variety of devices and versions of Android's OS. A Gartner evaluation in April revealed almost 60 percent of enterprises plan to standardize on Apple's iOS in the next year, followed by 20 percent with BlackBerry, leaving only 9 percent choosing Android.

IT Challenges

Just as consumers are shifting away from traditional desktops and even laptops, so are IT departments, who are facing significant challenges to ensure tablets, whether employee-owned or provided by the business, are secured and managed for enterprise use.

Many are starting with some basic assumptions, like the idea that all tablets are vulnerable and could be connected to unsecured networks and may need different levels of protection and control. And, IT departments recognize that even if the tablet is issued for business, it will be used for personal use, whether checking social networks, sport scores or online shopping. IT admins need to account for this usage in their security solutions, primarily by keeping personal activity separate from corporate.

Also, while there are those who are slipping their tablets to work in their purses and briefcases, there are other workers that might not want to subject their personal devices to the rigorous security measures many businesses are pushing for. Because of their expense and extensive personal use, many workers may hesitate at the thought of turning over device-wiping control, for example, to their employers.

Tablets' larger screens set them apart from smartphones. Employees are more comfortable, and potentially more productive, with tablets' mobility as it frees them a specific desk. Still, for those businesses that opt to go with devices without network connectivity, they do need widespread and reliable network access, so Wi-Fi would play an increasingly important role.

Tablet users in the workplace are likely to expect decent coverage everywhere, not just around desks and traditional work spaces. They want to access and share information with colleagues in the corridors, outside the buildings, and in the staff cafeteria. The video and teleconferencing ability of tablets could spur much broader adoption of visual communications. This use is also expected to have a massive effect on the size and performance of the network and could have a far more significant impact on the enterprise than either the desktop or laptop computer.

These collaborative expectations and potential appeal of tablets will place increasing pressure on business IT units to offer network coverage and fortify their infrastructure.

Savvy enterprise leaders will want to make sure they have a plan before rolling out the devices, understand what workers will use them for, make allowances for potential app integration issues, realize the devices' support and security needs and get rid of the notion that tablets are cheaper than laptops. Tablets are unique, and their possibilities and challenges both show that.

This post is sponsored by the Enterprise Mobile Hub and BlackBerry.