The Killer App for Tablets in Enterprise

In , I wrote about why the has not impacted the sales of the . The key reason is that while the iPad and the Fire compete for consumer mindshare, the facts show that Apple's iPad is also gaining serious traction in the enterprise. This is a major part of the iPad's strong growth and differentiation from the Kindle Fire.

To emphasize this point, I shared my discussion with Oliver Bussmann, the CIO of SAP, who has deployed 14,000 iPads so far in his IT operations. He will continue to add more over time to meet the needs of his staff. But in my interview, I believe Bussmann described the "killer" app for tablets, as well. In fact, many readers pointed this out in either tweets or email responses to me.

The killer tablet app embodies the role a tablet could play within IT. "Mobile apps and real-time information will drive new behaviors for decision making," said Bussmann. Getting analytical data and corporate information in what he calls "glanceable data" translates into fast decision making. While Bussmann also buys laptops for his staff, it is the ultimate portability of tablets that makes him so bullish. With up to 50 custom apps to choose from to obtain data, he sees tablets as the ideal tool for his workers to carry to access the information they need at anytime.

My own tablet experience has been quite similar. Because the iPad is so portable, especially when combined with , it's more like carrying a paper notebook, which I've done for years. It is second nature to have this computing device with me almost all the time. While I mostly use it for content consumption, its ability to connect to corporate email, client information, and material from multiple databases makes it highly productive.

At a very basic level, I use it to quickly find restaurants and make reservations for client lunches or dinners. A client may ask for a hotel recommendation in Silicon Valley and I can quickly check the availability of multiple hotels near my office. Yes, I could do this on my laptop, but the laptop is not the most ideal mobile device for traveling. And yes, I could also do some of this on my smartphone, but the small screen makes it less than optimal for doing anything beyond the basics. The 9.7-inch screen on the iPad and its overall form factor, though, make it my go-to device for retrieving the kind of information I need to make decisions throughout my day, wherever I happen to be.

The more I think about the idea of glanceable data speeding up the decision-making process, the more I can see it impacting IT in a big way. We have much precedent for this already. Before RIM first introduced the , I had the privilege of being a pre-release beta-tester. At the time, email was just becoming a key means for communications, although it was pretty much tied to the desktop or laptop. So, when I had the ability access to email on-the-go, it completely changed the way I worked and made decisions. In fact, I was probably one of the first CrackBerrys; my BlackBerry was always attached to my belt and I checked it constantly. For most of us, mobile email is already one of the most important means of receiving glanceable data. Depending on the email content, it often helps us make major decisions during our business day.

But the ability to now create corporate apps that can be deployed on an ultra-portable device like a tablet elevates this concept of glanceable data to entirely new levels. Instead of just getting email, we now have at our fingertips complete corporate database access to company product info, customer contacts, interaction histories, and information, not to mention the Web and search.

I don't think we quite realize how powerful this is and how transforming it can be to IT. If people in the enterprise begin to embrace for these purposes, it could drive IT efficiency, as well.

I suspect we will see a lot of killer apps emerge for tablets that really highlight their capabilities for consumer and business users alike. The idea of using them to obtain robust glanceable data tied to corporate and business apps that increase efficiency may be the one killer app that could define the role of tablets in the enterprise. It could also be the reason IT managers move quickly to integrate them into their broader enterprise solutions.